1996 09 canadian computer wholesaler

THE MONTHLY FOR RESELLERS

September 1996 Vol.2 No.5

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back messages. Other features include personalized

mod e ms, available in s greetings, fax on demand and remote message retrieval

w ide var i ety of models with password protection. GVC also offers a VFM-144

and speeds are an ideal choice for surfing the cyberspace. In fact, these

: : modems are used by many ofthe Internet service n

providers themselves, making GVC Canada's Internet Choice". GVC has recently introduced the new VFM-288 voice fax modem series. Like the FM-288 series of fax modems, theVFM-288 series features a 28,800 bps V.34 modem and 14,400 bps send/receive Group III fax that provides error free throughput of up to 115,200 bps with c ompression and is compatible w ith all V.34 modem s .

In addition the voice feature operates as a 'virtual receptionist' that greets callers and allows them to select from a multitude of fax/ voice mail boxes that can record or play

series that combines the same voice and fax features as above witha 14,400 bps V.32bis modem.

Th,e VFM-288 and VFM-144 series are bundled with Supervoice 2.2 voice/fax/ data software. The FM-288 series is bundled with Winfax Lite/ Comit data/fax software. GVC modems are available in external, internal, MAC and PCMCIA versions. The MAC versions are bundled with MAC software and a high speed handshaking cable.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

GVC offers a 5-year parts & labour warranty and Canada-wide 1-SOO technical support.

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For the highest in performance.

In a recent, major independentbenchmarktest,* the Giga-Byte GA-586AT

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All trademertrs are the preperttt el their respective etstters.

Our Biggest Ever 15 Entry Level Computers Tested

By CCNtTest Lab Editors

MAttmV OujlLOOK The Razorification of Printers—. .............

September 1996 Yol.2 No.5

By EdN'ard Trapttnski,

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TECHNOLOOt

Clean Power Now, Cuts Problems Later

By Jim Chote

DEPARTIVIENT Industry Flash

.

..49

NETWORKIN6

22

Pitfalls to avoid When building WANs

By Seall Elrington

INVESTMENT Canadian News

Technology Sector' Stocks Wali Street Highlights

BY ThomasIC/ein

STORAGE Asiascape

Integrating Optical Disk Systems .

Questions Resellers Are Asked Most Often

. 46

By Roy Hoshino

People

BUSINESS Are Your Customers Getting the Proper Write Off? .... .

BYRickActon

Collected Numbers

IVIULTIIVIEDIA Good Vibrations: Studio Quality Sound On PCs Becomes A Retail Commodity

By Jeff Evans

Newsbytes

COLUMNS Frontlines State of the Industry .

By Lee Lester

4

5urf our web site

The Pundit:

http: //www.ccwmag.corn

By Graenle Bennett

Understanding the Savvy Shopper .

WH O LESALER September 1996 ha rp tow m mag.corn

41

THE D I FFERENCE IS CRYSTAL CLEAR. Every dav, there arc 10,000 s«tished neve Ace'r'('iehv monitor users.chtionitors from Acer, the 2nd largest nhonitor manufacturer in the hvnrld, sold morc Chan 4 million units in 19QS. For you, tllat voluine tr«nslatcs into innovative f.atures, a broad product!in««nd an extremely compentke advantage.

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Acerht"(ehvmonitors offer the highest quality, reliability and value in thc industtw, hhith ISO-9000 certification and a 3-year limited hhm'ranty. Theh' iilclude innovative «nd unique teatures like our patented microprocessor-based controls; DDC control lor Plug k. Play compatibility; LQ'AR tubes; our unique nnn-glare screen coating to reduce eyestrain; higher refresh rates and high-contrast screen surfaces that improve torus «nd display cohlrs more uhrantly.

Acerht"(chv monitors are available in a full line — from entry level to pohver user — for 1'C andctlacintosh; multimedia,

graphics and CAD/CAW applications.

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E D I TO RI A L

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Biking and Computing I am a bike enthusiast. Not the kind of biker who wears tight shorts and rides racing

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hik e s,more the kind who rides a "hybrid" (half mountain bike, half 10-speed) to work. I

like hikes for some of the same reasons that I like computers. They are useful tools that have the potential to change the v-arid in a small but good way; bikes because they lct you exercise while' travelling and eliminate the air pollution you would create if you drove your car; and computers because they allow you to sec information in new ways and come up with new solutions to problems, Recently, as it often happens ss hen another birthday rolls around

for one of my children, I was in buying a bike from my local bike store.

Over the last decade. with birthdays, and the occasional stolen bike needing replacement, I have purchased at leastits ebikes from this store.

They arefriendly and knowledgeable and take a soft-sell approach to my needs. It clicked on me that bicycle stores have a number of similarities to computer stores. As I thought about it and talked about it ssdth the store manager, the analogy rolled out fairly consistently and it occurred to me that the model holds truein a number of areas:

One big purchase The buying cycle (forgive the pun) for both hikes and computers usually starts with one big purchase. With computers, it is your PC. With hikes, it is the basic unit, a bicycle.

Lots of parts to buy regularly Once you have made your initial investment, the next step is outfit ting it: software, upgrades, peripherals in the computer area, and

locks. fenders, hghts, bells, tires, ss heels for bikes. Stock and selection are key to making sales in this department.

Need for regular service Bikes by their nature suffer from wear and tear and need to be serviced at least annually, often more frequently. With many fev er moving parts, computers need to be serviced less from usage and more from technology change, software complexity and the addition of peripherals. In both cases regular visits to the service department give plenty of potential for "up-sells" and exposure to new models.

Knowledge transfer Bikes and computers are both accessible on a number of levels, You can get into them at a very technical level. There are both bike and computer emhusiast magazines. There are user groups and bike clubs to offer support and knowledge transfer 'to consumers on both product ranges.

Specialty area hits the mainstream Thc bike,like the computer, has gone through an enormous popularity boom in the past 10 years. Bicycling used to be the realm of an elite group nf aficionados just as computers were prior to the advent of the PC. The big events for bicycles were the development of the l0-speed and then the mountain bike. Computers had thc original Apple II and then the IBM PC to launch a new level ot interest that took computers out of the realm of the esoteric.

Rapid technology change Both product areas have been hit by huge changes in technologs that make the products more accessible ro end users. Readers

familiar svith the computer industry will knov- well what has gone on in the computer industry. Mv bike vendor tells me that the past five

WHOLESALER September 1996

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years have brought more changes in the bicycle than the previous SQ years, Ironically, in the bike area many of these changes have been assisted by computer-aided design done on PCs.

So what?

I thought you might ask that. What does this comparison do for compmer resellers.' The professors at my old business school loved a good analogy'from which they could borrow strategies. Check out the successful bike vendors in your area. Look at what thev do and what makes them winners anti see it some of their strategies ssdll work in your area. Obviously you have to adapt the ideas to your specific business, but think about what has worked in their areas.

Specialize

Both bikes and computers cover a wide spectrum of products, so specialization in the marketplace is important. The guys I buv my

hikes from don't stock the fanciest high-end mountain bikes, they cater to kids and commuters like myself. Know what your customers ÂŤdll want and deliver it to them consistently.

Regular marketing Bikes are a very seasonal product i n m ost o f C a nada.

Computers, fortunately, are more year round, though they have some obvious selling seasons as well. Back to school specials, Christmas events, spring cleanings, etc. are all good excusesfor seasonal mar-

keting. Look for specialized publications that get to a large number of potential customers, as well as local advertising vehicles that bring a strong geographic market. Think about whether your market is likely to be a neighborhood, or if you focus on a more specialized product line, the entire city or region.

Know your market and clientele Friendly knowledgeable, passionate staff keep me coming back to my favorite bike store. The same happens vtith computers. I will go back to a salesperson who knows what he or she is talking about, in m' any cases, regardless of price. To me, there is a cost ot getting in my car to drive to a super store across town. My time is usually worth more than the hassle of going outside my area. I just want decent service and a feeling that I am not being overcharged, Building sales skills is an owner's ongoing responsibility to his or her statf and customers.

Good service department A good service department probably does more ro maintain a long-term customer than anything else a store can do. Conveniem hours, fast turn around, doing things at reasonable prices, andthrowing in inexpensive parts or add-ons for tree all go a long way to building the customer bond. My bike store ssill often gve mc products under $5 for nothing, because they see the big picture with me. They sswnt me to come back and buy another S300 to $500 bike.

Turnover costs Obviously the comparison is not perfect. Big differences do exist between these two retailing sectors. Rapid turnover of technology is a much more severe problem in the computer industry because of short product life cycles. Perhaps fresh fruit retailing would bc a better comparison. Still, looking at hovt other businesses soh'e their problems can be a useful exercise d you are just starting out or Iind your business in need of a kick start to get sales grosvth happening again. The big les-

son I take from the bicycle store analogy is that both the computer and bicycle retailing businesses are a long-tenn proposition and repeat custo'mers are worth much more than one shot deals.

Enjoy the issue! 8%9

Dossglas Alder Publisher

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CM 1 5 M PE 0.28 mm 13.7"

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13.1')

TATUNG COMPANY is a world class manufacturer of computer monitors. TATUNG has R8cD centres located in the U.S., Taiwan, Europe, and Japan,which keeps us on the leading edge oF 'Global Technology'.

TATUNG features a wide range of 14 to 20 inch colour monitors with dependable performance at dosvn to earth prices All Tatung monitors come with a wide range of user-friendly Features such as removable tilt/swivel bases and dark-tinted, high contrast, non-glare CRTs. From .28 to 26 dot pitch and resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,280, Tatung is the standard for quality monitors. In rheir commitment to the market, Tatung has recendy introduced a full line of CE approved monitors for the European market place.

Best of all, TATUNG offers a solid commitment to its customers svith a two-year parts and labor warranty on all their monitors. If service is required, trained service centre technicians can repair and ship back your monitor within 72 hours!

AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS

EMJ DATA SYSTEMS (800) 265-7212

ING RANI INGRAM MICRO (800) 668-3450

TATUNG — World Class Monitors from a %'orld Class Manufacturer.

SUPERCOM (800) 949-4567

I NDU S TR Y

F LA S H

Gainbery introduces Pentium 2 GO performance Gainbery Computer Products Inc., a leading specialist in CPU upgrades, introduced the Booster 200/180A and B series for upgrading Pentium 60/66/90/100/120/133/ 150/166 MHz systems to Pentium 200 MHz. Gainbery is the only company which provides this level of performance upgrade for the Pentium.

Boosters are based on a true 200MHz Pentium processor built on Intel's .35 micron processor technology. Their smart voltage adapter maintains the motherboard voltage to 3.3/2.9 volt. All Boosters include a heatsink and a fan.

Booster'schip-for-chip replacement mode allows any Pentium user to easily replace the old chip with the upgrade one.

The new CPU instantiy provides maximum results in both speed and performance. This technology is designed to maximize the performance ofsoftware applications and operÂŤting systems, especially Windows 95.

generation consumer-targeted silicon that delivers integrated 2D. 3D and video acceleration.

Permedia-based boards accelerateall aspectsof 2D and 3D graphics operations on the Power Macintosh and wiII bc available for under US$250.Pcrmcdia delivers 30 million bilinear-iillered texture-mapped pixels-persecond. All rendering calls from the Apple APIs will take full advantage of 3Dlabs' hardware pixel acceleration, for three to five times increased performance.

The buil(-in byle ssvapping used in Permedia ensures that any PC accelerator using 3Dlabs' silicon can be easily brought onto thc Macintosh platform and vice-versa.

Pennedia is shipping now to select OEMs and will be available on Macintosh-compatible boards during the third quarter of 1996.

Data General to Resell and Support

Wholesaler PuBlisher Douglas Alder Associate Publishers Kc'111Lt (still Cllell Ha>f Stnglt Khalsa Marketing Director Jane L. Ding

Managing Editor Jitn Cltow Associate Editor Alan Zisntan

Contributing Writers

Graente Bennett

Clods Fisher Scan Elrt'ngton

Riel' Acton

Je/f Et'ans Lee Lesser Thontas IOein Eastern Correspondent Edit'arrl Trapnnsk

Production Staff Sherly Ho )hnn Cltan Karin Flarnrig

SCO UnixWare 2.1 on AViiON Servers Data General Corporation announced that it plans to resell. distribute and support SCO UnixWare 2.1 on its AViiON servers.

SCO UnixWare 2.1 soon will be shipping on the SCO certified AV 2000 and AV 3000 systems. Shipment on other AViiOisi servers is expected in October.

National Sales hllanager Li Ding KeyAccount Manager Jatnie Leigltton Account Managers Randy Chaster

Manufacturer's suggested retail price ior Among the early adopters of SCO both B ooster 2 0 0/180A a n d B o o ster UnixWare 2.1 on Data General's AViiOisi plat200/180B series is US$1.099.00. form will be the Ministry of Defence in the United Kingdom, Pacific Access n leading 3 Dlabs R e leases Q u i ckDraw 3 D provider of solutions to the telecommunications D rivers f o r N ew Per m e d i a 3 D industry, and HBO Inc., one of the primary supProcessor Chip pliers of healthcare industry solutions.

3Dlabs, Inc. announced beta-availability Data General also intends to resell of Permediadriversfor the QuickDraw 3D and Unix%'are through third-party channels.

QuickDraw 3D RAVE APIs from Apple including OEMs and VARs, The company Computer, Inc. Permedia is 3Dlabs' second

Canadian Computer Wholesaleris published 12 times a year by Canada Computer Paper Itic.

Booster comes with an easy-to-follow installation manual, a 1-800 technical support line and one year warranty.

hfarsha htf lier

Controller Chrisrine /tdcPhie

AccountingFarida Aini Circulation Farida Aini

Esther Palitvtda

Head Office Suite 503-425 Carroll Street

Vatrcouver B.C. Catntda VGB 6E3

Tel: (604) 608-2688 Fax: (604) 608-2686

Toronto Office 40B - 99 Atlantic Ave. Toronto. Ont. Canada /ttt6K 3JB

Tcl: (416) 535-8404 Fax: (416) 588-8574

Taipei Office Company Name

T elephone

P a g e Company Name

Accton Canada

(604) 307-6680 23

P a ge

PRJSCO Tel: 886-2-711%33 Fax: SS6-2-741-5110 Internet K-mail address

Pucku Computer Corp.

(905) 940-9839 16

Ca(shy Compeer Products (905) 731-386] 32,33

Ready Computer int.

(604) 270-7618 42

Canbcll Gmup Ent. Inc.

(604) 279-2366 51

Samsung

(905) 940-3600 29

Comtfonic

1-800-2%-5505 5

Sceptre Tedmologies Inc. (SIS) 369-3698 37,64

Subscdption applications and change of address notices must be made in exiting to hendoNce address.

DCI

(508) 470-3880 57

SDMS

I-800-677-SDMS 15,19

(905) 940-3600 3 GMS Data)ink Int. Corp. 1-800-361-3234 63

SPEC Researchinc.

Free sutssctiption to qualilied individuals, Sl lu per year for non-qualifted subscribers.

(909) 595-1258 13

Supcfcom

I-800-949-4567 2

ImpuqTechno logy Iac.

(604) 261-1800 12

Tatung

l.apro Marketing

(604) 244-7798 11

Empac ComputerCorp.

(604) 303-9199 7 TKP Elccuonic (Canada) (601) 279-0320 43

(604) 278-0708 32,33 NT Computer Supplies 1-800-796-5225 24 Bd-Tec Marketing 1-800-665-3095 17

Trice Inteiuutionul

PE

White Knight Disuibuting 1-800-852-5039 35

ECH ResourcesIncl

8

T elephone

I-888-PE-HELPS 9

Uniglobe Travel

(604) 608-02&8 1-800-663-3441 62

White Knight Distributing 1-800-668-6188 35

WH OL ESALER S e p t ember )996 t t n p ÂŤwtswecutmag.com

ceto I'tcp.ca

PVeb Site: http: //www.ccwmag.corn

Contents ofCanadian Computer ttytotesater subject to copyriPc hlatetialand adeenising designedhy Coudiau Computer Wrnlesaterin this publication may net bc tcpmduccd in any futm stithttut permission. Atttights resetsed. The opinions

expressed in articlesarenot necessarily those of the publisher.

Printed in Canada Postage paid in Vancouver B.C.

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Seainp isbelierinyl That's the reasan why nore users are switching to net uonitors. IHth its hiuh pcrfonsancc 14', 15", 17 arul 11" nonitors, yeu can really see the true colors of real 1ifa in action, bet an bht now. You will definitely see a brichter ane better uiew of life today. Qr else, you will niss a 'iot. C all ns now or visit as at bttp://wsw.periphoralexp.nxs

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COLORS IN ACTION

IM 9000

I NDU S TR Y

F L A SH

also will promote SCO UnixWare in conjunction with SCO at trade shows, user conferences and through special promotions and programs.

Data General Canada and Great Plains Software Form Alliance Data General (Canada) Company and Great Plains Software have formed a strategic alliance that will give resellers the opportunity tomarket a complete hardware and fi nancial software solution based on the Microsoft Windows NT Server and Microsoft SQL Server products.

T he s trategic r e l ationship, w h i c h includes marketing, sales and support initiatives, centres on Great Plains Dynamics C/S+, a financial application for Windows NT and SQL Server. Data General's commitment to the Microsoft Windows NT platform and expertise in high-availability server technology are key to the new relationship.

3DIabs' GUNT 3D Accelerator certified for Softimage 3D 3.51 3Dlabs® Inc. announced that its reference board designs for the GLINTS 500TX and GLINT 300SX 3D graphics accelerators, including the GLINT Deltaru geometry coprocessor,are among the fi rst 3D hardware acceleratorscertified by Microsofum for use with Softimage© 3D and Softimage 3D Extreme 3.51.

and can print a colour page in under three m inutes.

A high performance black ink cartridge provides 720 by 360 DPI edge smoothing technology for crisp text output in best mode, or up to five pages per minute laserfast output in normal mode. A 30-sheet paper feeder is built-in and the printer handles plain, coated or glossy paper, transparencies. back-print film and envelopes. The printer offers 64 True Type fonts.

3Dlabs recently shipped the GLINT 500TX with hardware texture mapping support. Combined with the optional GLINT Delta geometry co-processor. GLINT 500TX accelerators provide OpenGLto-compliant rendering, texture-mapping, and geometry processing on one PCI board for under US$2.000.

The QuickDraw GX is supported. The printer also supports ColourSync 2.0, which provides the closest possible match between coloursviewed on screen and colour from a printer.

The GLINT chip family is currently the only silicon shipping with an OpenGL lnstallable Client Driver, providing highlyoptimized and fully-compliant OpenGL perData General's line of high-availability AViiON servers and CLARiiON disk arrays, f ormance. i ntegrated seamlessly w i t h Microsoft Windows NT. OpenGL is fullyoffercustomers and failover server technolosupported and endorsed by Microsoft as the gy with simple and seamless support for Microsoft Windows N T a n d M i c r osoft high-end 3D API for CAD, imaging and mulumedia authoring The GLINT drivers for BackOffice. Great Plains Dynamics C/S+ Windows NT and OpenGL are available on offers a full complement of core financial applications, giving users powerful, integrat- Intel®, Alpha®, MIPS® and PowerPCto ed c ontrol o v e r cr i t i cal p r o cesses. processors. All 3Dlabs' drivers automatically Applications include: Financial Series; Sales detect and take full advantage of GLINT Series: Payroll Series; Foundation Series; 300SX, GLINT 500TX and the optional GLINT Delta Purchasing Series and Inventory Series.

Pin-compatible with the first-generation CLARiiON to ship 9 GB Disk Drives GLINT 300SX, the GLINT 500TX can be CLARiiON, a business unit of Data used singly or in parallel to increase 3D perGeneralCorporation announced an enhanceformance up to 1 million Gouraud shaded, Z ment to its industry leading CLARiiON buffered, 32bit color, 25 pixel polygons-perSeries 100, 1000, and 2000 storage subsyssecond. tems — the availability of 9 GB/3.5" disk driGLINT 5 00TX's u n ified g raphics ves With the new 9 GB drives, comes the ability for 720 GB of storage to be delivered pipeline also provides 2D windows acceleration and full support for video texture-mapin less than 5 square feet of floor space unmatched density for the storage subsystems ping, including digital video effects. When used in an Intel Pentium® Pro processormarket. based system, the GLINT 500TX delivers The leadingedge 9 GB disk drive capacOpenGL-based application performance to ity builds upon the CLARiiON disk array's rival Silicon Graphics® high-end desktop industry leading attributes, such as: workstations.

• Le a ding RAID capabilities Apple colour inkjet f it s in b r i efcase • Co m pletely redundant components to Apple Canada's new Colour StyleWriter eliminate single points of failure 2200, is a high-quality colour inkjet printer that's small enough to fit in a briefcase. It • Du a l-active storage processors with weighs just over three pounds and measures protected cache lessthan 12 inches acrossand 2.2 inches high.

• Co ncurrent support for multi-RAID Features such as "Desktop Printing," "2-, 4-Up confiigurations (0, 1, 3, 5, and 1/0) •

Pa t ented parity handling algorithms

Printing" and -Watermark" come standard.

It ships with a colour cartridge that has 360 by 360 dots per inch (DPI) colour and mie black printing. The ink is water-resistant 10

W H O LESALER S e p tember 1996 ht t p:Ilevwvccwmag.corn

An optional Nickel-Metal Hydride battery is available. With the battery installed, the Colour StyleWriter 2200 weighs only 4.2 pounds. When battery powered, the user can print approximately 200 pages between charges. An optional universal AC adapter is also available.

The Colour StyleWriter 2200 has an estimated street price of $619 «nd the optional Nickel-Metal Hydride battery has an estimated street price of $109.

IMS} Fastest Growing Productivity Software Company in U.S. Based on data published on the 100 largest PC software companies by market research finn PC Data, IMSI was the fastest ~w ing productivity software company in the U.S. retail market over the past six months.

According to PC Data, the company achieved an increase in retail revenues of 70% during this period. while its ranking among all software companies in U.S. retail sales jumped from number 96 to number 38.PC Data also v erified that I M S I's TurboCAD 2D/3D was ranked the number one best-selling CAD software in the US retail m arket i n May Additionally, Masterclips 3 5 ,000 P r emium I m a ge Collection increased its U.S. retail market share from 3.3% in March to 14.7% in May, placing it among the top three vendors in the clip-art market, and FormTool Gold, IMSI's forms automation product, continued to hold its number one position in the U.S. retail forms software market.

Novell IntranetWare for intranet and Internet Novell s IntranetWare builds on the distributed services found in NetWare 4.11 (code-named Green River) and integrates new intranet and

i n t ernet technologies,

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IntranetWare. along with network applications such as Novell's GroupWise E-mail and collaboration solution and ManageWise network management software, provides businesses with a scalable and secure intranet solution.

IntranetWare is fully compatible with NetWare 4 servers. applications and hardware. enabling users to upgrade their existing networks to networks that use Internet technology.

H itachi Survey Reveals Distribut e d lT Users Worried (NB) A survey into systems management in the distributed computer environment. commissioned by Hitachi Software, has revealedthat many users are anxious about the complexities of client/server over host-based systems management.

According tothe independent survey. which was conducted by PCMC. almost 60

P ep in

percent of systems managers say that client/esrver-based management is more difficult than host-based systems management.

The survey also noted that more than 50 percent ofsystems managers said that systems management was a second thought — i.e., it was not adequately thought through at the time of implementation.

theremainder planned to adopt a form of systems management in the near future. This leaves 24 percent with no planned systems management at this time.

The survey was carried out last month among more than 50 systems, network. and operations managers in the UK public sector and Times Top 1000 organizations. All those surveyed have client/server environments with more than 50 clients based on either Unix or Windows NT.

According to Jones. systems management has been the Cinderella of client/server computing. but, "in reality. without rock solid systems management. distributed computing will never be robust enouah to build a business on."

Tony Jones, professional services manager with Hitachi Software, said that the survey shows that systems management for client/server computing is moving up in terms Interestingly. less than 50 percent of of importance. -It has been a second thought those surveyed use systems managenient for far too long," he said. adding that the tools today. The survey also revealed that report was cominissioned to support a semithere is an inherent need for better quality and nar forthe company's systems management more flexible systems management tools product, JP1. which was designed specificalwhich are easy to use. ly for the distributed environment.

A ccording t o Ric h ard R y an , a spokesperson for PCMC. the findings of the survey confirm two main factors: "Firstly. the newness of client/server computing — people are still finding out how this architecture works andwhat itneeds from them; and secondly, the need for sophisticated systems management tools designed specifi cally for t h i s environment."

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T he k e y objectives of the survey were: to assess the extent to which client/server management is a n i ssue. t o d etermine t h e level ofcurrent and p l a nned usage of softw are: and t o identify the key criteria for selecting software management systems.

Microplex introduces the first server dedicated to digital cameras Microplex Systems Ltd. announces the NetworkEye/270 Frame Server — the first network server dedicated to digital cameras.

This nev. product. which currently supports ConnectixOs PC QuickCam, functions as a standalone web server allowing any workstation equipped with i n dustry standard browserssuch as Netscape or Mosiac to view the digital images generated.

This technology supports applications both internal and external to an organization.

I nternally. a di s t a l c a m era w i t h a NetworkEye placed on a network could be used as a security camera.

Externally. the NetworkEye can be used to enhance a company's web page. A ski resort could display ski conditions and the mountain.

The NetworkEye/270 Frame Server combines a digital camera with a Microplex dedicated network server. Using a single Ethernet 10Base-T connection, the Frame Server can be installed anywhere through a network jack. The device is configured using a simple (fill-in-the-blank) HTML form. The web page used to display the images can be customized to include other pertinent information o r i ma g e s fr o m mul t i ple Network Eyes.

The survey found that , while only 49

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by Jeff Eeuns One often overlooked part of PCs is their audio capability. The latest Pentium processor, or version of Windows, the latest fast, high capacity hard drive, 8X CD-ROM drive, cache RAM, you name it- almost every other component of the average retail PC system gets more coverage in the trade pcs, and more attention from customers, than the PC's audio system. Yet. audio is a key part of the total multimedia experience which has made PCs more attractive in the home and educational markets, Computer resellers can benefit by taking the time to get up to speed with current sound technology, and incorporating info on the advantages of a good PC audio system in their sales efforts, Those who do will reap the rewards that go to resellers who differentiate their products from the competition.

Familiarity Breeds Contempt Although the basic PC motherboard typically comes with only the most rudimentary sound generation capability- a small speaker that makes crude 'beep' and 'boop' sounds to accompany basic system operations- virtutdly every PC sold on today's market has a 16-bit sound card installed in it, allowing users to play CD-audio quality sound from their PC and typically also allowing high quality sound capture on the computer.Creative Labs.one of the pioneers in sound card technology. became the dominant supplier of sound cards to the PC market in the IQSO's. and indoing so, set a de facto standard for sound cards with its Sound Blaster line.

"Sound Blaster compatible" became the rallying cry for niber sound cttrd makers, who

found that sales increased once they had products that conformed to the market leader's standard. Now, it is rare to find a 14

desktop PC. even the cheapest, that doesn't come with a '16bit Sound Blaster compatible" audio capability. Even most current notebooks have Sound Blaster audio c a pability included. However, this s(andard does not mean uniform quality.

Garbage Out...

In the fight for cost reduction, many vendors include poor quality speakers with their PCs. masking much of the potential quality of the sound card. If a reseller trains sales staff to identify customers who want or need good audio playback, and make better quality speakers available, some extra, higher margin business can be done upselling customers to better audio speakers. Canada's largest PC vendor. Compaq, has acknowledged the importance of audio as a selling feature by incorporating state of the art sound cards and Harmon JBL speakers in its new retail PC line.

systems, and large format TVs with good audio features. These customers are more demanding and knowledgeable - they aren' t satisfied with tinny, poor quality sound. A smaller segment are interested in musical composition and performance. Other groups want to do audio recording. operate a speakcrphonc/answering machine system on their PC, or operate a DSVD modem system,

Once a reseller begins to consider audio expertise as a potential selling aid and profit center however. then some questions arise For example, what's the market for PC audio products /

which afiows them to combine voice phone with data transmission over a modem. As well, some users want voice recognition capability. and some wish to author multimedia presentations and software. All of these

Plain Vanilla: Playback Most PC users are only interested in audio playback from various software titles, especially CD-ROM titles, especially games.

In many cases,a generic Sound Blasier audio card and low to mid level quality speakers is finefor this customer. However, a large segment of the PC buyer market are knowledgeableusers of consumer electronics: CD stereo

W H O LESALER September 1996 ht tp: //wwwccwmag.cpm

diverse needs offer a potential market for upscaleaudio components.

IVlaking Waves: Synth C ards and D a u g h t e r Boards Even many mainstream software tides are capable of much better quality sound output if the computer they are being played on has not just CD-audio playback capability,

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MU LTi M E D I A but also music synthesis capability.

The audio hardware that supports this higher quality of synthesized sound. so-called 'synth' or sound cards, have chips which can generate 16-part multitimbral playback on all 16 MIDl (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) channels. Many of these FM synth-based Sound Blaster compatible cards have a connector for attaching so-called 'daughter-boards' that can create wavetable sounds, which give very realistic sound output. mimicking live instruments or voicesperforming.A wide variety of the major audio equipment makers offerthese daughterboards, such as Roland (SCD-158 and SCD-10DB daughterboards), Creative Labs' (Wave Blaster daughterboard), Ensoniq (SoundScape DB daughterboard).

The combinationof a decent synth card, a wavetable daughterboard, and good quality speakerscan make a huge difference in the presentation of audio from a PC. Vendors who want to gain an edge in the retail market would be well advised to have a high quality audio system available to do demonstrations to customers. and to be able to supply high quality audio components to customers who need them.

"probably 40% of our customer baseare professionals and 60% are amateurs.

There are definitely inany more entry level customersnow thatprices have dropped.

They've bought a machine, and know it has musical capabilities. They have a sound card, and may or may not have a MIDI interface. but they come in and ask what kindof music they can make. and wc show them what they can do.

synthe sizer

Audio Peripherals: How Many Products To Carry' In the quest to control inventory. most resellers are properly reluctant to take on a large number of l ow-volume products.

Consequently, rather than add peripheral devicessuch as recordable CD-ROMs, syn-

thesizer keyboards. external samplers, mixers or tape decks, it might be better to stick to the hardware that actually goes inside the computer â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one or more models of MIDI interface. synth card and wavetable motherboard, plus a couple ofsets of speakers.

The View Flem tirle Trenches To get the view from distributors and the retail channel. CCW talked to one of the major Canadian audio card distributors. and to a retailer who specializes in digital music.

According to both. "The major trends are that the digital recording and MIDI music have become accessibleto the, general computer using public in terms of price point. It's not exclusive anymore. You can add good music capability to a PC for under 300 dollars.

Muchof what you need is now standard hardware on many PC and Mac computers."

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The availability of multimedia music instruction software for PCs has had a stimulative effect on the demand for audio cards: "There are lots of CD-ROMs for musical instruction. This helps drive more customers to upgrade theirsound and music equipment on the PC:

M ore M u sical Wind o w s The music hardware product mix has

changed drastically. Until a few years ago. high quality audio was a big-ticket Mac specialty. Then. "it really. really changed as of about a year ago (coincidental with the release of Windows 95 Plug and Play, and the advent of cheap Pentium PCs). The big Mac third party audio developers have seized the Windows opportunity. and developed excellent Windows versions. Now. you have to stock a full line for Windows as well as the Mac. The most popular sound card models for us are the Roland RAP-10 and the Gravis Ultrasound. We sell tonnes of MIDI interfaces. The most popular is the MusicQuest M IDI interf ace,for under $90."

The experienced retai ler emphasized that mostof his customers were repeat business: "there's competition from clone PC retail shops, and direct competition with music stores. To get and keep customers in the audio field, you need to be knov'ledgeable, and to provide service. notjust a commission-driven hard sell."

A large Toronto retailer, who does not wish to be named. says typical margin on sound hardware (audio cards, MIDI interfaces) is 20 -35%, depending on product. and other variables such as sales, bundles. and options.

Both distributor and retailer believe that recordable CD-ROM drives, though pricey now, are to keep dropping in price. The retailer commented. "CD-recordable (CDR) drives wiff come preinstalled in some computers. within a year. They' ll become standardif they gct comparable in price to CD-ROM players.

Computer musical instruments like keyboards and samplers will tend to remain specialty items. since they require a fairly high level of retailer expernse and support." HK9

P EO P L E Thomas Rhoton, formerly director of marketing for Novell Canada. has assumed the position of director of international groupware inarketing for Novell Inc, based in Orem. Utah. Lynn Strum, for-

Novell Canada gets new tnarketing blood Don Chapman. vice president and general

manager of Novell Canada Limited is pleased to announce the following new appointments and

merly national education manager for Novell Canada, has assumed the ptxsition of director of North American marketing for Novell Authorized Education Centres. based in Oreiu, Utah.

additions to the Canadian management team:

Michael Levy has been appointed to the position of director of marketing. overseeing all advertising, public rela-

Steven Murray Appointed General Manager, Computer and Personal information Division for Sony of Canada Ltd. l~

tions and sales support activities. Formerly GroupWare product manager. Levy has held a variety of sales and product management positions

the Sony o f C a nada L td. h eadquarters in Willowdale. Ontario.

Fuji Photo Film gets new Chairman and CEO and President Mr. Minoru Ohnishi hits been appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of I ' u ji Photo Film Co., Ltd.. at the company s Board of

Directors meeting on June 27, 1996. Mr. Masayuki Muneyukihasbeen named President ofthecompany. succeeding Mr. Ohnishi.

Mr. Ohnishi joined Fuji Photo Film Co.. Lul. in 1948

Hiro Sakai, President of Sony of Canada Ltd. is pleased to announce the appointment of Steven

with the WordPerfect and Novell Canada organiza-

Murray as General Manager of its Computer and Personal Infotination Division.

tions since 1992.

Paul Barter, t'oimerly OEM sates manager, has

Mr. Murray will oversee all

been appointedpmduct manager, Groupware and Internet products. Barter will develop and impl»ment product marketing strategies to maximize Novell's GroupWare and Internet product group in the Canadian market. Paul joins Jeff Vogan, NetWare and ManagcWise product manager. in further defining and building Novell s product profile.

sales. marketing and technical support activities for Sony computer products in Canada.

Mr. Murray joins Sony of

Denise Woods has been appointed national education manager. Formerly w i t h I n t ernet Training Group. one of Novell's largest National Authorized Education Centres. Woods will develop and implement a wide range of educational programs for Novell's yawing community of networking professionals across Canada.

Canada Ltd. from Data General (Canada) Co. where hc held several senior sales and marketing management positions.

Computer and Personal Information tCPI) is a division of Sony of Canada Ltd. CPI markets und supports in Canada, their range of multimedia. display and storage, products including Trinitarian monitors. CD-ROM and CD-R drives and digital data storage products. CPI is located at

and has served as the company's

President since 1980. Hc has also provided leadership to numerous indusuy associations in Japan and is the recipient of various awards from governments and industry associations around the world.

Mr. Muneyuki joined Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., in 1959 d d f ih d E conomics D e partment o f Kyoto University. He has held important positions in Fujifilm's Industrial, Office Automation and Magnetic Products Depts. Mr. Muneyuki was appointed a Director of Fuji Photo Film Co.. Ltd.. in 1989, Managing Director in 1990. and Senior

Managing Director in 1992.

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M ARKET

O U T LO O K

Printers are Like Ra~ors Pnnter consumables are like blades to a razor, they provide a steady revenue stream that is more profitable and could, in the life of the hardware, bnng in many times the cost of the initial printer sale.

by Fdrrrrrrrd Traprr uski

~

cre is a riddle. How is rselling computer printers like selling razor»7The answer is simple. The profit doesn't come from the razor. it comes from the razor blade», the proAt in the printer business comes from the printer cartridges and the supphes.

Primer manufacturers don" t view their product» in the same way as PC manufamurers view personal computers. As printer prices have dropped over the years, morc are sold.and the market for consumables. cartridges and»pecial printer paper — is booming. The late»t research 1'rom the Evan» Rcseaislh Corporation predict» revenues fronl supplies and services will eclipse actual printer sales by ) 997.

The nlanufacturcrs ~ould like to nce the middle market, I~

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18 W HOLESALER September1996 nrrrr rrwv~»nwmag.mm

market teadcr HcwlcuPackard. which ha» over half the world's printer market, brings in $3A billion a year 1'rom the ink-jet cartridge and laser toner cartridge busincs». The»c»anrc analysts arc predicting an annual business of glg billion wvrld-wide vvilhin four years 1'roln ircw printer applications. like computerired photography, which have a real thirst 1'or ink,

The printer manufactures are by no means losing inoncy on their hardware, though protil margins on the most popular priced printers can bc as low as 12 per cent.

The profits on consumablcs can run as high as70 per cent. The printer makers welcome thc sale of the hardware as the beginning of a lucrative relationship with their customers,.lt is estimated that over thc life of ahome office PC printerthe average owner spends double on consumables than what was spent on the printer itself. In an office. where printing sometimes never stops. the aAermarket can easily reach four or t tve limes the initial price of the printer.

Although sales really started taking off only in 1993. ink-jet is the hottest segincnt of the printer market with Canadian revenues growing lo almost $305 million in 1996. They will account for more than 35 per cent of printer sa)es in Canada in 1996.according to the latest data from Evans Research Corporation. Laser cartridges still make up about 75 pcr cent of the consumablcs market but they bring in the lower profit of about 20 to 25 pcr cent, As an older technology they have long been cloned long ago by rival suppliers. On lhe other

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hand. profit margins on ink-jet cartridges frequently stan at 6II percent and cun have hundreds of patents protecting a single ink-jet cartridge. Printer engineer» are moving much of the printer head technology intn the plastic ink package.

Paper is another potential high-mur in consumable in the printer market. The printer companies are moving into»pe«ialized media such as iran»parencics or»pecially coated pupers fvr high quahty print-aut. Ever) month Canon»cll» a miilinn t-»hirl tran»fcrs. which allo»« a printed image tn be ironed onto clothes. at S I 8 for u pacl' of IO. Hewlett-Packard is th e u n disputed leader in the

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colvurTVs v ere so expensive.Nnw everybody svatches colour TV. There is no demand for black and svhitc."Thc »tune situation is happening in the prinler market.

Mr. Kit«jinn« sees this trend happening up and down the printer market. in the home office. the small vffi«e and the «vrpnralc nFicc.

Xerox Canada is trying tv stimulate colour printer use und increase it» ink-jet offerings. For Xerax the concept of the aftcrmarl ct as a profit center is a familiar one. I rom its copier husinc»» Xertlx ha» learned the • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • value oi iis toner and paper suppiics and serb e en a ble t o g e t O v e r i s v v h y t h e vice husine»s. "The •

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«nues with nearly 40 CO r l ett per cent. It» market be«au»e of il»»lrnng pcrfvrtnancc in t he ink-jct nlurket. The number iwn vendor.

annuity."

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added opporlunity for m a l i ng money nn sup-

Lianne Fielding. Xerox manager ot' channels • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • $ • • • • • ntufkettng. - bell t hc bnx a» cheap u» you can and you' re makin • mnncy vn the ink-jet «artridgc». »vhich are lhe rarvr blade». "

ing nlarket »h;lre. The two leader» hold roughly three quurlcr» of lhe ink-let market betsve«n them.

vt>lunle». »av» Jerry Di;lknw. generill ln,'ul;Igef Can«ill;ul vperulloll»

Tile corporate printer nlurkel i» being driven iu twv direction», a«cording tv Catherine Mvrg;m, «orpvralc hurd copy prado«t manager ut Hclvlctt-Packard C;uluda Limited. Document nulnugemcni i» cllunging I'rom print und di»tribute to di»tribute utd print. In»tend nf print one lmd make multiple cnpic» for circulation, the new Ixlradigm tule» advantage of n«tsvorking»o i»dividu d documents are »ent imt ivr Printing by lhe recipient.

ul Okidatu. number lhre« in the la»er lnark«t und trying lv grow in the ink iei sector. He says printers ure the vchi«l« to»«ll cnn»uolubie» und lhc Prntit come» t'rom the repeal bu»ine»» in these con»umuble»."The key i» I'or rc»eller» tn»tn«k lhc»e cnn»utnuhlc»." he »u)'». 'Sante cntl ll»«n» inlil it ilia»:ull ta lind u parti«alar cllftl'idge and urc literally in» punic when they run nut he«au»e they don't knos» where la buy it."

Bccau»«ni' the cnnnectivity lhul i» required there is u lnt of opportunity to udd value. The nlunugcmcnt vf printers is becoming as important tn large corporate accnunt» a» the management of PCs. i« thc niher stream. There is a he»itaThcadoption t'colour o tian in Ihe corporate culture to Alon inln colour ton quickly. particuhuly because of ae»lhetic and design i»»ue». There is «n excellent opportunity. «ccvrding io Catherine Morgan. for cvn»ultunt» to assist with the evolution.

-1'he truth has to bc rccognixed that the co»t per page for older technnlvgie» i» higher than if yau »ventvut and bought a newer technology. So the ne»ver ink jet te«hnvlogy. even with colour.cnd» up costing you less.VAR» huve to stand up and say

Be«au»c tllcre i» Ics» clone product in ink-jct ihan in other categories there i» less supply and higher demand. Thai mean» these svould hc thc products that offer more protit when they lue »old. They also drav consumers in to shop I'vr other produ«t». If the customer cun»cc lhe con»ulnuble» where thc)' bought tl'le printer they knosv for sure that i» one pla«c they can go hack to gct the product.

lb at."

Canon Canada'» senior manager of marketing. Neil Kituji lna. also attributes a large part ai the su«ac»s of ink-jet printer» to an inlcre»t in colour. Ink-jet technology makes the ptice ieap from monochrome tv colour very small.-it'» just like the television markeC' he says."Peoplewould buy monochrome TVs nnlybecause

20

W H OLESALER Septettlbar996 I

»np.nwww ccwmag.con

Thc inc»pen»ive prie» of ink-jct printers bring»about high

Sandy Cnrlctl, vice prc»ident printer nlurkeling ut Lcxmark Canada»uy» the trend for network printing i» tmvards higher resolution wiih more sophisticated paper handlina and electronic form capability and higher processing speed. On lhc desktop the growth in ink-jct started in the home und migrated to the oftice. Ivith high »peed». beucr quality and more reliable ink at lower cost they approaching laser performance, and colour is free.* %hat I haven'l been able to get over is why the rc»ellers are nol morc active in the »uppiies business." Mr. Corlctt »ay». "They dnn't »cern to be as aggres»ive as lhe supplies dealer» or lake it as seriously. A print«r «re«tea un annuity." 8%5

C OLU M N The Culver City. Calif., company then offered dissatisfied buyers — 700.000 of t hem worldwide — a f u l l r e fund or an improved version of the product. In Canada, distributor Ingram Micro described SoftRAM as one of its topsellers.

Panasonic wins with Canadian Olympic Rowers Panasonic hit gold when it signed up to sponsor Canada's Olympic R o wing team. The two-year deal cost $250.000 but paid off handsomely when the team brought backsix medals — one gold, four silver and one bronze — from Atlanta.

The idea of going with the rowers came from Panasoniccorporate communications manager Ian Kilvert who says he was amazed thai other companies did not even enter the race. After all. the team had won four goldsand a bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Panasonic's video cameras TVs and VCRs helped team members study what they weredoing frame by frame in a sport where the height of an elbow or tilt of a head can make all the difference between a medal and nothing. When rowers — gold medalist Marni M cBean was a p r i me example — argued about whatthey were doing,head coach Brian Richardson only had to produce a tape to make his point,

Panasonic could not use the Olympic rings in their advertisements. IBM had bought the exclusive hi-tech rights to that.

But it is the favorite to sign the rowers up again for more international events over ihe nextfour years and the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

And. while Panasonic ads have mostly been for the company's audio-visual products expect to see the rowers sticking in their oars on behalf of Panasonic laptop computers. printers, CD-ROMs and hard drives.

Seven out of 10 said printed material was a "very effective' marketing tool.

NEC's and Packard Bell' s Canadian operations integrated It didn't take long for NEC and Packard Bell to consummate their marriage. The worldwide merger of NEC's PC operations outside Japan and China with Packard Bell to create Packard Bell NEC was announced on June 4.

1996. In August. the companies Canadian arms announced the first seps to extending the merger to this country. I Former NEC Technologies Canada sales and marketing vice president Greg Myers is now in chargeof the combined PC systems products within the NEC division of Packard Bell NEC. He is responsible for NEC's Versa notebooks,PowerMate commercialand Ready consumer desktops and ProServa servers which confinue as NEC brands in the amalga-

ln May, the developer said it was on target to meeting its July schedule for introducing SoftRAM 96, its revamped version of the much-criticized product. It now says it will be available well before year s end.

rnated enterprise.

Microsoft Canada and EMj ink deal

Myers says: -Packard Bell NEC's time to market capabilities. world-class manufacturing competency and flexibility will serve to make NEC-branded products more readily available to rcsellers. retailers and end-users than ever before. Business partnersand customers should continue to expect a high level of support and service for all NEC branded products whetherthey are provided by Packard Bell NEC or NEC Technologies' Patrick Kewin, former eastern region salesdirector for NEC Technologies Canada has joined Myers as national sales director.

Clifford Rowlands. former western sales director, is now national sales director for NEC Technologies Canada.

EIVIJ Data Systems has landed a big one.

Microsoft Canada has signed the Guelph..

Ont.. based company as national distributor for all its products.

Packard Bell NEC and NEC Technologies Canada v ill each have iis own sales. marketing. engineering and customer support resources.

New Okidata figures should help boost efforrs to sell color pri nters to small business. Rowlands says: "The new arrangement will The c ompany c o mmissioned I m pulse allow NEC Technologies to become a more Research Corp. of Los Angeles. to survey 200 nimble and entrepreneurial marketing compacompanieswith fewer than 200 employees; ny focusing on existing industry-leading most had fewer than eight and found while 71 peripherals and innovative technologies for multimedia and the Internet.per cent thought color printing gave them a business advantage over competitors only 29 Second shot at doubling RAIN pcr cent actually used a color printer for their Remember Syncronys Softcorp, tbe softmarketing materials. ware developerwhich ran into hcavy weather The survey also revealed that 72 per cent over its bestselling Windows95 SoftRAIVI. used a PC and printer to produce such things Syncronys said the program doubled memoas brochures. flyers and direct mail letters. ry. Consumer tests showed it didn t.

But few produced theirown business cards.

Okidata aims colour at SOHO market

Syncronys, without admitting liability, subscqucntly consented to a U S F ederal Trade Commission order. agreeing to substantiate any future product-related marketing statements regarding SoftRAM and other products.

Last month (Aug, ), at M acWorld.

Boston. Syncronys gave away 5,000 demo disks for its RAM Charger Mac memory optimization utility which is now retailing at a suggested US$39.95. The demo version can be downloadedfreefrom the company's website at www.syncronys.corn.

"As a result of the response we received at MacWorld and the rapidly-growing number of Mac users downloading the full RAM Charger program... we are planning for a rapid ramp-up of sales,'* said Syncronys executive marketing v-p Daniel Taylor.

Says general manager Jeff Dossett: "Microsoft Canada is very pleased to add a distributor of EIVIJ's calibre to its customer service network." EIVU president Jim Estill responded: -EMJ's strength in the area of I nternet t e c hnologies, m a t ched wfl h Microsoft's Internet strategy lays the foundation for an effective and long-lasting partnership."

EMJ describes itself as a highly-focused distributor with a specialized range of products with a core competency in client-server technology.

Microsoft commented that the addition of superior technical support, particularly for Windows NT. and its growing array of Internet and Web products. "should generate considerable market momentum '— that, in plain English, means sales — for the VARs who form thc majority of EMJ's customers.

EMJ wil l f o cu s o n N T p r o d ucts.

BackOffice server software, and Internet products and

d e v eloper t o ol s i n c l uding

FrontPagc, Visual C++ and the Microsoft Internet Information Server.

EMJ, a public company, has offices across Canada. in the US and Hungary. RK9

hrtp:Inewwcanmagcom S eptember 1996 W HOL E SALER 2 1

N ETWO R K I N G

Pitfalls to avoidwhenbuilding IANs Some VARs (value added reselicrs) who have experience setting up LANs I'local area networks) feei thcv can make some easy bucks by extending thc LAN inio a WAiW (widearea network) by throwing in a fev routers and hooking up a fcw remote offi«es. Hove tough can it be. righty Morc and more small VARs are deciding that (here is good inoney in WANs. particularly since the going rate for WAN specialist is often 5125 per hour and up. compared to $40 to $70 per hour for LAN services.

Unfortunately, (hey sometimes don't realize that unless you are careful it is easy to lose money and upset clients doing what appears to be a simple WAN project, I(' you are thinking of entering the WAiN business you would be wise Iu keep (he folhlwing points in min(I: Don't huy the cheapest hardware. A typical WAN requires remarkably little hardware and can often be created for as linle as 51500 per site. Unlike a LAN project where initial hardwi(rc costs of(cn arc qui(e large. the operating costs for a WAN can quickiy surpass th«

lt is not uncommon to see datacomproducts being sold t nd users at 1oaAI t

sia

gi

The hardware (s a single point of Ia(lure.

Losing a single PC or sometimes even a single servermay notmake a bigdifference in acom pany's productivity. bui if a gateway router goes down so does ihe company s abiiity to interact with the outside world. Although most datacoin equip((tent comes with u !varranty. your «lien( must realize that ii usually means that the unit must be returned (o the factory 6!r repairs which can sometimes take weeks. In the meantime. the orgamzation is still paying for its internet connection ar leased lines aiid nobody is getting their e-mail.

For this reason, i( is crucial that the client has cxtcnded support agreement where thc VAR stocks spare equipmcn( and con(mhs io a rapid response to a network failure. You should be aware that datacom equipment can hc di(fi(iiitlal hardware Invcs(n(cn(. Coil!pare(i Io cuh tu obtain in a hurry. and while maji!r cornEthernet. telephon« iines and data services like putcr wholesalers like Meriscl and Tech Data X.25 and frame relay are very expensive, so it are in«reasingly stocking daiacom products crui be worth spending a little morc on cquip- siicli as routcrs, Icaii umcs uf scvl.i'iil weeks for mem if they will nnnimize thcsc long term a unit are noi uncommon. You need to stock emergency spares I'or your kcy clients and expenses. keep their configuraiions on record and you A simple frame relay rouier. for example. may «lsoneed io provide 24 hour suppon for may not have the congestion and flow control some applications. Often the VAR can scil an sophisticaiion to make the best use of the extended manufacturer s warran(y which probanda idth. Also, a cheap router may not allow vides for rush shipments and toll-free tech supynu io prioritize (raine so that video conl'cr- port„hut this obviously reduces ihe vaiue encing traflic. for example, has precedence added componentof thc deal and reduces cusover simple e-maiLor provide for IPX spooftomer loyally. ing to minimize line charges. Your cgcnt will Labour cosis tend to be high. Ii is imporonen not be aware that (hese features are even tant io realize that a WAN project, by def(niavailable. and saving a few Iiundred doilars by tion. involves multiple sites and thai a single choosingcheap. fca(ure poor.equipmentmay be a costly mistake in thc long run. and the technician is not usually that c(fec(ive in client wig blame you when their phone bills go installing or troubleshooting a project because both ends of the link must he monitored at through the roof. once. Labour costs and travel costs are conseIt is important that you leave your client quently that much higher than LAN projects. It with a growthpath. By trying to save a few dolcan take a Iong time to troubleshoot a WAN lars nn a rou(cr. you may not give your client installation because there are so many environthe ability to connect to additional sites in the mental variables involved - the end user applifuture or take advantage of nev telco services cation. the interoperability of the devices or more efficient routing protocols. Generally (routers with modems or FRADs (frame relay speaking, a chassis basedsolution cvhere addiaccess device) or ISDN equipment). thcqualitional WAN (nodules can easily be added. is ty of rhe telephone lines, ihe code in the router. more expensive than a stand-alone router but it (he local cabling configuration. etc. may be worth paying for the Aexibility.

22

W HOLESALEI( September 1996hup.t eww cnvmag.mn>

Make sure you sei the customer s expec; Iaiions accordingly hy letting them know that it (nay take a while tu ivork ihe bugs oui, and avoid

getting involved in the finger poiniing which can occur between differ ent manufacturers, thc phon« «ompany and the application vendors.

Ge( (o knov' ihe telephone company. If you are thinking of doing a WAN project for a «lien( vou should he:nvarc that working with the local telephone company can sometimes he u painfui experience. Particularly in the case of ISDiN, where you frequently have new phone swi(ches interacting v ith new rnu(ers. having an established relationship with people ai the phone company can save you hours of 1'rustration when troubleshooting an installation.

You should start cultivating strong relationships with key telco people as sm!n as passible and. if th«client is paying you (' or project nuuiugemc nt skills, you wili need to know how

tn order phone lines and work with the phone company u! ci!nic up iviih the most cos( effective service pii(n for the «lien(.

Be prepared I'or price competition. IVAN hardv arc is available through widespread distribuIion and very fe! vendors have certil(catiiin requirements so ii is quite easy to ohmin popular equipment. Unt'ortunaicly, Ibis also nieans thai yuu may have lots of competi(ion

for the business and ii is not uncommon Io sce da(ac»m products being sold to cnd users at 10% (o 15% margin. IVhilc Ihi» may sound Iciiipiing con(pared to I'azar Ilu(1 PC iiiafgiils.

don"t forget that a typical ISDN router for example. may only cosi S1500, so your total mar(rn is only a couple of hundred dollars.

Unless you know what you are doing. that margin can disappear quickly in tech support time.

Despi(c the fact that WAN products arc increasingly available through traditional PC channels and manufacturers are advertising in LAN oriented publications, wide area networking is still a specialized skill set. It can become a valuable revenue stream over time hut don t expect tha( your first few projects will go smoothly and it may be wonh subcon(racting the WAbl portion of a project to a more experienced VAR or consultant until you get the hang of it.

Seat( Elrington spe«iaii-es i» ii'ide area acta'ori'ing and se«uritv issues. He r at( ite

reurhed at (6 9 4) 4 7 3-2574 or e -I(tail( seaueC'zed. ca

J~

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Salnsung Group and America's Coming havebegun jointproductinn ofglasssubstrates for liquid crystal display (I,CD) screens. reporLS the Korea Economic Daily. The joint venture. Samsung Corning Pre)dsion Glass. hvill turn vut 100.000 units per month. Thiis wdl satisfy around 40% of domestic demand for 370 millimeter (mm) by 470mm iubstrates. said the rcpnrl. The company is also planning prvduction of larger. 550mm by 650mm. substrates by next February. (Korea Economic Daily. Auaust 16) •

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Nippon Telegraph and Telephone was named ~umbervnc in a ranking vf Japanese companies' taxable income. the first time il was tvp in eight years. according tn credit research and rating agency Teiknku Datahank.

Thc telecommunications provider had a total ot'384.8 billion yen (S3.85 billion) in taxable income in tiscal 1995. up 328.4% from thc previous year.In second place was the Japanesecentralbank. the Bank nf Japan.

Following werc Toynla Motor Corporation.

Tokyo Elerlric Power Company, and Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank.

Pioneer Electric. Japan's leading maker of Karaokcequipment.announced a return (v profits in the first quarter nf fiscal 1996. The company said it achieved proiits of 804 millionyen (S7.42 millinn) in the three n)oaths lv June vn the back of ilrong sales in thc audio sector. In the sante period last year. Ihe companv made a loni of I.t(" bill)nn vcn (S16.81 million). Fvr the full finailcial year.

Ihc company p~edicted a loss of 11.60 billion yen (SI07.11 million). To aid in its return tn Profitability, Pioneer said it would nftcr earlv retirentent to 9,000 ivnrkcrs.

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Japan s Oki Fiecuic ii lv increase outpul of computer printers at i(s Thai subsidiary. Oki (Thltiland). I'eporti Business Day. The cnnlp;I-

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I.uji(su Ltd, has an»vunced a ncw syi(cm in(endedto extend thc Personal Handyphnne Systeni to the vftice PBX (privlltc hranch exchange). It cvnsisti of a baie unit thol con-

AV XVIII turn Ilui 30(7>nlvre printcrS ln bring total production to 1.56 ntillion printers per

year be(ore (he end of next year. The company's plan( in knjana Induitrial Park. Ayutthaya. will bc expanclccl tn allo'iv for the IACTcased production. Currently. 45'7i nf all output is dei -

necli to lhe PBX and ilx lttu)dyphvne)L. Within lh>« otftce. Ihe UIII(scan bc used, as lf connecl-

cd t() Ihe office telephone system. I'i>r both incoming and outgoing calli, Outiidc ot ti)e OAice.Ihc handict can hc used on the NTT I'ersonal PHS nctwnrl.

lincd I'iir Eurnpe. thc,iantc altinunt to the L(S and thc remainder tn Asia iaid thc neiiip;lper,

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) is lo begin a nchv confcrencirlg iystcm for large grnupi of useri. The ne>A "Chorus Line" service. from NT T a n d a lTiliale NTT Hvkuriku Tclmai:. Avitl begin on Monday and all()vv up tn 00 uieri to Isarticipate in a conference call al the iame time. Call» hvill he hand)ed by teams, of special nperatori al centers in Tokyo and Ka)tar;Ihva. Uiiigc ralei i'or Ihe scinlice hvill compriie (>f the regular telcphnnt.' tees plus onl lltc ch«ll'gh',i of tin>unci 3()

yen (80.28) per minnie.

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N EW S S Y T E S burse an operating loan. The preferred shares are convertible to common shares at the holder's option until August, 1998.

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AST Launches tii otebook And INulti-Vser System

Vector Claims Videoconferencinei First Toronto-based Vector Videoconfercnring inc. claimed ii has the first multipoint vidcoconfercncing service that lets participants in a conferenceview four sites aithe same time.

Unlike most systems. which allow participants to see one other site at a time. Vector said. this system can display images from any four sites on the same snccn, and lets patticipants select those four images froin a total of t 6 sites. The service uses a Multipoint Control Unit from Lucem Technologies inc, •

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Advanced brevis Directors Sack Takeoves Offer Thc directors of A dvanced Gravis Computer Technology Ltd. of Vancouver, have recommended to shareholders a takeover bid by Acco World Corp. Acco World. which makes office products, and computeraccessories, is offering 45 cents a share for Advanced Gravis, which makes soundcardsand computer input

AST Canada Inc.. of Mississauga.

Ontario. announced the Ascentia J20 notebook computer (Newsbytes, August 12) and the C c ntraLAN mu l t i-user s y s tem (Newsbytes, July l l ) . The Ascentia J20. designed for the retail market, has a Canadian list price of $2,599. The CentraLAN system. a Pentium-based machine that can support as many as l6 users on "thin client" vorkstations wired to the main system. is expected to have street prices starting around $8.400 for four users. without monitors. AST Canada said. It is due to begin shipping late in Allgllsk

(BBS) after a raid on July 30. Opeiators of the Beyond Akin board have been charged with distributing illegal copies of software from Symantec Corp. and its subsidiary Delrina (Canada) Corp.. «nd from Microsoft Corp.

According to the charges. one of the operators of the BBS also sold, for $70, a CD'ROM containing unauthorized copies of Microsoft. Delrina. and Symantec software packages.

Michael Eisen, general counsel for the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST) in Toronto. tokl Newsbytes his organization had been hearing reports about the Beyond Akim board for some time. hut began a serious investigation in late March after a caII to CAAST's anti-piracy hotline provided acontact phone number for the board,

CAAST and the Business Software Alliance (BSA), of Washington DC. both of Apple Canada Launches which are organizations that focus on cnrnbating software piracy. have filed a lasvsuit in Pot)ver INacs A pple Canada Inc., i n M a rkham. the Fcdera) Court of Canada, seeking damages, $100,()()0 in punitive damage», an Ontario. has announced new models in its Power Macintosh linc based on thc recently accounting of the defendants" profits. interest ind Iega) costs. plus an injunction io stop furintroduced PowerPC 604e microprocessor. ther distribution of the xokware. Fi»cn said Among the new models is thc mu)ti-processor Power Macintosh 9500/180MP. with an the plaintiffs have already obtained a teinporary injunction against futther distribution of estimated street price of $8,600 with 32 megabytes (MB) of memory, a two gigabyte thc software, Eisen said this is the first time CAAST (GB) hard drive. and an SX CD-ROM drive. has bccn involved in civil charges against a Similarly configured. ihc Power M ac bulletin board system for software piracy, but 9500/200 is expected to scil for about $7,450 and the 8500/IN) I'or about $6,850. he added that "there are other boards heing With 16MB of memory. a 1.2GB drive, and watched and I expect that there will be other an SX CD-ROM, the new Power Mac proceedings."

7600/132 has an estimated stree> price of about $4.600.

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TechnicalProblems Sehind Sony

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Data (aeneral Announces Cybershield

devices such as joysticks. Gravis said its bank has extended the company's credit facilData General ( Canada) Co „ in ity for the period of' the bid. Earlier, Gravis had reported it was negotiating a private Mississauga. Ontario, launched Cybershield. placement wit h Y a nion I n t ernational a secure Internet server based on its Aviion technology. The Cyhershicld system will start Holdings Ltd. at $68.000, the company said, including an • 5 • • • Aviion server. DG/UX operating system with INernotec Completes B2 security options. Cybershield Secure Internet Software, Open Market inc.'s Secure Private Placement WebServer Version 2.0. and implementation Metnotec Communications Inc., a services.

Montreal-based maker of communications products, said it has completed a private placement of 1.1 million preferred shares to Toronto SSS Cisarqed 1NIth Piracy a yeup of foreign investors. raising $4.675 Softwarepiracy charges have been laid million. Memotec said it plans to use the net against a Toronto bulletin board system proceeds of the private placement to reim-

DVD DelayT Sony Corporation's decision to delay launch of its digital video disk (DVD) players until spring next year may not solely be due to market considerations. Industry sources, closeto the DVD consortium. have suggested to Newsbytes that technical problems may lie at the root of thc decision, •

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INatsusbl'tis Announces First DVD Products Matsushita iElectric Industrial Co. has announced its first, and the industry's first. digital video disk (DVD) players. Thc company will begin selling two DVD players and a TV with integrated DVD player later this year in Japan.

sm,ris c + maq.mn September 1996

W H OLESALER 25

F EAT U R E

Qur Biggest Ever

hy Chri~ Fisher rsrsdCCVY Test Lub Frjitors

The contendef's Wc asked various vendor» to send in usury-level systeins for this review. We received a plethora nf di>creat contiguratinns running froni I00 to ling MHz. This makes sorting nut the relative pcrforrnance of thc dilT«ring, machines a liule complex. However. it is t'air tu say that if a machine is fast in its particular processor category, it would likely be a fast machine if thc processor werc upgraded (or for that matter dnvrngradedk relative to the particular class of processor that is used.

Logistics ahvays dictate that we miss scveralcandidat«s forreview Companiesin the process of swapping models. detnos of certain systems being unavailable. and even PR. personnel swapping jnbs can get in the way of acquiring machines for testing. This month. some significant players with robust programs for rescllers «re missing: Advance Interface. AST. Compaq, and HP, to name a few. Companies such as Dell Canada may also be worth investigating. They do not have aformal reseHer program. but.underspeci Ticcircumstances, will negotiate relationships on an individual basis, The structure of this Lab Test is simple: in the ac«ompanying chan you wiH find aH the specihcations for each machine, contact numbers, pricing and one or two other handy piecesof infortnation. The benchmarks for each machineaccompany the specs.The higher the numbers. the bener performance the machine offers. Rather than boring reseHers with our interpretation oF the merits and demerits of the various systems, we poHed the various distributors and askedthem togive usa pitch asto why a reseHerwould warn to carry their systems over the competition s. This information offers reseHers a look into how various potential suppli-

ers dobusiness and what they consider astheircore competencies. Without further. ado here they are.

26 W HOLESALER

Septem ber

1996

a i p:(newman«xma r s corn

F EAT U R E sortium," says John Sammons, BAPCo president. "BAPCo's development procedures To benchmark PCs and notebooks for ensure that SYSmark/32 users receive an Canada Computer Wholesaler, we use objective software tool that measures perbenchmark software f r o m B u s iness formance based on how PCs run applicaApplications Performance Corp. (BAPCo). tions in the real world."

The latest version ofthis software, SYSmark SYSmark/32 contains eight 32-bit /32 (released in mid-June), is an application-based benchmark for PCs running applications that «an be executed under Windows95 and Windows NT. We will elab- Windows95 and Windows NT (versions 3.5'I and 4.0 beta 2). The applications are:

How We Tested

orate a little here using information from

the company'sWeb site,www,bapco.corn.

BAPCo measures the "real world'" performance of comp u t er s r u n n i ng Windows95 and Windows NT applications.

BAPCo, a non-profit corporation comprising leaders in the PC industry, develops objective p benchmarks based on popular computer applications and industry-standard o p erating s y stems, SYSmark/32 is designed for three basic market segments: end users who make purchasing decisions for computers running Windows95 and Windows NT business applications; hardware developers that need a tool to analyze and tune products under development; and software developers that want to optimize the perf ormance o f t h e i r W i n dows95 a n d Windows NT applications.

B enchmarking w o r kloads w i t h i n SYSmark/32 represent the most popular programs for word processing, spreadsheets, database, desktop graphics, desktop presentation, and desktop publishing.

Workload scripts have been developed based on a survey of how the latest versions of application software are exercised in actual user environments. SYSmark/32 is a complete program that includes the following components: application software, scripts, and data necessary to run the workloads; automated running of workload scripts through the software's Workload Manager; a user interface that simplifies testing and ensures uniform and correct running of the benchmark scripts; and automatic generation and storage of test results and system configuration information. "This is the only benchmark of its kind developed by a worldwide, non-profit «on-

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SYSmark/32 is available to the public for $99. The benchmark was developed and is fully supported by the current BAPCo membership, which i n dudes: AER Energy Resources, Amdahl, Apricot Computers,AT8 T Global Information Solutions, Client/Server Labs LLC, Compaq, Dell, Digital Equipment «orp., Duracell, EMAP Computing Labs, G ateway2000, H e wlett-Packard, I B M, InfoWorld, Intel, Lotus, Microsoft, Motorola, NEC Technologies, Texas Instruments, Unisys and Ziff-Davis Labs.

An Affair With BAPI( o BAPCo is an impressive program to execute on a PC. Because it runs for a period of several hours, anyone looking to catch a customer's attention should consicler having a copy of BAPCo running on a computer in the showroom. It would also be worthwhile running SYSmark on systerns before they go to customers and to

test potential new hardware you are considering stocking. BAPCo is quite an exhaustive test; configuration conflicts and hardware problems will often cause the program to crash at some point in its execution. Even if a machine does make it all the way through the benchmark,BAPCo

will sometimes help pinpoint problems that would otherwise go unnoticed. During this survey, we got results back from a machine that seemed suspiciously low (a Pentium 100 MHz with a SYSmark of 68). Further investigation revealed to us that the COAST module onthe machine was dead.

Over the last year we have used different incarnations of BAPCo's software to benchmark around 200 PCs. It never fails that several PCs will not run the entire test.

The question becomes, if a PC can't make it through a few iterations of running the most popular software of the day, how much time and money is being wasted trying to resolve problems that are out of both the customers and support persons hands.

The latest version SYSmark /32 had problems running on approximately one quarter of the machines we looked at. In some cases, we had to run each of the application tests individually to obtain scores for the machines. Unfortunately, we can't draw any solid condusions from this, as BAPCo admits that there are some problems with the benchmark's stability running on versions of Windows 95 other than 4.00.950, On several systems we had to go back and install one of t hese original Windows 95 releases to get the benchmark to run reliably. On a couple of machines, this couldn't be achieved in a timely fashion due to lack of hardware drivers. For this time around, because of the complexity of the issue and the controversy that it will raise, we are not going to divulge this information. In future issues of CCW, however, we will bring the issue to the floor, as it is in the resellers best interest to know if a machine is stable, Our experience shows us thatsome system builders are better than others in this area. llrrp:/l1vu'l~: bQpco.cQIÃ

30 Micro

I 0

Systems Branded: PC and Bondv,ell Authorization Requirements: Resellers require store front svith space Io demonstrate systems, a service area with aI least one full-ume technician. be willing to promote the product by advertising and participating in the co-op propam - newspaper. radio. TV programs. a hea)thy credit situauon. bttp./hr~mv~ g,rom September 1996

WHOLESALER 27

F E AT 0 8 E Wlarketing Support: Co-vp advertising funds for authorized reseHer 45% reimbursements an advcnisem ents prc-approvedclose svorking relationship with sales rep to develop region and store.

1>vtaintensnce Relationship: Service technicians dedicated for any service inquires by resellers. Depot warranty available for both rescllers and end users across Canada.

Volume Discounts: There are special volume incentives for authorized resellers.

Demo Unitst Available for authorized resellers.

Support: Documentation for entire system.

Vendor Comments: N/A Editor's Notes: The 1PC and Bvndwell machines come with some extra features that arc not 1'vund on other PCs They are the vnty vendor in the survey to provide systems with 33.f> Kbps faxmvdems and the IPC system v e looked at came equipped with an FM radio tuner. These could prove extrcnaely auractive to end users.

and engineered. Systems are designed for >n«lrin>ed/a and <om>ntt»icatian by taking Ekl/into a«'<>un>."

Editor's Notes: The Cvmpucvn system came with one of the best sct of accompanying documentation of all systems wc have seen. A relatively simple thing to accomplish. putting aH documentation into a logical order in a labeled thumhtabbcd three-ring hinder. The bcnchmarks for the Cvmpucon machine were highly acceptable.

Canada. Can>t>r>n/c has s«sfa>ned graevlh el'e'>yye nn Can>tn>nic h<ts <> Pcps Inc«ted acmss Can«<la, allo>ving Canttron>'< tn oger nntin>nvldc s«ppnn nnd senice for a/I of nur clt'ents.0«r existing client base in the <listrihntion senor includes aver I./I00 reseliers, system integvntars. and re>«i/ outlets. /Iesides distribution, >veh«> e esp««</ed<»t>/in «s inta n>nnt>f«< t«ring systen>s and <>J oe>'i>tg u f» II variety of sere i< es, stq>p<>rt and <Ymtp«ling sahuin»s.

0«>. gna/ is ta b<'c>m>e n c<>n>pet/tive n>n>n>-

ComPUCoh Authorization Requirements: Reseller candidates ca>mnt hc geographically located near existing authorized rcsellers. distance between rcsellers is subject to tlte discretionvfCnmpucon 11 larketing Support: End user leads referred back tv nearest reseller. funds available to support marketing nf Compucvn by dealer (e.g., sharing parr vf advertising and cost of exhibitions) Maintenance Relationship< Reseller acts as the I'rvnt end for customer support.Final warranty by manufacturer as d epot. Free t e chnical s u pport f r o m Compucon tv Reseller.

Volume Dlscountsr

Available Demo Units: Available at discount prie>ng - one demo unit per authorized reseller for shop display.

Support: Fullsetof hardware manuals. warranty certificate. all documentation for future hardware purposes to end user.

Vendor Comments: "Systems are designed ta meet ind«stria/ server standards ns if they evil/ be re>«ning in

a 24-/u>«>; nan-st<>p sltap. 3 II compnnents and imernni system layn«t is caeef<>IIy selected 28

Volume Discounts: Dealer pricing determined on an individual case basi~, dependent on quantity. nature of order. and purchasing arrangements.

Demo Units: Custom evaluation units available for testing upon request of approved dealers Support: National 1-809 hotline, Wcb site with online catalog and product information. Technical serviceand support.e-mail correspondence, and fax bark.

Vendor Comments: "Co>«>runic is a national distributor a f brand-na>ne and OFN/ camp«ter systems, m>tltimediapa<>/<<tges.penp/>era/s, />ardkvnre, sofreeare. at>d <an>panents. Lst<tb//s/ted in /<tg7, Can>ten«i c has become one of Can«<h> "s tnp-ten ca>nputer distrib«tars.

En>pl<>ying over 200 peapl» thro«ghnut

fan«eve afhigh rp>ality <ah><'-drie en PCsysten>s >chile stri > ing ta de< elnp Iong-teel velatinnships with progressive can>pun/vs. N>» ce>««nit to the quality af a«r prnduns tf>at are ba< I ed by « fi>ll Cr>mtronic >vnrrantu"

ENce ic4«<e<e<L «ceg

CoflAII'Ohilc Sept. 1996 Systems Branded; A-Open-P133.

Comax-P120 Authorization Requirements: Must be a reseller. VAR. Sl, consultant. etc.

Marketing Support: Nation wide marketing and advertising campaigns for products in both industry and cnd user publications. POP and marketing materials. product literature for approved dealers.

Custom cv-op marketing programs for individual resellcrs. product sales incentive programs, and product training.

Maintenance Relationship: Comtrvnic and manufacturers wa rranty forall products sold. Two years pans and labour warranty on all systems. On-site service available. Nation-wi<te complet» service and RMA depanment for all resellers and their customers.

V / H QLESALER September 1996 heep.«vms><cevmas.ee»>e

Editor'sNotes: Comtrvnic sent in two systen>s, one under the Comax brand name using a Cyrix 6x86 processor and vnc under the A-Open brand name using an intel Pentium processor. Both machines performed well in their respective cia'sscs

EfhPaC Sntems Branded: Azufa

ee.e>s< U,«e<< I

Sept. t 996

Authorization Requirements: Must be a computer reseller Marketing Support: Retail box and foam Maintenance R elat ionship Resellers can offer own support and can upgradesystem e.g.fax modem networking Volume Discounts: Yes, for government, school boards, Universities, and Canada top-SOO companies.

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Master could make such a statement! nte rnationally

Now you don't have to take our word for it. SyncMaster has be JL i recognized by same of the world's leading computer publications. With features such as Plug'n Play, Real Colour Control and Invar Shadow Mask, the SyncMaster iine earns top marks.

And with years of experience building monitors for some of the best names in the business, Samsung has earned a reputation for quality and reliability. Cet the complete story from your Samsung reseller taday.

INGRAM

ISB Elle 1-800-668-3450

1-800-456-1 616

NEBIIM F l 14t00-637-4735

Cl ll ll

Cl

EX3~

I C C.

1-800-668-5588

14RRWt63-6722 l lI ~

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F EA T U R E

Entry Level Computer Test Results Catt

o~tC

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y~tlat+ ~gn)QC

gee@' 9.~gO

Processor

Pentium 100 MHz

Pentium 100 MHz

Pentium 100 MHz

Pentium 1QQ MHz

6x86 P-120+

Cynx 6x66 P-120~

External Cache

512k

256k pipeline

256k pipeline

256k pipeline

256k pipeline

256k pipeline

256k pipeline

16 MB EDO

16 MB EDO

16 MB EDO

16 MB EDO

Video Caid

ATI Mach 64

S3 Trio 64

S3 il'rio 64

Video Memory

2 MB DRAM

1 MB DRAM

Sound CNd

SB-16

ESS688

Hard Drive

Quantum Fireball

Western Digital

1.2 GB EIDE

CD-ROMDrive

Creative Labs 8x

System BIOS

Award

co

gsO"

SI~I SC

16 MB EDO

Trident 9680

SiS

S3 Trio 64

ATI Mach 64

2 MB DRAM

i iMB DRAM

2 MB DRAM(UMA)

1 MB DRAM

2 MB DRAM

Opti 16-bit

"Pine 2306, 16-bit

ESS 1688

Acer S301

SB-16

Seagate

Quantum Fireball

Se agate

Western Digital

QuantumFireball

1.2 GB EIDE

1.2 GB EIDE

1.2 GB EIDE

Panasonie 4x

Sanyo 6x

AMI

Award

Piug 8 Play Support

Award

1.2 GB EIDE

1.2 GB EIDE

1,2 GB EIDE

Toshiba 6x

Acer 8x

Panasonic Sx

Award

AMI

Yes

Yes

OperatingSystem

Windows 95

Windows 95

Win devvs 95

V'/indews 95

ilylndows 95

Windows 95

Windows 95

Babas

Speakers

Speakers

Speakers

Speakers

Speakers

Speakers

Speakers

28.8k faxmodem

28.8 voice/faxmcdern

788ivwa~

Joystick

Sot(ware included

Good

Good

Very Good

Price/per(elmance

Good

Good

Good

Good

Lacking

Good

Excellent

Good

Extra teatures

Good

Ntndovvs Benehmsrke Desklop Publishing 92 Desktop Graphics

100

78

107

94

DesktopPressntsgon

118

114

109

101

Word Processing Spreadsheet

82

Database

94

Contact Internet contact

116

I4/A

(604)279-9686

(604)273-8088

(800)665-5487

(800)465-7999 (905)940-188Q www.compueon,corn www.comtexmlcio,cornwww.rnagitronic.corn www.pinegroup.corn

SuggestedRetail Pres $1,995

$2,199 "

Street Price

$1,999

$1,930

Reseller Price

$1,590

W~

2 years

Inctudes 14 inch monitor *' Inctudes 15 inch monitor "* System tested w/258k pipeline burst

30 W HOLESALER

Septem ber

1996

hn p :~iww.mr~mati.cam

$1 350

106

102

(905)479-8336

(51 9)680-3333

www.comtronie.corn www.std,net

$2,599 $1,845 $1.20Q

2 i/ears

3 years

2 y8ars

2 yeai's

F E AT U R E

P Pentium 133 MHz 256k

~eO 9~~6 9 Pentium 133 MHz

None--

LPG~

+q50+

c9

P

Pentium 133 MHz

Pentium 133 MHz

Pentiurn 133 MHz

Pentium 133 MHz

Pentium 133 MHz

O/rix6raaP-150;

512k pipeline

None """

256k pipeline

512k pipeline

512k pipeline

256k pipeline

18 MB EDO

16 MB EDO

'I6 MB EDO

16 MB EDO

16 MB EDO

16 MB EDO

cowp

SeangL SK 9000

16 MB

Ji

S3 Trio 64

Cirrus Logic

DiamondStealth 84GT Cirrus Logic

BTC 1628

Cirrus Logic

S3 Trio 64

Trident 9680

2 MB EDO

1 MB DRAM

2 MB VRAM

1 MB DRAM

2 MB DRAM

2 MB EDO

2 MB DRAM Opti 16-bit

1 MB DRAM

SB-16

Zoltrix 16-bit

SB-16

Zoltrix 16-bit

E/6688

Yukon

IBM Mwave

Western Digital

Fujitsu

Quantum Fireball

Fujitsu

Conner

Western Digital

Western Digital

Nfsstem D igit al

1.2 GB EIDE

1.08 GB EIDE

1.08 GB EIDE

1.0S GB EIDE

1.0S GB EIDE

1.6 GB EIDE

1.6 GB EIDE

1.2 GB EIDE

Acer 8x

Toshiba 8x

Goldstar Sx

Toshiba Sx

NEC 4x

Mitsumi 6x

Acer Sx

Mitsumi Sx

Award

Award

Award

Windows 95

Windows 95

None

Windows 95

Speakers

Speakers

Speakers

28.ak fsmrelsm

AMI

Award

Award

Award

Windows 95

Windows 95

Windows 95

Windows 95

Speakers

Speakers

33.6k faxmodem

voice/Iaxmodem 28.8k voice/Iaxmodem 33.6kvoice/fsxmodem 14.4k voice/faxmodem 28.8k FM Tuner

Good

Good

Good

Good

Good

Good

Good

Good

Excelient

Good

Good

Good

89

97

104

116

98

113

87

122

96

103

117

109

118

Sc)

101

1I2

102

110

114

112

97

103

Excellent

Exceilent 107

85

116

139

116

134

't 13 101

84

119

95

123

96

89

119

91

110

91

121

(905) 479-8336

(800)567-7413

(800) 863-6722

(600)567-7413

www.empac,ca

www.3dmlcro. Com

$1,999

$'l,699

117

www, comtronic.corn www.3dmicro.corn $1,560 $1,522

$1,699

$1,41 0

$1,499

2years

2 years

2 years

N/A

Lacking Good

Good

106

(514) 344-2690

$1,885

(604)273-3692 $2214

(800) 51 3-7732

(aoo)9o-3388 I

www.ultinebca

v/rrwMxnpclrrl

$1,492

@,498

$1,298 $1,595

3 years

3 years

$1,272

3 years

http: //wwwccw/ttag.corn

2 years

1 year

September 1996 W HOLESALER 91

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APPROVED CASES

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<f@ ~ PAL L C.H, Resources Inc.

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CALSBY Computer products

MULTIMEDIA PRODI 'CTS

ML;.

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WESTERN: L.C.H. ResoUrces Irfc.

E~SImN: CALSBY COMF UTFR PROOUCTS

N-135ff CRESTWOOD PLACE, RICHMOND B.C. V6V 261 TEL:(604)278-0708 FAX:(604)278-0305

441-42, 70E Beaver Creek Rd., Richmond Hill, Ont. L3B 3B2 Tel: (905)73'l-3861 Fax:(905)731-3862

F EAT U R E

IBM Direct at I-&00-465-PS4U ext. 1217 to

Problem determination suppon is also available to a reseller caging on behalf of a custo reseller pricing being released. tomer.

Credit Approval: For payments via credit card IBM ean conuihute to lowering customer or certified cheque - no requirements Upon down rimc by: resolvinf customer problems approved credit over the phone„arranging far service through net 30 day billing Ranges fmm Sl .999 tv IBhi E x press M aintenance. pmviding $3.199 <CPL>only ) Iud usuy standard margins overnight shipment of customer system. asother rnanufacturcrsoffer ICenain geographic areac of Canada may Marketing Support: take lancer.) refer the customer to the approAll mvellers are entered inu> IBM's referral priat e OEM manufacturer for technical supdatabase when authorized. IBM provides pon on product~ IBM does not manufacture focus priat ads on a frequent bmis in major or pre-install. centers. They are tagged «4th a 1-800 number IBM also olfers Electronic Support for both for customers to call for reseller referrals customers and resellers through the IBM using the nearest po»al code. Thc referral BBS process is <hc same av with Apiiva. IBbl pro- <Bulletin Board Service). HelpFAX arid other vides industry standard niarketing tbnd senicei for product and technical informaincentives ii.e. rebates und cooperative adver- uoll <ising funds) based on v olumes enid. <forexample: BIOS upgrades.softwarefixes.

Marketing maicriaL surh as store <ear pads drivers). and truining documentation sre available. For Vendor Comments: large volume reseller». veining mssions can ydwhre is e C euudie» pmdi<r( line end bc arranged. backed hy IB<f. Thr >i'(derange' uf P>vdievs IBM Direst provides pre-saic tedmical sup- ojycr feeding.edge' >erhnolos(y iuid respeup«i to the reseller through I-800-468-PS4U (irc. cewpvih(ve pricing. Tli(s resu(<i ia goal xl I '7 vuhir (o (I<r i us<mac'e Igni provides <v(c Ikrs hleintcnunce kclatlonsMp: ivhh un.charge lead geurni<iou, iseirk((ing kcceller urc not authonzed tv provide war- u>u(rrinl. rcc(ieicnf s><ppvn caid e cm>(ewe>» ranty cervicc to customers. IBM will provide I-800 ¹ (o v>dvr p>vducs. problem de<ermine<ion and replace thc syc- Aeihrii pmdarn pnivide die pe(few c(i<ii<'c <cm <if reqvircdi directly to the ra<turner. for cvs>-con(c(o(cc hi>yers ir(iv ir<uir ro enjoy Cnhanced PC Suppon is available for pur- eli (Isehmrrgrs of (sei peifnrmuarr. Pi>iver chaseby cuctomers orrevellers.This service eed rechnvlvgr ?he Amhru s<rh(ever Scrie> includes upgraded technical suppnn for soft- bvesr sur/s Iradiag «dge feuruns as Fail ware applications. operating systems and Screen k(PEG for .<(ierp life-like vide<> OEM eqvipmeni iwuges. ivureiuhle so<eel up ro 8< CD-IIOhfs Vulume Discounts: and Iu>r<I drirrc up «i ESGB. Cusrowerc <'u» Large volume discounts arc otfered on an choose >os><I( (heir nerds eud hedge<Pew(kr individual basis and dependent on volumes In>ei PIN( r(¹I>(uP r<i (Ise Cyri < 6r86 PI66+ Demo I>nits< Cu(>eeieri en reedy >ogo righi va< of (Iie Demo programs am assessed and offered on hvx ivid> Wii>dvivs 95, I.en<s Smur>Sui(r. and individual busi> and dependent on vol- Pence of eiiud for yoii ued roar cac(uuier • Ulues rest easy I'uoiving <(icy kevv 24-I>our assis(nnce mid rhree-year iverreesy backed by Support: End usercustomers receive an enhanced level IB¹I. <O>h Esp<vs( hfuiaieueiice Sen (ce, gci of cer<dce and support fram IBM at no addi- u repluceeie>i( systee> delivered pmaiprly (e tional charge during the warranty period. The vnur cus>orner's door."

IBM PC Suppon line will provide set-up and Editor's Notes: contigumtion assistance to customers. During The Ambra nmchine <vas one of the more the geuing started period <first 60 days of ihe interesting that we looked at. using the UMA warranty period). IBM will provide assis- (Unified Memnry A rchitectural. which tance on the pre-loaded operating system. allows the video and processor to access the IBM also provides pmblcm determination same pool of memory. The overall perforduring the warmnty period. Ambra pmducts mance of the machine was comparuuvely have a three-year limited warranty (one year poor.However, the machine does come wirh on mouse. ke)board and peripherals). During a bett er-than-average selection of sobware the warranty period IBM will provide 24 hour and a 28.& Kbps moden<. iechnical voice suppon via SM-S55-3344.

order. Proof of reseller status is required prior

Demo Units: Yes.subjectto approval Support: Mvtherboard. VGA. manuals included, on cite service supper. Empac web cite 3 loea<ivuv in Canada for Depv< Service l-&00 <in On<erio) Vendor Commenim "Bess ceiuhiuaiion uf Price cud Pi rfonuuiice h(e>im>ul Warranty (Vancouver, Torou<o. hfcm(renD Cueiprnrh r Dealer Progress C<>e> pv>i>i vc Pr(ciug <VeckivSpecial Fes>Deli ve n Co>saga'.c Ir<i<liue PC dis<rihn(vr «nd me<uiferai<>vr Ia 8<niuess >incr 1989.

Jnh>( PO, pn>gnsei" Editur'sNotes: The system from EMPAC wm tbe hands down pcrfom>ancechamp inthe survey hy n considemble margin. This ic nvi surpitcing, as the system uses a >nappy Diamvnd Steakh video card. which adds u little to the cost over and above many competing systems.

l8M SystemsBranded: Ambra Anthorkcntion Requirements: As of September. 1996 resellors may call 34

W H OLESALER September <996 cvv >c«vco>~ceca

-1

NIKANA PR 2000

IP voU vE nEEN AsKlxG wHv ItEsELLERs ARE CHA N G ING TQ NIKANA PR SYSTEM S... %E CAN U P IN QNF ® QR D Mo re speed. With Nikana, yvu upgrade easily to thc latest intel Pentium®Pro processor releases without dealing with major mainboard surgery.

Mo r e flexibility. Nikana PR systems boast ATX options making N ikana one vt the leaders ln cutting edge technology.

Mo re consistency.Nikana PR systems are noted for the consistency of the integrated components used. making

M QRE1

s ervice and s upport o f t h e i n t e l I PentiumG>prv processor series cost effective and predictable. No longer do you have to deal with the "flavor of Ihc week" component products.

Mo re margin, No more dealing with price wars due to over distribution in your region. Nikana PR systems are distributed solely through White Knight Distributing and the trading area monitoring program provides for controlled distribution of the product line.

Mo re quaility control. Each Nikana PR system is quality contrvllcd AFTER the custom configuration process is completed. A liule piece of mind for yvu when you just have tv get the product to your customer in a hurry.

There i» one area that Nikana PR products are noted to be less„.... COST! Just call y our l o cal W h ite K n ight D istributing of fice v r v i s i t u s a t http: //w ww.white-knight.corn.

Oistribufed by

IVki'rs'Ei/ vgkr D IST R I B U T I N G

Western Canada: Eastern Canada:

Calgary Office: Halifax Office:

105-3760 dacvmbs Rd., 245 W. Beaver Creek Rd., Richmond, B.C. V6V 1Y6 Unit 3, Richmond Hill, ont.

Tel: (604) 279-9908 Tel: (905) 886-3862 Fax: (604)279-9902 Fax: (905) 886-3090 Toll: 1-800-668-6188 Toll: 1-800-852-5639

4710-14th Street, N.E., Calgary, AB T2E 6L7 Tal: (403) 291-1688 Fax: (403) 291-0889 Toit:1-860-eee-3381

Unit 1, 200 Wright Ave, partmouth N.S. B3B 1R6

Tal: (902) 468.9898 Fax (902) 468-5988

The Intel Inside andFientIum®Proare registered trademarks of Intel Corporation

F EATU RE

Luski International Systems Branded: Magittonic

Authorization Requirements Resellers, VARs, system integrators can purchase and resell Magitronic products Marketing Support: Offer in-store banner and other materials, such assales slicks,product guides and online at www.magitronic,corn Maintenance Relationship: Magitronic allows resellers to service the equipment and even prefer this as it promotes a strongerrelationship between the end-user and reseller.

Volume Discounts: Quantity price based on volume, less 2% for 10 or more units, 4% for 20 or more units, Discounts on educational and g overnme nt bids.

Demo Units: Presently, a Laptop demo program.

Support: Separate800 numbers for consumers and resellers, reseller support via the Internet.

Vendor Comments: "Magitronic's slogan is 'The Power Of Value.' We use the best quality components that are ogthe shelf replaceable at the lowest possible price, thus insuring good margins

Reseller can offer there own support, Tech support for rcsellers Volume Discounts: Yes Demo Units: Available to volume customers

Support: We ofFerfax back service for documentation web site mynix.corn, and an 800 for resellers.

Vendor Comments: "All our systems are Novell, Windows95 and Windows NI' certified. We provide excellent products and after sales support. Mynix operates one of only two Novell certtfied labs in Canada, andis ISO 9002 certif ied. We put emphasis on the price/performance and we are a NMSO vendor for the Canadian Federal

government."

Editor's Notes: The machine's performance was probably held up somewhat by the Conner hard drive and a slower video system. Mynix used a quad-speed CD-ROM and a 1 4.4 Kbps modem, lower than the standard specification, to keep the price down.

material ready to use.

Maintenance Relationship with Reseller: Dedicated Rep with each reseller. Toll free sales and support.

Structure Of Volume Discounts: No further discount till v o lume criteria reached, afterward there will be a 2% incentiveon further purchases.

Demo Units: Available Support: Available Dedicated Internet Support, E-mail.

Server for updated documentation if it doesn' t come with the system, or new drivers for newer OS Vendor Comments: "OA's Intent is to provide quality computers for corporationsand the general public. We provide up-to-date configurations and toll Pee salesand technical support.We use only quality components have a strict quality control and cotnplaint handling systems to ensure total customer satisfaction.

Certificarions ISO 9002, CSA, Novell and Microsoft."

Editor's Notes: The OA system reviewed used a Cyrix P-150 processor, its performance was slightly above the averagescore for a Pentium 133-based system. Not the fastest Cyrix P-150 system we have seen, but nevertheless a solid machine.

â&#x20AC;˘

.5

It-

for a reseller with a low return rate."

Editors Note: The 1Vlagitronic computer is packaged in one of themore attractive cases.Performance was average for a machine of its class. Magitronic adds value to its system with a good complement of bundled software.

Seanix %aim

Mynix

OA COMP

SystemsBranded: My comp Authorization Requirements: Need to be a computer reseller Marketing Support: Co-advertising, trade show corporate and end user, lead passing.

Maintenance Relationship:

Systems Branded: Winstorm and Sahara Authorization Requirements:

36

Yes. Weighting on dealers that can provide serviceand support.Maximum 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 3 dealers per city

Marketing Support: Nation wide advertisement and marketing

W H O LESALER S e ptember 1996 ht t p:/lwwwcnvmag.mm

Systems Branded: ASI 9000 Authorization Requirements: Monthly sales targets, geographical location, training program Marketing Support: Product information brochures,corporate information, promotions, special events. give aways, trade shows. seminars, customer meetings, lead generation, product training

1VIaintenance Relationships: Seanix authorizes service centersacross Canada Seanix operates a 1-800 Technical Support Hotline from 5:30AM to 6:OOPM

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Learn aIid Compare

pentlMm 9 Less than 7 Ibs + Up to 150NIHE Pentjunt Pr ocess " - . - g e@(CD ROM :— : • 12.t" TFf, SVGAdisplay • F ully modutarined R ::--':-~ '- ~ -::--:l • 1 80' infra red port • 3 year warranty w~ • 8001 Certified INanufaoturer : -

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Innovative TCP design representslhe fntnre directionof processor hd sn *E~er "Pg des *Lower voltage roadmap

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F EAT U R E PST. Scat>ix offers access to ourInternet wcb site aud our electronic bulletin hoard service for technical bulletins at>d iatest drivers. updates,ctc.These services are extended at no additional cost. Authorizedteseliers have access>o ourteam ofservicetechnicians who can work ivith their tcchrucal staff at>d resolve any difficult issues customers may

su«h as CSAI> itjI. FCC. DOC, t<tovett.

I>>ISDOS W>nd<»» sr Windo»vs 95 and Windows t»l T «e>r/fl cationv.

By inu grating MD nnd u>auufacturing, »ie envure total quahiy and compaiibiliry»vitl>

d> +creat con>pnnentsi>i our PCs For exa>npte,

be«ause»ve design and mcu>ufncturr the mntherboardvfor our PCs ive can guarantee <liey nre of high quattt» and >u4 fi<ll advanencounter.

Volume 9iscouuts: tage of fhe PC's pmver. Our sales nnd servic:e icon>s»vork »i>I> the uianufaciuriug nnd engiNegotiable neering side to ensure Seanir PCs meet the llemo Units: needs i>f the consumers, Yes, lead time is required Support: Quick response to changes in the market Seanix has an ahilitv and willingacss to form place, alliances. This is especially Imporu>nt in the Our in-I>ouse team of engineers are in < ontender process. Seanix will work together »>an< «noun>cuir<<<ion»vitli w'nrlclw ide induswith rescllcts tn provide aneedsassessment try leaders as»veil as Seanir staff io ideiriify for current or potential clients. %c are emerging ie«lmnlogies. The inforn>ation is pleased to atteod meetings vsth dealers as then shared»'ithnur resellers,corpnrate«usthey presenttheir company and its products ta>>ters nnd d> ffc'reu> segments nf fhei>inrl ei to interested parties. »hie provide o>»-site train- to ideiiiify h<iw <hrse new <echuologirv < nnld <line io iueei ing. product demonstrations and I<»fc»tmatio>» be incorporated into our p>r><h<c sessions. Our Info>?mation scssio>zs n»ay ihe ueedv of ihe marl ei pi include participation from major i.ompouent Canadian made PCs and hoard products a>»d software industry leaders. On line sup- Seani r produ«is are n>nn<tfacurrect in Canada co>tport. tech>»ical builcti>»s and updates and I- acid nfje>' itic Iughe»> level oJ (.an<cd>cu> ie'u> in fl>e PC iuduv<I1'. Ril<ying Sc'ciiii» siip800 number.

Vendor Couuucuts: porrs <lie Can<i<lian rcnuniny." "lu <his agr <ifiu<!r«using druuui<l for produ< i EditorsNotes: The Seanix system sentin wa s packaged anil h>J<»»>u> <io» aucl ire»v >echuntngv, c'nnsiaurrv cire facing critical issues au<i <ire placing complete with «usto>uized support documenmnre reliance' nn <lie advice nud knowtedge nt' tation that gives an out-of-the-hox experience to ti»e vnd user al in thc kind provided by revellers. As a PC designer, iucuui fiiciu>'er unct »vli<>le»ale r, Senui» Te< hnotogy Iuc. siip- some nl >hc giants in the industry such as pons iis re»eiiers»vith prndu«i kno»?tedge IBM and Apple. aud marketing prngrcu»s. We vie»v our on> rrselleri as our paru>ers nnd >ve rely nn chr tn recommend Srnui» prndurts >o thei>. «uv> of u >nmers and u> praise the overall value Sean<» PC c>s ci «os>-effec><ve bust>>c'$$ <»i lir>me solution. Our rrcl>isi»e i<se of ihe reseller c'hnunel hci» beenaii imp<in<mt kry to our»uc.cess. We belie»e il>nt Secmi» offers

nce.

Yes Demo Units: Yes Support: Reseller Hotline. Technical Support. 1-800tech support line Vender Comments: ' Bra>id i><nice,easy >o sell, good priciilg, Snmtack i» n broad liiie, Canadian based distributor nf Iiigl> quali0. nccure brand PC c on>poneu>v. peripheral» und iiu<tiiinedin products. as wall as personal «nmpii<er sy»ieii>».

F<»andi<I in1989. Sam>ack I>as he<n>nr onc of tlu? <v>uii trys fcis>c'»i gi'oll'iiig ciisi> >bi<to<;v.

prouctty servi»g nvc.r 2,000 PC dealers, VARs. sy»iem integrntnrs and consultants coast u> «ons<. Hen<I<tun>rered ii> I»Ical%can.

Du>uric>. San>tack also has ogice» in Otta»va aml Jlfontrcat. Sun»n«k is a u>c'n>ber of tice Ptt<IE Group iuienin>ic>nal i>ianu fa< >urers of leading eclge moilierbnards. vidrn grapliics «nrds„ IDE liO «nnnr>tiers and "green" pc rsoiic<l c'o>>>patri's. As su«i>. Scan>c<c'kis >tile! erclusi» e Canadian distributor of Pit»IEprc>du«>s. Abroad. Pine Iins rrp>'caen>nnouin nvrr r>,i «cain>ries urniuicl tt>c>»i orld."

Editor's Notes: Sanuackscot in ooe of lhe faster Pentium l00 MHz-l»asad machines in lhc survey, >u;inaging,to surpass a number ol' others using highct speed processors.

•»

rrsellers «oiisiderable advaiiiages inn:

Excellent price/performance value.

Our substantial ini esnnen>in researcl>. devet<ip»un> nnd u>nnufacturing facilities nllo»»s Senni» to dictate <li«strictest quality control possible-from ra»v n>aieriats in 1>nished gonds-and incorporate tl>e latest ie«lmology inin atl our coinpnnen>s. Our PC» offer features. perfon>>ance and service tliai compete I>ead-in-head»itl> pro<inc>s Pou> other leading brands, yet sell at a tow"er price.

V<'orld class manufacturing facilities and intctuational quality standards At) Srani» PCv nre desigiied and manufuc>i<red Ii> <>ur ISO 9II02 c?enified factory in RiChmond.8.C. Our PC» inert iiupona»t industry standards 38

STO I

Samtaek

Sept. 1998

Autborizatiou Requirements."

None. butneedto set up a basic account Marketiug Support: Ycs. Rcsel lers can offerown suppott.All systcn»sinclude » years pans and labour»varra>»ty Maintenance Relatiouship: Yes Volume Discouuts:

W H O LESALER September 1996 >»«pvneww mvma<> corn

Systems Branded: Cotopupattner Authorizatiou Requirements: Ivlust fill out credit and dealer applications. provide sales forecast, purchase a demo unit on display for twom<»ntht«Must have strong in-house technical support and maintain monthly/quarterly purchase quotas.

Marketing Support: Joint advertising locally, link from STD's »»» >'%'»»V page. listing on home page, national/rcgioilal advertising listings. special pro-

NE7I 0 R K I NG motional discount on products. tirst hand infomation on nevi products. sales and technical u'aining and seniinars. %1ainteuauce Relationship: Channel marketing tnaintenance. joint visit with reseller to corporate customers, monthly/quarterly visit Volume Discounts: Volume discount per purchase order. monthly volume rebate. quarterly volume rebate. yearly volume rebate.

Demo Units: Available for resegers at5% ot't regular Support: I-800 ntunber for technical support. e-mail support. %%% technical suppon for downloaded drivers. 88 S t echnical support. nation-wide tech. support with I I oi'liccs across Canada.

Vendor Comments: ""Drrgest prii ately oivned Canadian crrnrpnrer rnrrrnrfactrrreri 1$0 P002far iliries, Cia le Canada srnnrs, All sysrenrs rrr»CSA and OOCapproved. IVindores A'7and 1Vindrrus95 cerlrfied. First Canadian PrrrverPC corrrprrter rtranrrfrrcrrlr'en Olrly C anarirar1 Cotnlnrrer inanqr frrr rrrrer on,federal governr»enr Irarir»ial nrasrer sranriing o/feri '"

l'.dltur's Notern STD'x system offered cxcelieIIt speed: ii is comprised of h)p tiuaiity bnIIIII naille PIIfts. standlllg out from several other machines with its inclusion of a 2tt.ilk mrxicin Gild un gx CD-ROM.

Volume discounts are provided based on items ordered aud quantity ordered.

Demo Units: Available for sincere dealers nr dealers vvho have shownpastperformance in sales.

Support Documentation: Channel supportis provided by faxback. tnternei, toll free hotline support, and lech support via fax Vendor Comments: "Eesellers slrorrkl earn orrr pmdrrcr sins e it is ver1 «ornperitirely priced. and I'eliable, 1vith good reclnrical srrppoiz .Ill Ultinet rer irniciarrs are anicrrlare in resolving dealers problems.

Feed Us Your Thoughts It is our intention to produce monthly articles that are not only informative, but useful to VARs, integrators, and resellers in the Canadian marketplace. We would like your input. Let us know the kind and depth of Information that you require, and tell us If the specifications are detailed enough. What are we missing'F What do you need to

Fast sen'ice and RAIA nrrn arotnid is provt'ded for defecri1'e irenrs shipped rrrUlfinezKditor's Notesi This machine vvas one uf the better perform«rs of those that 1ve looked at for this reviev:, although the machine could bc m uch improved wiih u faster video card. This was one of the first machines in the Iab thai comes with support for a universal serial bus.

know? What format should the

articles take"; Like most people, we prefer constructive criticism.

Competition is stiff amo ng system b e en sending systems in for testing for vendors and it is very difficult to draw a s o m e time now, like earlier modeis the definitive leader among the companies I'atest batch of systems stack up. Empac a that sent i n systems. There are tw o n e w c omer to the test lab sent in a sysaspects to look at when trying to reach a t e r n t hat beat the competition hands decision of this niagnitucle. On the one d o w n in terms of performance, hand, how good is the prod Our picks are based primarily on the other hand, how are reselle technical aspects of the computers, perstructured. Customers dem formance derived from benchmarks, feaquality in products and tures and pricing, obviousservice, a strong ralationly, to some extent we take shiip between resellers, I b usiness a spects i n t o VARs and system integraaccount, however, It I's up tors and t h e d i stributo the reseller to feel out tor/manufacturer is the service, margins and i mperative in o rder t o other critical components Cl I.QCELlENCE achieve the level of ser• that make up the business vice required by the rnarrelationship. s ket. For retailers that care The Comax computer about customer service a Sept. 96 from Corntronic using the good product alone may C yrix P120+ o f f er s a not be enough. tremendous mix of perforThe Ambra comput' mance, features and pricer from IBM is less than ing. The same can be said an average achiever in for the Pentium 100 that terms of price and perwe received from Samtack, formance, yet there is no ambi good performance and the addition of a IBM reseller policy and their abili y to 288 Kbps modem puts this system a relate to and support resellers. notch above its competition. The Azura made great strides over the I ast year In system from Empac gets our pick for its bettering the presentation o f their sys- superb peeormance, although in the 133 turnsand also look to be a co MHz category, there are several other a well thought out channel machines that leave enough margin to number of companies stand out ~n ™ add the quality components that would of consistency of product Co bring then up to the Azura's level. KE I Comp, Comtroni», and Samtack ava h a II "

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Ultinet Authorization Requirements: Dealerisrequired to fax proofof business as a tescller with ihe appropriate reseller cenificate.

Mar ketbtl Support: Provided by giving out leads oriynating from the end user in the dealers respective local area. Spec sheets and product literature are provided.

Maintenance Relationships ReseIlerscan provide there own supporL by arts themselves, or call Ultinet direct. chang p Vohtme Discounts:

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hrrp:owvm rrwmag.rom

'SepteI11ber 1 996 WHOlLESALEII 39

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T HE P U N D I T

Understanding the Savvy Shopper hr Graeme Bennerr I thoroughly believe that the Superstore phenomenon ol the first half of the nineties has now created a hacklash effect I call the savvy shopper.

These are the consumers that won t even set foot in a place where commission-driven salespersons push and pull with hard-sell tactics. and endlessly harass them

with questions like -would you like the extended warranty with that?"

It's not just the hard sell that turns them off. It's the fact that they feel they are not being hstened to: they are looking for someone they can trust. And they look for signs of expertise. I ll explore this idea of Expert Evaluation in my next column.

The good news, I think. is that these savvy shoppers are usually willing to pay a bit more for products to have the luxury of not being subjected to the superstore supersell.

The bad news isthat the savvy shopper usually doesn't have the time to study aII of the materials necessary to make a t r uly informed decision. They know technology changes so fast that even those in the industry have a tough time keeping up with it all. And, although many things have changed in the new marketplace. one thing wil l n ever change: a confused customer never buys.

What might confuse your customer?

— not understanding the technology — not understanding your jargon or terminology — ineffective or misdirected communication - and so on Exercise:think of other ways your customer might be confused.

The first fcw items on this list amount to a simple rule of thumb: explaining is ahvays more powerfulthan describing.

The issue of ineffective communication is one that is always a challenge. Sometimes, there is a language barrier. sometimes it is a game of telephone tag. Fortunately. those of us with computers, faxes and other modern telephony options have a tremendous range of communications and organizational tools at our disposal. Find out how your customers prefer to be contacted and work to establish a pattern of effective communications. It's the

easiest hrst step to achieving a seller/customer relationship.

The saxons shopper is probably at least as busy asyou are and is either wise enough to realize — or too busy to take Ihe time to learn — what it would take to learn all the required details. All that research adds up to a relatively poor investment. Whether tlley know it or llot. what they need is a consultant who is an expert in the field their solution requires. The sary shopper doesn't have the time to read all the magazines it would take to learn all!he jargon and technical issues that differentiate today' s products from one another.They need to cutto the chase. or at least focus on the big picture.

How, then, to spot a sawy shopper?

Obviously. there is no single category of customer that you are likely to be dealing with. unless you are in an ultra-specialized niche, orhave the luxury of hand-picking your clientele.

With that said. the savvy shopper looks for evidence of expertise. in order to feel safe about doing business.

There have been numerous arti cles in consumer-oriented magazines about how savvy shoppersdrive the best bargains. The general theory goes like this.

The first time, the salesman pitches them his or her standard deaL

The second visit. the customer typically shootsfor the salesperson *s best deal.

The third visit. the customer is waiting for the manager's best price and the fourth time, the customer is considered a time waster.

New Consumers are not in love with the technology. Applications drive their decisions, Just as auto manufacturers have discovered. the love affair vvith technology for its own sake is over. They are interested in solutions and productivity.

The New Consumer looks for the best mix of price/performance. name-brand/quality and service/support. Traditionally. the corporate buyers have sought the latter items, while the clone buyers and value systems customers have focused on the first two from their local vendors.

While there is much truth in the old saying, you canhave any two of the three." The savvy consumersare more likely to respond positively to the buzzwords that signify per-

formance and quality than thc "traditional" PC buyer, who was both relatively uninformed and relentlessly price-driven.

While many computer advertisements over the last decade have tended to stress features.brand-name marketers have found it more effectiveto emphasize benefits over features. Does your advertising stress benefits or features?

Which works bestfor your business?

Just as in desktop publishing and v eb page design. where borrowing from other designs is practically standard fare. it is worth thinking about your closest competitors. You can be sure your customers do.

After all, building on the strengths of competitors works for Bill Gates, doesn't it?

Keep in mind that almost everybody is a mixture of more than one personality type.

Although there will always be consumers who are naIve, and easily -sold I think that the new breed of shopper is savvy enough to * recognize a salesmans ploys to extract information or push an inappropriate product.

Why is the consumer growing more sophisticated?

Mainstream media coverage. magazines (free and newsstand titles play different roles) and the growing influence of the Internet are all factors contributing to increased consumer awareness of technical issues, but many shoppers have been told certain key buzzwords that they base their shopping lists on. They may not be sure why. but they know they should look for a pipeline burst cache. Triton chipset. or whatever.

This information gathering strategy is what an associate of nunc calls "baking cool.ies." The savvy shopper enlists the help of the oflice computer whiz (by baking cookiesget it?), and leverages their expertise to help put the pieces together.

Consider ways t hat you can help elimin ate confusion i n your cust o mer s m ind. I i .'s th e n e x t

best thing to freshbaked cookies. ~

hup:.i'wwwccwmag.mm September 1996 W

HOL E SALER 41

B US I N E S S

ARE YOUR CUSTQMERS GETTING THE P R e P E R W RI T E O F F 7

By Rick octan, F.C.A

As a retailer, you know t here are m any reasons customers can use t o reject a buying suggestion. How about telling them they can save money by buying? Hard to beiieve but true. It goes like this - you can save money by utilizing the tax savings on hardware and software. The lncreaserl performance with the latest hardware and software adds to the productivity of the business too. So, the bottom line on keeping up with the latest technology is not a cost but a benefit.

One of the major frustrations for most businesses. is in dealing with computer and electronic office equipment and computer software. I do not mean this from the handson point of view but rather the economic

fe Q(O <l,s

costs of rapid obsolescence and drop in value. This has been particularly frustrating for mostbusiness owners as the obsolescence has occurredmuch fasterthan the write off allowed for tax purposes.

Ccpmmuter and Office equipm ent To providesome respite.there was an amendment to the capital cost allowance rules for computers, fax machines and copiers acquired after April 26, 1993.

ture and equipmenl) for each purchase which is at least $1.000. This rule applies for computer equipment and systems software including data processing equipment that would normally be in Class 10. It also includes computer software, photocopiers or electronic communications equipment such as fax machines and telephones that would normally be in Class 8. If each piece of equipment which cost in excess of $1.000 is in a separate asset class when thai piece of equipment is disposed of. it can be written off and the loss will be recognized for tax purposes rather than continuing to be amortized in the general Class 8 or 10.

Historically an asset of a particular type was put into an asset class. For example.computers were Class 10.

When the equipHARDWARE ~ i ment was disposed Graphics Adapters of, ifthere were other assets in that cwah. px'I! p.;-tlnn ~ class, a terminal . «~ N A we apl btll w p a : . d:~i w w . p: pi~pwb:~ ppna llp44tcp MMcAc ciao w t wpwrt loss could not be c l a i me d .

The pmpose of this revision is to deal I nvariably m o st Nottooat Olstrlbotor of with the fact that this tvpe of equipment often b usinesses h a d 2 the tlax Video Cards er sea m ore than o n e depreciatesbecause of obsolescence fast • PCI Weiteh VRAM ppp than the rates permitted for tax purposes.

If computer and they e PGISSTRI004, TR I004V+ 8 PCIARK2000 acquired new ones the equipment still has economic value to the • PGI ABK 1000 llattoeot Olstribotor as the old ones business after five years, the owner will be PGIET4000lllQZP of GIGitOYTE became obsolete. forced to transfer it into the general class for Motberboard Unfor tunately a that asset be it Class 8 or 10. If you wish to Oislribstor of TYltN Iiotborboard c GA500Ponlium Motherboard take advantage of this election to include any terminal loss v as with Inlel Chipsel 75-ZOO MMz Triton chlpset wilh PIPE-LIME Sorel cache assets in a separate class you must make the u navailable a s • GA 400AMS/AL Nlolherhoard election in the year of actual acquisition by Oistribotor of SmarttiRk FaxioodelD there were more • CPUs, RAMs computer assets in letter filed with the tax return for that year.

• PGI Enhance Combo conlroOer that class.

There are two issues to be very conc PCISGSIConlroMer scious of here: • Fujilsu Keyboard The revised • CD BDM Drives rules permit a tax- I. Electing to and then separating your com• Sound Card payer to elect to pentium puter equipmcnt or electronic office equipset up a separate ment into separate classes in the year you class of Class 10 acquire it. In so doing you should remind COIPlllER (computer equip- your Chartered Accountant of this provision ment) or Class 8 to ensure he or she remembers to set up the m10-12660 ClarkePlace, RichmondB.C. V6V2Hi Canada (which i n cludes separateclasses on your tax return and preTel: (604)270-7610 Fax:(604) 270-7650 Incauvir, Price, Service) other office furni pare the election.

Take your VIDEO the

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W H O LESALER September 1996 ip rrpo iwwwccwmeg.corn

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2. Set up a system for tracking your equipment separately and identify when you are approaching the end of year five. If you do not want it transferred into the general Class 8 or 10, you will need to take the appropriate steps to dispose of it before the end of year five. Given the rapid obsolescence of this equipment, long-term tax savings should be realized which will permit you to benefit from a tax basis of the disposition of these types of assets.

Computer Software Just as the equipment becomes obsolete rapidly the software seems to become obsolete more rapidly. As noted above, system sof'tware which is the operating system, be it DOS and/or Windows and/or OS/2, etc., is considered to be a Class 10 asset and subject to the rules outlined above. If it is part of a package costingmore than $1,000 and a proper election is made, it can be part of a separate asset class Application software is generally put into Class 12 which allows a 100% write off but because it is subject to thc half year rule, it is written off over two years. This method would beused forsoftware where theexpect-

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ed life of the software is greater than one year and as such it is capitalized.

When you acquiresoftware you should look closely at it and if you expect the useful life, asseems to bethe casew ith much software these days, to be less than. one year then you might write it off as an expense within the year.

• I>

If anyof the readers of this column are aware of organizations that take old computers and use them for worthy purposes, please e-mail me details and I will try to put that in future columns. Those details should include the name of the organization, address,how the equipment will be used and what their system requirements are. Some that are only using them for word-processing may be happy to accept old equipment that does not run Windows. I f a n o r ganization needs Windows level equipment, it will not do them any good if I print their name and people start giving them XTs.

Co mputer D isposal o f " O b s oete" l Equipment One of the things that frustrates me and many of my clients, is the sense of wastage when we dispose of computer equipment. In many cases. the machinery still runs well but does not have the speed of the newer equipIf your gift is to a registered charity, the ment and/or will not operate many of the institution will probably set a value representnewer programs. I do not want to dump it ing fair market value, be it $50, $100 or $200, into the landfill. Each time our firm has dis- as the case may be and give you a charitable posed of equipment we have been able to fi nd contribution receipt if you ask for it. somebody who did not have as high a level of equipmentneeds,perhaps because they were students doing basic word-processing or sim- Rick Acton, FCA. is a partner in the Vmu.ouster ilar individuals. We have also given equip- firm of Acton Gutiderson, Chartered Accountants. ment to charities that are able to make use of He may be reached at 734-4871 or FAX 734-922/ it. For example, recently we gave some old or e-mailRick~tonObc.sympoh'co.ca computers to an organization that is teaching seniors basic computer usage.

hnp;uwwwccwmagmm S eptember 1996 W HO L ESALER 4 3

N EW S B Y T E S

CD-ROM Decline Predicted In only four years. worldwide CD-ROM shipments have increased from 2.5 million drives in 1992 to 'E an estimated 54.5 million drives in 1996. The CD-ROM is one of the meat hi-tech success stories. but the end is near. says a new Disk/Trend I'epolt

Read-only CD-ROM drives are expected to provide 94.6% of all optical disk drive shipments in 1996. according to the report. with its replacement being the new DVD-ROM (digital video disk-read only memory) which is predicted to pass the CD-ROM in 1999.

Disk/Trend predicts shipments of CD format drives for computer applications to be dominated by CDROM drives through 1999. Although shipments of the new DVD-ROM drives, offering much higher capacities combined with backward compatibility for current CD-ROM disks. are expected to start at the end of 1996. DVD-ROM drive shipments are not expected to pass CD-ROiVI drive annual shipments until after 1999.

The report predicts thai, in 1998, grovein total CD-ROM drive shipments will be nominal, with a sharp decline forecasted in 1999. as rapid increases in DVD-ROM drive shipments impact ihc CD-ROM drive market.

Robert H. Katzivc. vice president at Disk/Trend, told Ncwsbytes that the delay will be caused by. the time required to establish large-scale DVD-ROM drive manufacturing bring DVD-ROM prices down to levels competitive with CD-ROM drives. and publish

a large selection of DVD-ROM titles. "It seems from here that the re-imitable DVD-ROM is a few years from serious entry into the marketplace. but within the next tive years it should take a dominate position," he said.

While they last, CD-ROM speeds will continue to go up. The rcport says that product life cycles for individual CD-ROM drive models are very short. as

44

W H O LESALER September 1996 hrrp.' wwwccwmag.corn

drive manufacturers move to faster drives to enable content providcrs to improve multimedia performance. Quad-speed (4X) drives dominated 1995 shipments. with 74.5% of CD-ROM drive shipments.

However. in 1996. 78% of unit shipments are expected to be 6X and 8X drives. and by 1998, CD-ROM drive shipment leadership will be held by even faster IOX and 12X drives.

CD format writable drive shipments exceeded half a million drives in 1995. and the total is expected to top four million drives in 1999. but with significant changes in the product mix. Shipments of CD-R writeonce drives. used in making small quantities of CD disks. have mown rapidly in recent years and are expected to be 41.8~lcof the product group's 1996 total. Matsushita PD drives, using either read-only or rewiitable disks, have also seen rapid growth in Japan'sdomestic market and are forecasted at 57.2% of the 1996 total for the CD format writable drive

group.

Initial shipm ents of re-writable DVD drives are expected by the end of 1997. and are projected to gain more than a third of the 1999 market for CD format writable disk drives.

The report also contains basic product specifications on 284 optical disk drives and 213 optical disk libraries. Profiles are provided on 103 existing and former manufacturers of optical disk drives and libraries. including 24 with corporate headquarters in the United States 69 in Asia. and 10 in Europe.

The new study on optical disk drives was released as part of the series of four 1996 Disk/Trend reports. detailing annual business reviews of the worldwide disk drive industry published by DiskfI'rend Inc. Separate reports on removable data storage and disk drive arrays will be published in August andSeptember. and a new reporton magnetic disk drives was released in May. Thc 1996 Disk/Trend report on optical disk drives is priced at 51.990. ~

Wholesaler M A G A Z I N E

l

l Buyer-to-Advertiser FaxInquiry

http: ///www.ccwmag. Com/cw

ADVERTISER Dear Advertiser:

Fax to: Fax No.: Or mail to:

Re: Your ad and listing in Canadian Computer Wholesaler Issue, page Please quote on your products as described below: Product name / Model Numbers Quantity

BUYER (or paste your business card here)

From: Company Name: Phone No.: Fax No.: Address:

Detailed specifications, requirements, applications:

Please fax me information Please send catalogs/prices Please call me Please send a sales representative

Job Title:

COMPANY INFORMATION 1. Our business is mainly: rj Storefront reseller rj Non-storefront reseller rj OEM/Integrator/Assembler Other

2. We plan to buy this product: Immediately o Within 3-6 months a Within 6-12 months

Q

rj W i thin 12-24 months

4. Markets/ Distribution channels we sell to: a Distributors Small-medium size business a Dealers a Government /School a VARs a Home-office / Consumer a Manufacturers o Other: Signature:

3: Our main product lines are:

5. My job function can best be described as: ' ,a President Vice president ' o General Manager o Store manager Purchasing manager o Financial manager rj Marketing manager o Other: Date:

Now tax the fiormdirectly tn the advertrser.

You' ll have all the information you want, in no time.

S TORA G E

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8 8MS

Questions Resellers Are Asked Most Often

By Roy Hoshino While optical disk storage has come a R), C D -erasable (CD-E), w r i te-once long way since its introduction almost ten (WORM), and rewritable. Each type provides years ago, it is still far from being a plug-and- particular advantages and disadvantages. The play technology. Resellers continue to play an one you choose depends upon your applicaimportant role in the successful installation tion requirements. and utilization of optical disk systems, adding CD-ROM disks are very similar to popthe key ingredients... software and implemen- ular audio compact disks. Information is pertation. manently stamped onto the disk and once Resellers are also finding that their abil- recorded,cannot be altered, erased or updatity to act as educator is an important part of ed. Mastering is done at special off-site facilthe selling process. To ensure customer satis- ities and while the mastering process of each faction, questions concerning technological diskisexpensive,copiescan be stamped from and application-oriented issues must first be the original very economically. For this reaaddressed. With this in mind, the optical stor- son, CD-ROM becomes feasible when 50 or age technology questions customers ask more copies need to be made. Since the disks resellers most often and the answers to those are relatively rugged and transportable. they questions are listed below. are ideal for mass distribution of materials such as publications, catalogs, software and What ty pes of op t i c al disk storage reference materials. are there, and which type is most An outgrowth of the CD-ROM industry, appropriate for my application?

CD-Recordableisrapidly becoming a reasonOptical disk technology comes in four basic CD-ROM forms, CD-recordable (CD- ably priced storage method but it is better as a cost-effective and convenient means of distributing limited quantities of software. documentation and databases. It is also excellent for in-house publishing and preparing master discs for CD production. The high-capacity d i scs (660 and 780MB) provide the security of write-once technology for about I cent/megabyteand can be read by any CD drive.

W rite-Once/Read M a n y (WORM) magneto-optical (MO) disks can be written to. edited and copied using a PC. Data is stored on the 650MB, 1.3GB or 2.6GB capacity disks in the form of perm anent marks on the media surface by a low-powered laser.

Since the marks are permanent, once data is recorded, it cannot be erased or altered.

technology makes it ideal for archiving and security-intensive applications. For this reason, write-once systems have been very popular with banks. legal firms, government agencies and others concerned with data integrity and long-term docunient storage.

Rewritable MO disks provide the same high capacities as WORM media (650MB, 1.3GB and 2.6GB) but, like a hard disk, they can be erased. Rewritable technology has proven to b e p articularly effective for CAD/CAM, publishing, multimedia. routine backup and otherapplications where work must be changed regularly.

Writing to conventional MO media writing takes 50 percent longer than reading the same data because the drive must erase previously stored data, verify the media and then write the new data. To overcome this performance problem a new 2.6GB direct-overwrite solution has been introduced. Using LIMDOW (light intensity modulation-direct overwrite) technology the drives write at a full 4MB/sec making them excellent for real-time applications such as on-the-fly backup/disaster recovery and real-time video.

What if I n e e d a r chiving capabilities as well as the ability to store temporary data?

With today's multifunction optical disk systems. you no longer have to choose between write-once and rewritable systems.

Now it is possible to purchase a single unit that accepts both WORM and erasable media.

When integrated into a jukebox subsystem. multifunction drives offer some unique data management solutions. A multifunction jukebox can store both long-term documents (reports, contracts, etc.) on write-once media, and short-term materials (FAXes, memos, etc.) on rewritable media. Both types can be kept on-line and are accessible in seconds.

The versatile subsystems are being used for The permanence of write-once daily backup routines, as well as archiving.

46

WH O LESALER September 1996 hr rp:l(www ccwmag.corn

STO RA G E (transfer rate. seek time etc.) which are dependent on the drive and how it will be used. For instance, when storing and retrieving small files, such as letters and memos, the importance of the data transfer rate (DTR) is minimal. If. however, the application calls for managing larger files, such as images the DTR can play a siyuficant role in overall performance.

Since performance is related to the application and your overall system configuration. taking products for a test drive" is always a good idea. See how it works on YOUR system, running YOUR application.

How long does an optical disk sysWhat about standards in the optitem take to install? Will I need to shut down my operation until it is cal disk drive industry?

There are ISO (International Standards finished?

Organization) standards. ANSI (American The time required for i nstallation National Standards Institute) standards and, depends on the size and complexity of the of course, what is most popular in the mar- system. A simple documen[ imaging and optiketplace â&#x20AC;&#x201D; defacto standards. In rare cases, cal storage system can be set up in a matter of such as with today's MO d rives minutes. Requirements are as basic as ANSI/ISO/defacto standards are the same. installing the SCSI host adapter into your PC. To complicate matters somewhat while connecting the optical disk drive using a two products may meet ISO/ANSI standards, SCSI cable, inserting the installation software they may not always be compatible. It is pos- diskette and booting the disk. sible, for instance. to manufacture an optical More complicated systems with cusdisk that meets all of the requirements of the tomized application programs, multiple ISO/ANSI standards but does not work in an imaging workstations and/or optical disk ISO/ANSI standard multifunction drive. This jukeboxes require more time and expertise io is becausestandards specifications are broad install. If the networked imaginJ~storage sysand some manufacturers may execute the tem is connected to a PC workstation you will standards differently to provide them with a not have to shut the entire system down. If theoretical market advantage. however. the optical drive or jukebox will be running off the network file server, there will W hen people ask about standards. they are usually concerned with three things; com- be some minimal downtime while the SCSI patibility, availability and performance. Thc card is installed best course of action is to look at de facto Once installed. the drive can be accessed standardsbecause they have become standard immediately. Often times, however, large due to popularity. As a result. other manufac- imaging projects require the scanning of turers usually replicate the technology and/or existing paper documents. The initial scanprovide second-source products for them, ning phase can be time-consuming bui an This addresses the compatibility and availongoing scanning prograin should minimize ability issues. any inconvenience As for performance, nothing beats taking a close look at the system specifications for yourself. Keep in mind. however. that performance is related to the application. While access time is usually considered the best indicator of performance, it includes other factors

instance. is using 12-inch write-once media to recordtax forms and related documents.

The 5.25-inch drives. however, have gained in popularity for even very large imaging systems.The disks are smaHer. so they are easier to manage and transport. Since a single 2.6GB 5.25-inchMO disk can store as much as 1.500.000 text pages. they easily and economically fulfil the storage requirements for most applications.

The 3.5-inch drives have not gained widespread acceptance because while the initial cost of a 3.5-inch drive may be less, the actual storage cost is relatively high. A 3.5inch disk costs about 20 cents/megabyte comparedto about 4 cents a m egabyte fora 5.25inch disk ($100 for a 2.6GB disk).

Other considerations when choosing a form factor: A single. 12-inch drive costs around $10,000; a 5.25-inch drive costs about $2,100; and a 3.5-inch drive will cost about $1,300. ": Multifunction (erasable and write-once) drives are only available in the 5.25-inch form factor. The 12-inch drives are only available in write-once or rewritable. Most 3.50-inch drives incorporate read-only capability as well as erasable, but not write-once. " 12-inch media can hold up to 15GB of data.

5.25-inch stores up to 2.6GB, and 3.5-inch disks provide around 650MB of storage. * An optical disk jukebox allows fast access to multiple disks. For instance, it is possible to buy an optical disk jukebox that can store anywhere from 10 to 1,000 5.25-inch optical disks.Some jukeboxes can be configured with two or more drives, allowing greater access in a multi-user environment.

How do I justify the cost of an optical disk storage system?

Most optical disk systems pay for themselvesin about a year.T hese savings come in a variety of forms including.

a) Storage space â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Since a single 5.25-inch disk can hold as much information as 60 4drawer filecabinets (computer- generated text). the savings in storage space alone is tremendous.

b) Reduced overhead â&#x20AC;&#x201D; popular application for optical disk storage is microfiche replacements and departmentaVenterprise on-line storage systems called data marts (200What form factor should I use; 12500GB) and data warehouses (ITB+). Banks inch, 5.2S or 3.5? govenunent agencies, hospitals and general Here again your choice depends upon businesses are finding that optical disk imagyour application. The 12-inch form factor is ing is not only more convenient than microutilized in applications with tremendous stor- fiche and standard paper file storage but also age requirements. The government, for significantly less expensive. siip:uwwviccwmag.corn September 1996 W

HOL ESALER 47

STD RA G E expanding their system as their storage requirementsincrease.

c) Reduced labor cost — With optical disk storage. documents, letters. invoices. faxes. en)ail and other important information is kept on-line and ready to access. This eliminates searches through file cabinets. refiling, hunts for misfiled documents and other labor-intensive tasks. Considering that it costs approximately $45 each time someone tries to locaie a paper document. this is a significant consideration.

Today. there are integration solutions Which leads to another point. No other available for U N IX . N o vell N e tWare. media is better suited for archiving data.

Windows NT, LAN Manager. Banyan Vines. Some rugged optical disks will retain data 3Com and most other network environments. integrity for 50 to 100 years or morc. Data cannot be accidentally erased and ii does not If it's high-capacity storage that I need to be refreshed or rotated. like tape. need, why not use a hard drive or Optical disl' technology is quickly tape storage?

Optical disk technology offers a number becomingthe technology of choice for many of today's high-capacity storage applications. of advantagesover tape or hard drive-based Used for backup or imaging. optical offers a systems. First. it is portable. A single pocketsized disk will hold 2.6 gigabyies of data. unique combination of price and performance advantages.

Unlike magnetic-based storage. you do not

Are there optical imaging solutions for the network?

Optical jukebox manufacturers and a wide range of software developers offer software that simplifies jukebox. integration and disk management for network applications.

With thc software, the jukebox is completely transparent to the user. All operating system commands and applications programs work exactly as they do v iih a hard drive.

need io worry about losing your data due to stray magnetic fields. media aging or other environmental hazards.

Optical disk media is also significantly more cost-effective per megabyte of storage.

At approximately $100 per 2.6GB disk. an optical disk costs about 4 cents per megabyte. while removable hard drives run about $.50 per megabyte. Tape costs only about l cent a megabyte. but ii wears out and must be

The softwareprovides multi-user access to multiple optical disk jukeboxes. With support for multiple jukcboxes. it also provides organizations with a cost-effective solution to

For the forcsceable future, however, its success will depend on the rcsellers' ability to provide technical expertise. and to play the essential role of educator. Resellers who are willing to keep up with the latest developments will find that the profit potential is enormous. H%5 Roy Hoshitro i s S e rrior M cmager of Plarrrr/nglMar'feting o n ) V / korr S t orage Produt ts

COMPLIMENTARY SIIBSCRIPTION

Wholesaler

Which best describes your firm's primary business at your location? (check oneonly)

THE RESELLER'S R E S O URCE

Company

Value added dealer/reseller Mass merchandiser Consumer electronics/oftlce machine retailer Distributor/vvholcsaler/hardvvare manufacmrer/OEiV Software developer Systems integration/sot'ivvare consuhing Oovcrnment purchasing agents Computer maintenance/service company Q Hardware/software retailer Other third party and allied service firms

Address

The systems my organization integrates or resells are based

Y8S > I want to receive (continue to receive) CI Cant(dian Computer Wholesaler.

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Q New Subscription Q Renewal Q Change of address Name

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Q Yes Q No Which best describes your job title group? (check oneonly) Q Q Q Q Q Q

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48

replaced periodically. Optical media, on thc other hand. can last a lifetime.

President/VP/owner/gm Branch. store. district. rcgioaal iiiaoagers Channel retail, value added resel)crs and mana ers Purchasing ar)d merchandising managers Product development managers Computer ronsuhanis Technical management Design. system and application engineers Marke(ing. sales managers

W H OLESALER September 1996 nn rr, «~.c~mag c'om

Q Q Q Q Q Q

on g)e following: (cheek all thai apply) Q DOS/Windows Q Networking Q OS/2/Compatibles Q Unix Q Windows NT Q 51acintosh What is the number of employees at this location? (check oneonly) Q 10,000 or more Q 250 - 49i) 100 - 249 5,000 - 9,999 Q 2.00() -4.999 Q 20-99 Q 1,000- 1.999 Q Less than 20 500 999

What is your firm's approximate gross annual sales? (cheekoneonly) Q Over $50 million Q Over $5 million - $10 million Q Over$25million-$50million Q O v e r $1 million-$5 million Over $10 million - $25 million Q Un d er $1 million rill questions must be ansieered. Incomplete cards )rill not be processed.

The publisher resen'es tire right to deternrine «uali / feat/on. /Voter ym may fur yonr subsctfption tn CC)Vr(604) 608-2686

7 E C H N 0 LO G Y

CrL C UT S

P O W ER N O W P RO B L E M S ' L A ay Jim Cb o m

Margins on computer systems are often single digit — and getting slimmer. Some retailers throw in a box of disks and a mouse pad for good will but to make money you have to sell something. Ivlost retailers will sell a power bar with surge and spike protection but haven't considered selling uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).

The most important thing anyone produces on a computer is their data. Should the power suddenly go off or does something unusual in the middle of a session. the data could be lost or corrupted — a UPS will save your customer valuable time and money.

Think of it as insurance not only against data loss but also equipment damage - sensitive electronics on hard drives. motherboards, communications equipment and monitors can get damaged by dirty power.

Good margins The UPS market in Canada is about $60 million and growing 15-20% per year says Tom Singerman, Regional Sales Manager Western Canada for Best Power. Margins enjoyed on a UPS are typically 35-40% and there will be a repeat sale when thc battery dies in 3-4 years. Rule of thumb for costing a UPS is $1 per I VA (volt amps) for an on-line UPS or $0.60-0.75/VA for standby units says Singerman.

M aking the pit c h Begm by asking what type of work your client will be doing on their computer. Then ask how much it would cost to do that and what would happen if something unfortunate should happen to their data. You can also ask what would happen if they couldn't use their computerfor an extended period of timehere is where you can scil a big battery or even a generator to keep their computer system running. Next. tell them how often power is contaminated in their particular area and what the specific problems are. To do that.

callup Best Power at800-356-5794 and ask for a fme Power Quality Profile for their city.

They may have a study on hand. If that fails

you can quote average occurrence of power problems in North America.

I1.'s easy to sell a UPS after a problem, but you want to prevent any potential problems your client may run into. It is not unheard of for some businesses to suffer $50.000lossesor more for every hour their computer system is down. Just think of the average hourly wage of one employee multiply that by the number of employees. add the cost of lost business. the cost to recover or rebuild lost data. the cost for service calls to bring system back on-line and the cost for any hardware damage caused by sudden shut down.

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T hings are bad out t h e r e While power quality in North America is relatively good. there are still on average, 289 power disturbances every year. Any one of these can potentially damage sensitive electronics or corrupt computer data. This is the documented conclusion of a five-year study by the Best Power National Power Laboratory. The study monitored over 130 s ites thr o ughout Nor t h A mer i c a.

'Disturbance' was defined as any power aberration outside the recognized susceptibility limits for computer equipment. as established by the Computer and Business Equipment M a nufacturers' A s sociation (CBEMA).

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The study showed that the average computer is hit by the following over the course of a year: I•

+ 16 power blackouts (power out for more than 8.35ms) + 164 surges/overvoltages. usually caused by drops in electrical demand and widespread equipment shutdown

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+ 90 sags/undervoltages. caused by large loads starting up. line faults in utility power, or rolling brownouts created by utility companies on peak-use days + 19 transients or spikes, most caused by lightning. some by power coming back on after a blackout. h ttp:t/www.ccwmag corn September 1 996

W H O LESALER 4 9

T ECH N O L O G Y • Ten tell-tale signs of bad power

Some considerations

Here are ten tell-talesigns of Power Should you wo~ a bou tpowerqualit ?• You should if your work depends on comput-•• tr ouble p ut t o g e ther by B e st P ower • Technology. ers or other sensitive electronic devices. The • kind of power they require doesn't come out e Symptom One: Flickering Lights of a wall outlet Computers should have • Flickering lights usually are a sign that power with a sine-wave shape. Rock-steady e your facility has split-second outages orvoltvoltage.

• age sags. It may take an outage of hundreds It's true that higher-quality computers • of milliseconds for a fluo rescent tube flicker, have internal power supplies that can "ride •• an outage of less than 20 milliseconds can out" occasional ower fluctuations. But only • crash a network. If your workstation is in the • same office as the file server, youmay notice a two sa s in quick succession may be enough • tendency for the server to lock up ager the to exhausteven the best internal Power suPply lights flicker. If your work tation is remote,

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The question is not do you need power • however, you may never make the connection. protection, but what kind do you need? And • Solution: Protect critical components how much'?

• with a no break backup power system Here's a good basic starting point: Do • S ym p t om T w o : Fr r o r s i n p a pa Yo»eed blackout Protection to keeP Your • Transmission Between Nodes device running when power fails'? If so, how • • While t his is one of the most common much backupruntime do you need? A few • • problems LANsface,few network technicians recognize that power problems may be the Next question: Do you need uninterrupt- • cause. Actually, two different kinds of power ible power protection? Remember that a • aberrations can interfere with internode power loss that lasts only a few milliseconds communications: ground loops and electrocan bring down an entire network. If your • magnetic interference (EMI). system and application can't tolerate any loss • Groun d loops can occur between any of power, you need a true UPS. Otherwise a t w o devices linked by a data cable, especially standby power system may be sufficient. • if t h e d evices are far apart. When asignifi.. • cant voltage difference develops between the Many forget to Protect their "back door," • two devices the difference will "equalize" as even though Power SPikes occur on data lines • an impulse traveling on the cable. The result and wreak havoc via unprotected computer • can be a scrambling of the data carried on communication ports. fax machines, and • the cable; if the voltage potential is large modems. Allof these are good places for • enough, itcan even damage I/Ocards. surge-suppressor protection.

• EMI co n sists of electrical impulses gen-

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Some electronics generate noise that can e cratedby "noisy" devices such as radio transreflect back into the building s wiring.affect- • mitters, fluorescent lights, and even computingotherloads. Computers with switchmode • er power supplies. Theseimpulsestravel power supplies are guilty of domg d;s and • through the air, and a data cable can pick should bc protected by a ~S that Provides them up in the same way that an antenna • picksup broadcast signals.These conducted exceIIent noise protection.

PowerProblemsin Selected Canadian Cities •

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source: Best Power 50

WHO L ESALER S e p tember1996

ht tp: /lwwwccwmagcom

22 18 54 65 21 22 16 13

1 7 5 6 3 2 8

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53 48 137 318 1618 1787 83 419

T E C H N 0 LO G Y EMI impulses create noise on the data cable, interfering with communication between workstations, servers, and other peripherals.

Solutions: Where possible, keep voltage differentials from developing by plugging all devices into a single grounding point, such as a UPS. Use data line surge suppressors to prevent impulses from reaching the computer.

Run longer data cables through shielded, grounded metallic conduit to prevent EMI from reaching the cable. Keep cable runs away from noise generators — especially fluorescent lights.

Symptom Three: Unexplained System Lockup Another common sign of power problems is the tendency of servers or workstations to freeze. While many factors can cause this sort of lockup, random system crashes are often a sign that low-voltage sags or subcycle power failures have sapped your logic circuits of the voltage they need to operate properly. NPL power quality data show that voltage sags are the most common type of power problem, striking a typical computer site 90 times a year.

Logic chips operate on very low voltages — typically just 5 volts DC. Manufacturers' tolerances for logic voltage are fairly tight; when voltage drops below 4.75 volts, RAM errors start to increase. If low-voltage sags or subcycleoutages starve the computer's power supply, it may be unable to maintain logic voltage, and the system crashes. Ironically, certain Standby Power Systems (SPS) can also cause this kind of logic voltage drop. While these devices (often misleadingly called UPS) may advertise a fast transfer time in the event of a power outage, they are often unable to provide full power for one or two cycles after the transfer. In laboratory tests, computer logic voltage has been measured to drop as low as 3.5 volts when powered by some inexpensive SPS. Solutions: Use power conditioners to keep voltage to the computer within acceptable tolerances. If the application is critical, insist on a UPS, which has no transfer time when powering your computer from battery.

Often, the delicate conductive traces in a microchip cansimply he weakened by high voltage, only to fail weeks or months later, when the event that hastened the chip's demise has faded from memory. Unless such component failures are frequent, the network technicianmay never suspect the true cause of the damage.

other routes, such as data cables or modem connectors.

Soiutions: Be sure that all network devices are protected by high-quality, multistage surge suppressors, which carry a UL 1449 rating. See that data cables and modem lines are also protected by spike-free surge suppressors,

You say you' ve protected your server with a surge protector, and you' re still getting component failure? It's possible that the surge device itself has become the victim of repeated lightning strikes — especially if it' s one of the cheap hardware-store variety. Or spikes could be sneaking info your system via

Symptom Five: Hard Drive Crashes While this is rare, hard drives still crash, and power problems can be to blame.

Sudden power loss can be especially dangerous to hard drives; if power fails during a read/write operation, the heads can

Att Kinds of, Computer Ir, CD ROMAccessories Mouse & Mouse Pad CSA Power Bar Keyboard Drawer Hard Drive Carrier Fancy Joysticks Multi-media Speaker Monitor Arm CD Cleaning Kit CD Storage Box DIskette Box Disk Cleaning Kit Data Switch Screen Filter

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quantity are acceptable

availale ' .

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Symptom Four: Premature Component Failure When an I/O card, motherboard, power supply, or other vital component suddenly dies for no apparent reason, the failure is often blamed on a manufacturing defect. In reality, the quality control and burn-in programs of most reputable manufacturers make built-in defects a rarity. The real cause is more likely to be latent chip damage caused by a high-voltage spike.

Lightning and other spikes do not always cause immediate component failure.

CANBELL GROUP ENTERPRISES INC. 110-13431 Maycrest Way, Richmond B.C V6V 2M3, Canada SINGE 1914

Tele (604) 279-2366 F a x . (604) 279-2869 httpviww~.ccwmao.corn

September 1996 W H O LESALER 51

T ECH N O L O G Y drop onto the discs, damaging the delicate magnetic medium and creating bad sectors.

If this damage occurs in the wrong place, disk boot failures may result.

uploads/downloads to abort or cause a high • Is poor power quality causing all of your rate of bad block messages. The situation can • network problems?Probably not.A ny device arise when high-frequency spikes or impulses as complex as a computer is vulnerable to traveling on the powerline couple into phone • failure from many sources, and networking Solution Use a UPS to provide enough lines, which are almost never protected by • many devices together only compounds this backup power to allow you to do an orderly any kind of shielding. These signals are then vulnerability. interpreted by the receiving modem as bad shutdown of the system.

But don't be too quick to discount thc blocks.

Sympto m S i x : D a t a d a m a g e i n • Ihrcat of bad power. A National Power Solution: Spike-free surge suppressors CMOS and Other EPROM Chips are now available that include phone-line- • Laboratory survey of 1,200 computer users shovved that the number of service calls jacks. These devices can stop many of the Many computerusers have experienced • dropped anaverage of 825c after the installaimpulses that travel on phone lines.

You simthe horror of turning on their computer and ply plug the modem line into one jack, and • tion of a UPS. finding it's suffering from amnesia; it no longer remembers how many drives it has, run another line from the second jack to the what kind of monitor it's supporting, or how wall connection. Give one of these devices a Considerations on a UPS much memory is on its motherboard. Again, try if aborted modem transfers are a recur- • - hot swappablc battery. standard sized battery". rent problem. Be certain the device you select bad power may be the culprit. is designed with a single grounding point for • - pro~rammability. remote operation?

With the arrival of 3 86, 486 a nd • -software.OSes supported Pentium systems, vital system configuration both the electrical and modern or data line connections.

• - types of alarms - what do they alert you on? data is stored in ROM. High-voltage impulses can scramble the data on these chips, forcing S ymptom N i ne : Wavering M o n i t o r • —hardware design — is ita U PS,a stand-by or the userto do a system setup from scratch. Screens a variation?

CMOS chips can also fall prey to electrostatic • duration of power supplied If your display flickers, wavers, or discharge (ESD) - that nasty, high-voltage • noise during operation, fan dances, it could be a sign of larger power shockyou sometimes get when you touch a metal object on a dry day. ESD discharges can problems that may be affecting your entire • - operational cost network. Voltage sags can make monitor dis- • - warranty on equipment protected be several thousand volts in amplitude, plays shrink. A wavering display could also be enough to causeyou pain and to wipe a a sign of strong electromagnetic fields near • - microprocessor control ROM chipclean. the monitor. Either of these situations can do • —technical support Solutic «P rotect equipment with high- more than just disrupt your screen; they can • - marketing support. maroins, incentives quality spike-free surge suppressors. Use var- cause RAM errors, scramble data, and con• Including a UPS in a system sale will ious devices on the market (grounding wrist tribute to component failure. not only save your client from a potential disstraps, touch-pads, anti-static sprays, etc.) to Solution Use a UPS or power condition- • aster but also add to your bottom line. When reduce the risk of ESD near your computer. er, which feature voltage regulation, to keep • a power problem does strike, your client will Symptom S e v en : S y s te m D e v i c es input power at a proper level. Keep EMI genthank you. erators (especially electrical motors) well B ehave Erratically When Too M a n y away from network peripherals. are Turned On S ympto m T e n : D i s k D r i v e W r i t e If your network begins to b ehave strangely as more and more workstations are Errors powered up, your problem could be harmonBecause your hard and floppy drives are ics, which show up on oscilloscopes as cur- really the only moving parts in your network, rent or voltage distortions. Ironically, computthey are especially vulnerable to power aberers themselves are one of the biggest sources rations. We' ve already looked at two reasons: • t • of harmonics, because their power supplies caused by sudden power loss, and damage draw current in big, isolated gulps instead of RAM errors attributable to low logic voltage. nice smooth sine waves. If many of your netOne additional way bad power affects work devices are powered from the same circuit, the harmonic content of that circuit can disk drives is to interfere with the rotation build as the devices are turned on. The result'. speed of the disks themselves. Proper drive the more workstations operating, the flakier access depends on the correct rotation rate; undervoltages can cause the drive to try to I • • I they behave. read or write data in the wrong sector. Lost or Solution. Install a UPS or power condigarbled data, or actual drive failure, can tioners, which feature a ferroresonant transresult. former. This special type of transformer is I el . • Solution Protect equipment with voltextremely effective at filtering harmonics age-regulating devices, such as a UPS or from the input line. A ferroresonant-based device will also keep harmonics generated by power conditioner. the workstation from affecting other computers on the same circuit.

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Symptom Eight: Frequently Aborted Mo d ern Transfers Power problems can cause modem 52

WH O LESALER S e ptember 1996 ht t p: /lwvvwccwmag mm

source: Best Power Technology, Tripp Lite, Opti UPS, APC

3COM Canada Inc.

Arvida Technology Ltd.

2225 Sheppard Ave. Eau Artria 3 Suite1 204 North York, Ohl Tel.(416) 498 3266, Fax:(416) 498-1262

a 160, 6651 Elmbridge Way, Richmond, BC V7C4N1 Tel:(604) 303-2939 Fax: (604) 27 f-1830

3M Canada Inc. I Imation

Asia-Link Computer Inc.

PO. Box5757 London, ON N6A 4T1 Tel: (519I 451-2500, Fax: (SI9) 452-6262

45A West VVilmot St. Unit 15, Richmond Hill, Ont. L48 1K1

Acbel(Canada) 5500 Tomken Rd. Unit 8, Mississauga, Ont. L4W224

Tel.(90S) 602.7866, Fax: (905J 602.7871 internet: smscanada@aoLcom

Access B Inc. 20 BarneS COurt, Building G, COnCOrd, Ont. L4K 4L4

Tel:(905) 660-2425 Fax:(905) 660-9617 PbiWeer 1-800-666-5567

Accton Canada Tel.(604) 307-6680

f

Tel: (905) 731-1928 Fax: (905) 731-6875 Toll-Fice: (800) 461-8079 Branch Office: Haiifiax Fax: ( 02) 852-1453 Toll Free:1-800-781-7036

AST Canada Inc. 255 Marheson Blvd. West, Mississauge, Ont. L5R 3G3 Tel (905) 507-3278 Fax:(905) 507-0586

265 Hood Road, Unit 3, Markham, Ont. L3R 4N3 Tel: (905) 305-1277 Fax:(905) 305-1281 Toll Free. I-800-363-ADAM Internet:

info©adamtech. corn

ADI Systems Inc.

2115 Ringwood Ave., San Jose. CA95131 Tel.(408) 944-0100

Adobe Systems

efooo-145 King Street, Toronto, Ont. MSH 3x6 Tel: (416) 360-2317 Fax: (416)360-2917

Advance Integration Research (Canada)

Battery Network B.N. (Canada) inc.

290 Place Datura,.Ile Parrot, Quebec J7V 7N3 Tel: (514) 651-3366/800-431-1220 Fax: (514) 651-6830

75 Konrad Crescent, Unit C, Markham, Ont. L3R BTB Tel-(905) 946-9660 Fax:(905) 946-9663 Toll- Free:(800) 206-2724

Agfa Division BayerInc 77 Belfield Road, Etobicoke, Ont.M9W I GG Tel. (BDO)268-1331 • ext. 4D32 Fax:(416) 241-5409

Ahearn & Soper Inc. 100 Woodbine Downs Blvd. Rexdale, Ontario M9W 556 Tel: (416)67&3999 Fax:(416) 675-6589 Toll Free: 1-800-263-4258

Alpha Technologies Ltd. 5700 Sidey Street, Burnaby, B.C. I/5JSE5 Tel: (604) 430-1476 Fax:(604) 430-8908 Web sire. hrrpiiiwww.alpha-us.corn

Branch Office: Mississauga, Ont. Tel: (905) 712-1010 Fax:(905) 712-1012

Althon Inc.

Computer Plug Accessories Unit 10, 73 Raifside Rd., hlorth York, Onr.M3A 182 Tek (416) 444-3100 Fax:(416) 444-4144 Toll-free: 1-800-265-2870

Computron Systems Inc,

Comtex Micro Systems Inc.

Branch office: Vancouver: Tel: (604) 821-0000

Fax:(604 821-0434

Bell & Howell Ltd.

13751 Mayfield Place, Suite 100, Richmond B.C V6V2G9 Tel:(604) 273-8088 Fax:(604) 278-2818 Web Site: hrtp: iiwww.comtexmicro.corn

Branch offices Calgary, AB. Tel: (403) 250-3386 Fax:(403) 250-8092

Comtronic Computer Centre

111 Esna Park Drive, Unit 1, Markham, Ont. L3R 1H2 Tel: (905) 477-7722 Fax:(905) 477-7813 Branch offices: Kanata Ont. T el: (613) 592-5411Fax:(613) 592-5415 Vancouver, B.C. Tek(604) 431-0426 Fax: (604) 431-0427

BOCA Research Inc. 577 Burnamthorpe, PO. Box 336, EtobicokeA Etobicoke, Ont. M9C 1JO Tel. (416) 695-2999 Fax:(416) 695-1991

90 Riviera Dr., Markham, Ont. L3R 5MI Tek (905) 479-8336 Fax: (905) 479-8658 Toll-Free: 1-800-297-5505 Branch offices: Dartmouth, hi .S.: Tek (902)468.8777 Fax:(902)468<927 Hamilton, Ont.: Tek (905) 574-3744 Fax:(905) 574-8466 Montreal, Que. Tek (514) 731-1223 Fax:514) 731-1667 Ottawa, Ont.: T e k(613) 736-7513Fax.(613) 736-7510 Richmond, B.C.: Tali (604) 273-7280 Fax:(604) 273-7082

Conner Peripherals

Brother International Corp.

1rue Hotel de Ville, Dollard des Ormeaux Que. H98 3H6 Tel: (514) 685-0600 Fax:(514) 685'-0701 To!I-Free: 1-800-361-6466

Web Site: http iiwww.brother corn

50Bumhamthorpe Rd., Suite40 1,Missisrauga, Ont LSB 3C2 Teli (905) 272-32'l6 Fax:(905) 272-3264

Corel Corp.

1600Carling Ave. Ottawa. Ont. K1Z BR7

Tel: (613) 728-8200 Fax: (613) 728-9790

Calsby Computer Products

Corporate Computer Systems Inc.

rraf 42, 70E BeaverGeek Rd• Rk mondHill, Ont L38382 Tel: (905) 731-3861 Fax:(905) 731-3862

CanREP Inc.

22 Riviera Drive. Markham, Ont. L3R 5M1

Te!: (905) 479-2223 Fax: (905) 479-8558 Toll-Free: (800) 387-9751

30 1-7889 132Street, Suney, BC V3w 4G2 Tel: (604) 599-1232 Fax:(604) 599-3616 Branch Office: Cage y AB Tek (403) 255-0294 Fax:(403) 255-4902 Edmonton AB Tel: (403) 487-5578 Faxi(403) 489-1297 Toronto ON Tel: (905) 470-7342 Fax:(905) 470-7338 Montreal QC Tek (514)276-4477 Fac (514) 276.3646

Creative Labs

Canatronir. International Inc.

Tel: (905)828-0260 Fax:(905) 828-5669 Toll-F(eei (800) 354-6522

125 Traders Blvd. E, Unit 5 Mississauga, Ont. L4Z 2H3 Tel: (905) 712-4178 Fax:(905) 712-4179, 1-800-467-0554

Anixter

Canon Canada Inc.

I 0 Carlson Court, Unit 590, Etobicoke. Onr. M9W GL2 Tel. (416) 213-8600 Fax:(416) 213-8602

Tel: (905) 676-6700 Fax: (905) 676-6715

35 Ironside Crescent, Scarborough, Ont. M1X 1GS Tel: (416) 291-0000 fax: (416) 291-5721

110-13431Maycrest Ivay, Richmond B.C V6V2M3 Tel: (604) 279-2366 Fax:(604 279-2369

Artisoft Inc.

ComputerAccessories Plus

Beamscope Electronic EntetItainment

251 Amber St., Unir 5-6, Markham, Ont. L3R 3)7 Tel (905) 513-1221 Fax:(905) 513-1220 Branch Office Richmond, B. C Tel: (604) 244-861 I Fax (604) 244-8612

33 city centre Drive, sure510, Mississauga, ont. L58 2NS Tel: (4fG) 897-5665 Fax:(416) 897-6236

Toll-Free:(800) 200-5379 BBS:(905) 829-2283 Tel: (905) 829-5147 Fax:(905) 829-5074

401 Alden Rd. Unit 13 Markham, ON L3R 4N4 Tel: (905) 477-1i 77 Fax:(905) 477-8281 Toll-free: 1-800-927-4777

Birde Marketing

Advance MedalComputer

@20,2861 Sherwood Heights Drive, Oakviiie. Ont. LGI 7KI

5935 Airport Rd., Mississauga, Ont. L4V I M/5

2695 N. Sheridan VVay,Stef60, Mississauga, Ont. LSK 2N6 Tel: (905) 855-2971 Fax:(905) 855-2894 ()ranch offices: Monbeal, Que.: Tel: (514) 426-2644Fax: <Sf4 426-0326 vancouver, B.C.: Tel:(604) 683-6503 Fax: (604) 683-6502

Advance Interactive MultiMedia

88 Konrad Crescent, Markham, Onr L3R BT7 Tel: (905) 479-1443 Fax:(905) 479-1834 E.mail aieiCnonramp.ca Branch office: Richmond, B.C. Tel:(604) 270-8561 Fax:(604) 270-4953 Edmonton, AB Tel. (403) 436 9263 Fax:(403) 436-9258

Claris Canada, Inc.

Computer AssociatesCanada Ltd.

Banyan Systems Inc.

360 Hanlan Rd. Woodbri dge, ON L4LBV6 Tel: (905) 850-6705 Fax:(905) 850-3500

Advance Interface Electronic Inc.

150-12860Clarke Place, Richmond B.C. V6V2H I Tel: (604) 270-3747 Fax:(604) 270-3757

1 1 000Masse, Montreal North, PQ H1G 4G3 Tel: (514) 323-1000 Fax:(514) 323-2222

204 Oakdale Rd. Toronto, Ont. M3hl 255 Tel: (416) 745-1868 Fax: (416) 745-0827

7575Trans-Canadienne, Unirsoo st-taurent Quebec H4T1v6 Tel: (514) 956-0400 Fax:(514) 956-0323 7431Brirron Sr, Burnaby, B.C. V3N 3A6 Tel: (6D4) 517-0634 Fax:(604) 517-0643

City Computer

ClassicSoftware Systems Inc.

AZERTY

Ballance Display

ADAM Peripherals Inc.

a I 10, 259 Midpark way SE, Calgary, Alberta T2X 1M2 Tel: (403J 256-8877 Fax: (403) 256-8878

2100 Trans Canada Hwy, South Dorvai, Quebec, H9P 2N4 Tel: (514) 683-1771 Fax:(514) 683-5307

5155 Spectrum Way, Suite 9, Mississauga, Ont. L4W SA1

a120-13751Mayfield Place, Richmond BC. I/6V2G9 Tel: (604) 278-281 1 Fax: (604) 278-1211 Toil-Free: 1-800-567-7227

Cipher Systems Ltd.

AVS Technologies Inc.

Acer Canada Ltd. ACP Marketing Inc.

81 Ramona Blvd., Markham, Ont. L3P 2K5 Tel: (905) 472-6904

3 Church St., Ste.402, Toronto, Ont. M5E 1M2 Tek (416)941-9611 Fax: (416) 941-9532 Toll Free: (800) 361-6075

5850 Cote de Liesse, Suited300, Montreal QC H4T 182 Tel: 1-800-361-5964 Fax: 1-800-463-7975

Tel:(905) 602-8200 Fax: (905) 602-7799

CiMSYS Canada Inc.

Canbell Group Enterpdses Inc

5025Oibitoror„skkf.6 Suire301, Mssfeaucrs ont. L4W4YS fel: (905) 238-8456 Fax: (905) 238-8541 Custom Service(800) 998-1000 Technical Support(405) 742-6655

D-Link Canada 2180 Dunwin Dr., Mississauga, Ont. LSL SMB

Daewoo ElectronicsCanada Ltd.

170 Alden Rd., Markham, Ont. I3R 4C1 Tek (905) 415-7290 Fax:(905) 415-7287

DAIWAE)SS Distribution Inc

Toll-Fre i (800) 263-1121

361 Alden Road, Markham, Ont. L3R 3L4 Tel: (416) 499-2889 Fax:(416)492-6501 BranchOffices: Richmond, B.C.: Teli (604) 244-9912 Fax:(604) 244-9986 Mssissaugai T e k(905) 238-8701Fax:(905) 238-1586

Canta Technologies Inc.

DATAHOME Infosystems

6390 Dixie Road. Mississauga, Ont. LST 1P7 Tel: (90 ) 795- I 111 Fax:(905) 795-2014

250 Wesr Beaver Creek Rd., Unit 10 Rk mond Hill, Ont. L48 1C7

Tel; (905) 889-7959 Fax:(905) 889-0307

263- 13986 Cambie Road Richmond B.C. V6V2K3

htrp.'iiwww ccwmagxom S eptember 1 996 W H O LESALER 5 3

S OU R C I N G

D I R E C T O RY

Teli (604) 278-3584 Fax:(604) 278-0532 Toll Free. I-800-361-DISK

DATALINK(urtec)

Gainbery Computer Products, Inc. 165 Steelcase Road East, Markham. Ont. /3R /G/ Tel: 1-800-391-1624 Fax: 1-905-4/5-9970

129 raison Road, Markham, Ont. L3R /E4 Tel: (905) 4/5-0145 Fax (905) 475-9840

GATES))utftOW Distributing

Data-tel Cabling Systems

GB M/cro Electronics Inc. 5575Ch. St. Francis.St-Laun nt. QC H45 /WG

145 Langstaff Rd East; Scarborough, ON L3t 3M6 /el: (905) 886-6371 Fax:(905) 764-7944

Daytek Electronics Corp.

3830jacombs Road, Unit 105 Richmond, BC VSV YG I Tel: I'604) 270-3003 Fax:(604) 270-3022

Digital Equipment of Canada Ltd.

4//0 Young St. Willowdale, Ont. M2P 2C7 /el: /4?Sj 730-7000 Fax: 1-800-487-2548 Toll Free: 1-800-7/4- 12/1

Discount Computer Club 2IF, 145-447/' bio. 6 Road, Richmond, 8 C. VGV 1PB Tel. (604/ 821-1108 Fax: (604) 821-0813

Fax-on-demand: (604) 525-1089

Dynatek AutomationSystems Inc. 200 Bluewater Rd. Bedford. NS 848 /G9

1093 Meyeiside Dnve, Mississauga, Ont. L5T IM4

Tel: (514)333-7373 Fax: (S/4) 334-7707 Toll Free: (BOO) 361-2568 Branch Office: Toronto. Ont T el: (905)672-6767 Fax.605) 672-6788 Toll Free: (800) 461-6357 Vancouver, BC Tel: (604) 733-9443 Fax:(604) 730-9806 Toll Free (800) 303-5222

GeneralDatacomm Ltd. ¹V/308.2255 Sheppard Ave East, Willowdale, Qnt. M21 4y/ Tel. (4/6) 498-5/00 Fax: (4/6) 499-0248

Genicom Canada Inc. 100 CommerceVal/ey Drive East Thomhill Ont., L3T 7R/ Tel: IMS) 882-2500 Fax:(905) 882-7588

Gentek MarketingInc.

Vancouver, 8 C. Tel: (604) 681-0/11 Fax:/604) 681-0/41

20 Barners Coun, BldgG, Concord, Ont. L4K 4L4 Tel:(905) 738-9300 Fax:(905) 738-5563 Branch Office: Richmond, BC Tei' (604) 273-5066 Fax.(604) 273-5003

E-TechCanada Limited

GHM Computer Accessories

Tel: (902) 832-3000 Fax:(902) 832-3010 Branch offices: Toronto. Ont.: Tali (416) 636-3000 Fax;(4/6) 63S-30/1

Ingram Micro Inc. (Canada) 230 Barmac Drive, Weston, Ont. M9L 223 Tel: (905) 740-9404 Fax:(905) 740-6/00 Branch offices: Montreal,QC. Tel:(514) 334-9785 Fav: (514) 334-2/74 Ottavra, Ont. Tel: (6/3/ 228-3386 Fax:(6/3) 228-3387 Calgary,AB. Te(403) l 285-6321 Fa x:(403) 285-6/78 Richmond, B.C Tel: (604 276-8357 Fax: (604) 276-8359

InterWorld Electronics Ib Computer Industries Ltd. 1641 Welch St. IVorth Vancouver, BC Teli (604) 984-4/71 Fax: (604) 984-8357

E-mai I: i ntenvorld-vcr@min d/ink.bc.ca

IPC Personal Computers (3D IV/icrocomputers) 350 Steelcase Rd. W, Markham, Ont. L3R 183 Tel: (905) 479-8822 Fax: (905) 479-7688

)aba Systems Inc. 80 Shield Court, Markham, Ont. /3R 9T5 Tel: (905) 477-6363 Fax:(905)477-6891

Kao Infosystems Canada Inc. 10 Didak Dr., PO. Box41, Arnprior, Ont. K75 3H2 Tel: (613) 623-7901 Fax: (613)623-2886 Branch offices Mississauga, Ont.: Tek (416/ 890-859DFax: (4/6) 890-8595 Vancouver,RC.i Tel:(604) 431-9599Fax (604) 431-9530

KMI Electronics Inc. 71 70 Warden Ave, Unit 5, Maikham, Ont. L3R 5MB

7725 Biirchmount Road, Unit ¹4, Markham, Ont. L3R9X3 Tel: (905) 479-9696 Fax:(905) 479-9582

63 Silveistar Blvd., Unit C-11 Scarborough Ont. M I V SES Tel' (416) 299-3369 Fax:(4/6) 299-3685

THOS) 946-9533 Fax: (905) 946-9535

Edge Wholesaler

Globelle Corporation

3500 Eglinton Ave. West, Toronto, Ont. M6M I V3

Unit¹2, 3375 14th Ave.. Markham, Ont. /3R 2LS

Tel: (905) 948-0000 Fax:(905) 948-0505

EM) Data Systems Ltd. PO Box 10/2, Guelph, Ont NIH 6N/ Tel: (5/9) 837-2444 Fax.(5/9) 836-19/4 Branch offices: Richmond B.C. Tel: (604) 270-9324 Fax:(604) 270-7834

Calgary, Alta. T el: (403/250-5343 Fax:(403)250-5373 Bedford, B.S, T el. (902-835-1621 Fax: (902) 835-9/27 St. Laurent, Que. Tel: (5/4) 745-4500 Fax: (5/4) 745-2886 Winnipeg, Man Teli (204) 949-0055 Fax.(204) 949-0063

EMPAC Com uter Cor 168 Konard Crescent, Markham, Ont. L3R 9T9

Tel:(905) 940-3SOO Fax: (905) 940-3604 Branch Office: Montreal, Quebec Tali (5/4) 345.900D Fax:(5/4) 345-8551 Vancouver, B.C. Tel: (604)8214)/77 Fax. (604) 821-0277

EPROM Computer Systems 705Middlefield Road, Unit 101,Scarborough, Ont. M/V SH5 Tel: (4/6) 321- 1336 Fax (416) 321-1831

EPSOM Canada Ltd. 550 McNichol Ave., Willowdale, Ont M2H 2E/ Teli (4/6) 498-995S Fax: (4/6) 498-4574

Evetek Computer ¹248 13986,Cambic Rd. Richmond B.C. V6V2K3 Teli (604) 273-8008 Fax: (604) 273-8820 The company manufactures personal computers and dis-

5/01, Orbitor Drive Mississauga, Ont. L4W4V/ Toll-free. (800) 465-16/6 Fax:(905) 629-4331 Branch Offices.

Richmond, BC Tel: (604) 273-1155 Fax: (604) 273-0629 Donral, OC Te l : (514) 631-1686fax (5/4) 631-7/98 Winnipeg, MB Tel. (204) 989-8750 Fax.(204) 254-7832

GMS Datalink International Cor . ¹/02 342 East Kent Ave., Vancouver B.C V5X 4NG

Tel: (604) 327-4335 Fax:(604) 327-2600 Tall-free /-800-750-4848 Branch offices Richmond Hil/,Ont. Tek(905)77/-/ 188 Fax:(905/77/-//3/ Toll Free1-800-361-3234

Golden Dragon Systems 3330 McNicoll Avenue, Scarborough, Ont. M1V 2/2 Teli (4/6) 297-1202 Fax:(4/6) 754-2240 Branch Offices: Ottawa, Onr. T el: (613/739-0775 Fax:(6/3) 739-8298 Richmond, B,C Tel. (604) 278-1/81 Fax:(604) 278-1/37

Kodak Canada Inc.

Tel: (416/ 766-8233 Fax: (4/6) 761-4409

Landmark Computer Exhibitions, Inc. 14 HOI(iS Crescent, Holland Landing, Ont. L9IV IE7

Tel: (800) 26~-708/

Fa x back: (905) 853-32/0

Lapro Marketin 510-3771lacombs Road, Richmond B.C, V6V 2M5 Tel: (604) 244-7798 Fax:(604) 244-7796

LCF Advanced Technology Ltd. Unit ¹333-13988 Cambie Road, Richmond, B.C.V6V 2K4

Tel: (604) 303-9628 Fax:(604) 303-9638

LCH Resources Inc. ¹9 - 135/1 eras/wood Place, Richmond, B.c.

Tel: (604) 278-0708 Fax: (604) 278-0305

Lexmark Canada Inc. 160 Royal Crest Ct., Markham, Ont. L3R OA2 Tel. I'905) 477-2311 Fax: (905) 477-3933 Toll-Free: (800) 663-7662

Group 1 Software

LG Electronics Canada, Inc.

7/0 Dorval Drive, Suite5/8, Oakville, Ont. L6K3V7 Tel (905) 844-7273

7391 PaciFic Circle, Mississauga, Ont. LST2A4 Tel: (905) 670-0650 Fax: (905) 670-2379

Hall-Mark Computer Products

Logic Controls Canada Inc.

151 Superior Boulevard, Mississauga, Ont. LST 2L1 Tel: (BOD)668-7982 Fax. (9DS)795-3844

Hewitt Rand Corp.

tributes PC p eripherals.

Branch o%cei Calgary: Tel: (403) 250-3633 Fax: (403) 250-1360

160 Admiral Blvd., Mississauga, Ont, LST 2IVS Te/. (905) 795-9600 fa x. (905) 795-1900 Branch ofhce Richmond, B.C Tel: (604) 27&827/ Fax:(604) 270-0187

Exide Electronics Canada Inc.

Hewlett-PackardCanada Ltd.

13980Bridgepon Rd.Richmond, BC V6V /V3 Tel. (604) 267-2360 Fax:(604) 267-2398 Branch Offi ce Scaiborough OIV Tel (4/9391-0864 Fax:(4/6) 391-8269

Logitech Canada, Inc. 5025 Orbitor Dr., Bldg.6 Ste200, M sissauga, On/ L4W4Y5 Tel: (905) 629-2006

Lonson Group

¹3-35/1 Viking Way, Richmond B.C. V6V/W1 Tel-(604) 273-4668 Fax. (604) 273-7989

380 Carlingview DR, Ont. M9IIV 5X9 Tel: (4/6) 798-0/ /2 Fax: (416) 798-0062 Tol! Free: 1-800-46 1-9166

5/50 Spectrum Way, Mississauga, Ont. L4W SG/ Te/ f905) 206-4725 Fax: (905) 2D6-4739 Toll- Free: (800) 387-3867

Faronics Technologies Inc.

Hitachi (Canadian) Ltd.

57A - 53 Clipper Street, Coquit/am, B.C. V3K 6X2 Tel: (604) 540-8/99 Fax: (604) 540-8179 E-mail:faliOaxoinct.corn

6740 Campobello Rd., Mississauga, Ont. LSN 2LB Te/: (905) 826-4/00 Fart (905) 826-88/8

Hyuen Canadian Enterprises Ltd.

Fastech Computer I td.

240-11181 Bridgeport Road, Richmond. B.C. V6X /T2 Tel: (604) 279-8818 Fax. (604) 278-3089

500 Aden Road, Unit 7. Markham, Ont. L3R SH5 Tel: (905) 479-0?20 Fax:(905) 479-1774 E-Ma'/li/(mecum@i poli ne.corn

IBM Canada Ltd.

Markham Computer Corp.

/60- /375/ Mayfield Place, Richmond8 C. VSV2G9 Tel. (604 279-9686 Fax:(604) 279-9787 E-mail/ fastech@? compucon corn

Branch offr'ce: Alberta

Te l :(403) 291-3351 Fax:(403) 291-35/9 E-mail.fa~ ab(racompucon.corn

360DSteeles Ave. E, Markham, Ont. /3R 927 Te/: (800) IBM-4 YOU

I m a Technolo

I nc.

Focus Electronics (CANADA) Inc. ¹/45 - 4471 bio. 6 Road, Richmond, B.C. V6V /PB Tel: (604 273-8086 Fax:(604)273-3488

5986 Easi Boulevard, Vancouver, B.C. V6M 3V4 Tel: (604) 261-'I BOD Fax: (604) 263-9201 Toll-Free: 1-800-663-9272

Fujitsu Canada Inc,

Impulse Computer Corporation

2800 Matheson Blvd. East, Mssissauga, Ont. L4W4XS Tel: (905) 602-5454 Fax:(905) 602-5457

2700 Argentia Road, Mississauga, Ont. L5N 5V4

Tel: (905) 858-3000 Fax.(905) 858-9D90 Toll Free: 800-668-1111

54

W H O LESALER 5 e p t embet 1996 ht t piiiwvwvccwmag.com

Mackie Enterprises Ltd.

¹ 180-12868 Clarke Place, Richmond, 8 C. VGV 2H/ Tel: (604) 270-3386 Fax:(604 270-2289

Macom Canada inc.

20/ Vv'hitehall Drive, Markham, Ont L3R9V3 Tel. /905) 475-5100 Fax:(905) 475-8955 Branch office: Richmond, B.C. Te//604) 273-91 14 Fax.(604) 273-9142

Matrox Graphics Inc. 1025 St. Regis Blvd., Dorva/, Que. H9P 2T4 Tel: (514) 685-2630 Fax: (514/685-2853

Matsushita Electric of Canada (Panasonic) 5770 Ambler Dr., Mississauga, Ont. L4VV 213 Teli (905/ 238-2320 Fax: (905) 238-2417 Bmnches offices: Calgary, Alta.: Tel: (403) 295-31 12Fax:(403) 295-5493

SOU RCI N Ridxnond, B.C: Tel: (604) 278-4211 Fax:(604) 278-5116 Montreal, Que.: Tel:(514) 633-3503 Fax;(514) 633-M86

Maxell Canada

Novell Canada Ltd.

Unit 6. 854 Marion St. Winnipeg, MA, R2I OK4 Toll-free I-BDD-567-3274 Tek (203) 231-0590

Okidata

McKinnon Micro Distributing

PS-117 Ringwood Dr, Stouffville, Ont. L4A BC1 Tel: (905) 642-3500 Fax: (905) 642-3545

Memory House Inc. 4225- 10711Cambie Road,Richmond, B.C.VBX3GS Tel: (604) 821-1178 Fax: (604) 821-1107

E-mail. mhi@skybus.corn

Mentek Systems Corp.

8557 Main Street,Vancouver B.C. VSX3M3

Tel: (604) 321-8533

Merisel Canada

200 Ronson Drive, Erobicoke, Ont. M9W 519 Tel (416)240-7012 Fax: (416)240-2605

Branch offices: St. Iauient, QC. Tel:(514) 145-1695 Fax: (514) 745-1736 Richmond, B.C. Tel; (604) 273-2445 Fax: (604) 273-1113

Micrografx

2595 E. 8th Avenue, Vancouver, B C VSM 1W3 Tel: (604)251-5768 Fax:(604) 251-6588

Ongoing Results Ltd.

11DFenier St. Markham, ON L3R 225 Tel (905) 415-8988 Fax:(905) 415-8989

Orade Corp. Canada Inc. 100-110Matheson Boulevard W, Missisauga, Ont l5R 3P4 Tel: /905) 890-8100 Fax (905)890-12D7

Orchestra MultiSystetnsCanada Inc. 4444 Eastgate Parkway, Unit 4, Misaissauga, Ont. L4W 4T6 Tel: f905) 625-7783Fax: (9D5) 624-3834 srt68= 13982 Cambie Road, Richmond B C. V6V2K2 i el: (604) 270-4455 Fax: (604) 270-44&8

Pacific Ram Distribution Corp.

Suite 135- 12830Clarke Place, Richmond B.C. V6V 2H6 Tel/ (604) 279-0753 Fax: (604) 279-0748

PacificRoyal Enterprises Ltd.

MIDAS TechnologyInc.

Packard Bell Electronics

110-3320 )acombs Road, Richmond, B.C. Teli (604) 278-0783 Fax:(604) 278-0769

MIT Computer Supplies Co. Ltd.,

Motorola Information Systems Group MultiMedia Effects Inc. 40 Wynford Dave, Suite 106, hlorth York, Onr. M3C 1)S Tel: (416) 444-2324 Fax: (416)444-0465 Toll-Free: (800) 367-3054

Multimedia Solutions Inc. Lower 1401, 2nd St. S.W. Calgary, Alberta, T2ROW7 Tel: (403) 233-9411 fax (403)233-7757

National Computer Products

Paltech Solutions

Radius Inc., Canada

795 WardenAve, Scarborough, Ont., II/11L4C4 Teli (416) 751-8888 Fax: (416) 751-5637

Bay 4, 417, 53 Aveue S.E., Calgary, Alberta T2H 2E7 Teli!403) 255-5646 Fax:(403) 255-5759 75 Konrad Cres., Unit A, Markham, Ont. L3R BTB Tel: (905) 475-5177 Fax.605) 475-2893

PC One Two Three Computer Corp.

1100 Begin, Suite 100,St. Laurent, Que., H4R 1X1 Tel: (514) 334-9340 Fax:(514) 334-7671 Branch oNce: Quebec City,Que.: Tel:(418) 872-3492 Fax: (418) 872-1968

Branch offices: Richmond, B.C Teli (604) 273-82S1 Fax: (&04) 273-8207 Calgary,AB Tel. (403) 250-8281Fax: (403) 250-8325

1450 Lodestar Road, Unit I, Downsview, Ont. M3) 3CI Tefi (416) 638-8060 Email: nextechCainterfog.corn

NMB Precision Inc. 370 Britannia Rd. E., Unite5, Mississauga, Ont. L42 IX9 Tel. (905j 890-0570 Fax.(905) 89D-9219 Branch offices:

Vancouver Tek (604) 990-0889 Fax. (604) 990-0899 Montreal Tel: (514) 368-9903Fax: (514) 368-9906

Ready Computer International 4110- 12860 Clarke Place, Richmond B.C. V6V2H1 Tel: (604) 270-76 18 Fax. (604) 270-7658

Samsung ElectronicsCanada Inc. 7037 Finanoaf Dr. Mssissauga, Ont. LSN 6R3 Teli (905) 542-3535 Fax:(905) 542-3835 385 Bentley St., Markham, Ont, L3R 9T2

Tek (905) 940-1880 Fax: (905) 940-0331

Sanyo Canada Inc.

Perle Systems Ltd.

ScanSource Canada Ltd. a200, 10310-176 StreetNW, Edmonton. AB T55lt3 Tel: (403) 486-4953 Fax. (403) 484-8761 Toll-free Tel: (800) 665-SCAN Fax: (800)663-SCAN

6D Renfrew Drive, Markham, Ont. L3ROE1

Pinnacle Micro, Inc.

Nesttech

Tel: (905) 415-8600 fax: (905) 415-8603

Markham, Ont. Tel (905) 513-5777 Fax:(905j 513-5770 St iaurent, QC Tel(514) 956-1234 Fax: (514) 956-1099 Ottawa, Ont. Tel: (613) 745-188S

Mississaulyt, Ont. Tel: 605) 625-0125 Fax:(905) 6254RB Yanaxew, BC Tek (604 253-3400 Fax:(604) 2534249 Calgaiy,AB. Tel:(403) 262-7270Fax:(403) 455-5439

6225 Kenway Drive, Mississauga, Ont. LST2L3 Tel. (905) 795-3600 Fax:(905) 795-3583

90 Nolan Court, Unit 44, Markham, Ontario L3R 4L9

50 Beth Neaison Drive Toronto, ON M4H IM6 Tel: (416) 421-8344 Fax: (416)421-8827 Branch Office: I/ancouver BC Tel. (604) 2784466 Fax:(604) 278-2599 Montreal QC T el: (514 342-0290 Fax:(514) 342-8494

601 Milner Ave., Scarborough, Ont. M18 1MS Tel: (416) 7546245 Fax:(416) 754-6235

NEC Technologies Canada

RC Electronics Canada

Samtack Computer, Inc.

Peripheral Express Inc. 3115 14th Ave., Suite 7, Markham, Ont. L3R OH1 Tel: (9D5) 513-5777 Fax: 905) 513-5770

Toll Free Sales(800) 661-6959 Branch offices:

Teki (705) 526-4233 Fax: (705) 526-0570

250 The Esplanade, Toronto, Ont. M5A 1)2 Tel: (416) 777-9900 Fax. (416) 777-9911

PC DOCS Group International Inc.

Tel (905) 475-8885 Fax: /905j475-8646

330 Cranston Cr. , Midfand, Ont. L4R4I/O

7SShields Court, Una 4, Markham, Ont. L3R 9T4 Teli (905) 940-3827 Fax:(905) 940-9709 Tel: (604) 278-6789 Fax:(604) 278-8918

Quest Components Inc.

16636 - 117th Avenue, Edmonton, AB TSM 3W2 Tel- (403) 454-7400 Fax: (403) 455-5439

NEBS ~ustness Forms Ltd.

QDI Cotnputer (Canada)

1182SanfordSt.,W innipeg Man R3E 229 Teli (204) 774-6051 Fax: (204) 774-6045 Toll-Free: 1-800-665-3095.

85 ScarsdaleRoad,Sune 200, Toronto,O nt.M38 2R2 Teli (416) 445-4823 Fax:(416) 445 6228

400 Matheson Blvd. West, Mississauga, Ont. LSR 3MI Tel: 605) 507-7200 Fax: (905) 507-7231

Pucka Computer Corp.

50 Don I'ark Rd., Unit 5,6 Makham, Ont. L3R 03 Tel: (905) 940-9839 Fax: (905) 940-6977

1155 Rene-Levesque West, Suite 816, Montreal, Que. Tali I'514) 875-2643 Fax: (514) 875-9996 Toll Free: 800-860-6389 Web Site: http-!iwvwv.qnetix,ca

Pal-Tec Marketing

Mitsubishi Electric Sales Canada Inc.

1020 Mainland St., 5uite 130, Vancouver. B.C. V68 2T4 Tel: (604) 685-9975 Fax: (604j 685-6105

Provincial Products 3035 Wharton Way.Mississauga, Ont. L4X 284 Toli-Free:(800) 267-46S6 (905) 629-3737 fax: (800) 665-19S2, (905) 629-1982

QNETIX Distribution

PC Craft Inc.

Motion Works Corp.

297 Labrosse, Pointe-Claire, Quebec, H9R1A3 Tel: (514) 630-5832 Fax:(514) 630-2987

QMS Canada Inc.

40 Shields Court 1-2, Markham, Ont. L3RDM5 Tef: (905) 946-0908 Fax: (905) 946-8749 Toll Free: 1-800-796-5225 Web site: httpi//wvwv.micro)ack.corn Information Technologies Group 4299 14th Ave. Markham, Ont. L3R 012 Tel: (905) 475-7728

Protec Microsystems

2600 Skymaik Ave. Ste. 5, Mississauga. Ont, L4W 582 Tel: (905) 206-0848 Fax;605) 206-0903

1025 Tristar Dr., Mississauga, Ont. L5T 1WS Tel: (905) 564-1122 Fax: (905) 564-1148

Mindflight Technology Inc. MinitronicsOffice Automation

Pro-Sonic Electronic Supplies Inc.

Paafic Foremost Tech. Corp. (Precision)

383-13988Cambie Road.,Richm ond B.C. Te!: (604) 279-8731 Fax:(604) 279-8739 Toll-Free: 1-800-538-82 12

1995 Boundary Road, 2nd Roor, Vancouve, B.C. VSM 3Y7 Tel. (6D4) 294-6465 Fax;(604) 294-1301

Promar Enterprises Company Ltd.

2735 Matheson Blvd E., Mississauga, Ont L4W 4MB Teli I905) 238-425D Fax: (905) 238-4421 Toll fveqi 1-800-654-3282

3242 Hazelwood Ave., Burlington, Ont. L7M 2T4 Tefi (905j 332-6641 Fax: (905) 332-8 123 3771 )acombs Road «530, Richmond, B.C. V6V 2L9 Tel (604) 276-2860 Fax (604) 276-2862

D I R E C T O RY

Pro-data

3100 SteelesAve. E, Markham, Ont. L3R BT3 Teli 805) 940-2670 Fax: (905) 940-2688

111 Staffern Dr,, Concord, Ont. L4K 2R2 Tel: (905) 669-8107 Fax: (669-S108 Branch offices: IViontreal, Que.: Tel: (514) 443-8371 Fax: (514) 421-3950 Vancouver, B.C. Teli (604) 439-7798 Fax:(604) 439-7017

4770-12815 Clarke Place, Richmond, BC VSI/2H9 Teli (604) 279-9917 Fax:(604) 279-9918

G

Philips Electronics Ltd.

Scene 2 Interactive Distributors 136 Winges Road. Suite 8, Woodbridge, Ont. L4L 6C3 Tel/ (905) 866-3466 Fexi (906) 851-0844

Sceptre Technologies Inc,

19 Technology, irvine, CA 92718, USA Tel: (714) 789-3000

16800 E. GaleAve., City of Industry CILUSA 91745 Tel: (S18j 369-3698 Fax: (818) 369-3488

Pioneer Electronic of Canada Inc. 300 Allstate Parkway, Markham, Ont. L3R OP2 Tel. (905) 946-7427 Fax:(905) 946-7417 Toll-free 1-800-850-1703

SCO Canada Inc. 130 Bloor St. Wesc 10th Floor. Toronto, Ont. MSS 1N5 Teli f416) 922-1937 Fax: (416)922-8397

Powernode Computer Inc.

SDMS Ltd.

500 Alden Road, Unn 19.Markham, Ont. L3R SH5

Tek(906) 474-1040 Fax: (906)474-1049 Tel. (604) 582-7488 Fax.(604) 582-7399

a1 - 3531 Jacombs Road, Richmond, B.C. V6V 128 Tel: (604) 270-6787 Fax:(604 270-4556 Toll-Free:(800) 677-SDM5 Branch Offices:

Progress Marketing Inc.

Montreal, Que. Tel: (514) 343-9998 Fax: (514) 343-4421

PowersoftSystems Ltd. 103-14888 104thAve.. Sarrri. B.C. V3R IM4

Mississauga, Oni Teii 605) 564-4897 Fax: I905I 564-5920

140-6755Gmybar Road, Richmond B.C. V6M/ 1HB

Tel: (6D4) 821-0066 Fa x:(604) 821-0110 Toll-Free: 1-800-818-6944

Seanix Technology Inc.

4140- 6631 Elmbridge Way, Richmond B.C. V7C 4N1 Tel. (604) 273-3692 Fax:(604) 276-8179 httpiawww.ccwmag.corn

September 1996 WHOLESALER 55

S OU RC I N G

D I R EC T O R Y

Branch Offices: Galgaiy AB. Tel: (403) 291-9141 Fax.(403) 291-3916

Symantec Canada

Concord, Ont. Tel- (905) 660-8829 Fax: (905) 660-SJP 0

895Don Mills Rd.,5002Park Centre, Tomnto,Oni. M3CJW3 Tel: (416) 446-8495 Fax: (416) 443-4318

Seruiceworks Distribution Inc.

TargetElectronics

13880MayfieldPlace Richmond, BC V6V2N7 Tel: (604) 273-4453 Fax:(604) 270-7150 Branch Office: Miss/ssauga ON Tek (905) 712ZDDO fax: t905) 7J2-0041 St. (au/ant QC Tek (514) 344-4044 Fax:(SJ4) 344-4008

Sharp Electronics of Canada 335 Britannia Rd. test, Mississauga, Ont. L4Z JW9 Tel (905) 890-2100 Fax:(905) 568-7109

Shikatronics Inc Ste20 1, 30hxheaeu Blvd West taPradie, Quebec )5R 5H7 Tel. (514) 444-4200 Fax:(514) 444-9696 Toll-Free 1-800-637-6477

21 Dundas Square, Toronto, Ont. M58 1BB Tel: f416) 862-9400 Fax:(416) 862-9518 Toll-Free: (BODJ 268-1957

Tatung Canada 13980 Bndgeport Road, Richmond, B C. V6V JV3 Tel: (604) 303-9199

Tech Data Canada Inc. 6895 Columbus Road. Mississauga, Ont. L5T2G9 Tel- (905) 670-S899 Fax:(905) 795-2355 Toll-Free: (800) 668-55SS Branch ofiicesi

Sidus SystemsInc.

Richmond, B.C./ Tel: (800) 663-0968

66 l.eek Crescnt, Richmond Hdl, Toronto, Ont. L48 1)7 Tel: (905) BBZ-1600 Fax:f905) 882-2429 IVab Site. http:iiwwwsidus.ca

Tektronix Canada Inc.

Branch oNce: Vancouver. Tel: (6D4) 322-1711 Edmonton,: Tel: (403) 424 2987 Winnipeg,: Tel. (204) 287-8993 Ottawa: T e l(613) : 749-1777 Montreal: Tel: (514)731.9050 Halifax: Te l / 6 02) 420-9460 Austin JX: Tel: (512)349-7345

Fax.(604) 322 1722 Fax.(403) 424-8634 Fax:1'204) 287-8767 Fax (61 3) 749-3850 Fax. (514) 731-1069 Fax;i902) 420-2762 Fax/(512) 349-7346

Simple Te«hnology Inc. Yv'SDB Caidari Road, Concord, Ont. L4K 4NB

Tel: (905J 738-7122 Fax:(905) 738-7120 Toll-Free: (800) 565-7157

Skyway Computer Centre Inc. 41 Bentley St. Markham, Onc L3R 3LJ Tel/ (9051 513-93DO Fax:(905) 513-9059

Sola Canada 1600 Aimco Blvd., Unit 9, Mississauga, Ont. L4W 1VJ Tel: (905) 206-0203 Fax. (905) 206-0075

SonLab Pro-Sonic Electronic Supplies Inc. 110Ferrier St. Markham, Ont. L3R2ZS Tel: (905) 415-8988 Fax.(905) 415-8989

Sony of Canada Ltd. Computer and Personal information Products 4Q5 Gordon Baker Rd., Willowdale, Ont. M2H 256 Tel: (416) 499-1414 Fax.(416) 497-1774

SPEC Research Inc. 19433 San Jose City of industry, CA, USA91748 Tel: (909) 595-1258 Fax:(909) 595-5176 Branch Office: North West Tel. (510) 440 8'l90 Fax:(510) 440-8191

Spectrum Signal Processing Inc. 8525 Baxter Pl.,100 P/oduaion Court, Bumaby B.C V5A 4V7 Tel' (604) 421-5422 Fax: (604) 421.1764

StarTech Computer Products 175 Stronach Crescent, London, Oni. N5V 3GS Tel: (519) 455-9675 Fax (519) 455-9425

internet:startech.compuier@onlinesys.corn

STD Systems Inc. 861 Consortium Coun, London, Ont. N6E2SS Tel/ (519) 680-3333 Fax. (519) 680-Z939 Web site. http:/iwww std.ca EdmOntOn, AB. Tel/ (403) 466-6800 fax: (403) 465-5355 Richmond, BC. Tel/ (604) 278-2893 Fax: (604)278-2861 Danmouth, NS: Tek!902) 468-3221 Fax: (902) 468-1017 Toronto, Ont.: Tel: (905)477-0388 Fax:(905) 477-01 17 Calgary, AB T e (403) l: 25Q-9575Fax:(4Q3) 250-9544 Montreal, Que Tel:(514) 334-9340 Fax:(514) 334767J Oiiawa, Ont./ Tek (613) 736-7282Fax: (613) 736-7289

7SSAnow Road, Weston,Ont. M 9M 2L4 Tel: (416) 747 5000 Fax:(416) 747-9799 Toll-Free. (800) 661-5625 Web Site: httpii/vvvvw-tek.corn

Tenex Data Corp.

45 Commander Blvd. Scarborough, Ont MJS 3Y3 Tel (416) 291-7151 Fax:(4J6) 291-6416

Texas Instruments Canada Ltd. Personal Productivity Products 41 Shelley Rd., Richmond Hill, ON L4C5G4 Jeli (905) 884-91 81 Fax: (905) 884-2819

TKP Electronic (Canada) Ltd.

Tel: (604) 437-3388 Fax: (604) 437-3308

Supercom 911 Denison St., Markham, Ont. L3R 3K4 Tel/ (905) 415-1166 Fa x.(905) 415-1177

Branch office.

Richmond,B.C.: Tel:/604) 2762677 Fax (604)276-OBQ7

ViewSonic Canada 328 Consumers Road, hloith York, Ont. MZJSB6 Tel: (416) 491 7088 Fax:(416) 491-6314

VTech C omputerSystems Inc.

480 Hood Road, Unit 1, Marham, Ont. L3R 9Z3 Tel: (905)477-ZSJS Fax:(905) 94D-2818 Branch officesi Richmond Jeli (604) 276-0588 Fax:l604) 276-2059 Calgary T e (403) l/ 652.5227 Fax: (403J 652-5228 Winnipeg Tel: (204)284-2818 Fax:(204) 284-2819 Montreal T el:(514) 333-2818 Fax:{514) 333-1482 Quebec City Tel: {418) 681-2818 Fax:(418) 681-4370 Hali(ax Te l :(902) 468-1088 Fax:(902) 468-6522

Waveform Technologies Inc. Unit B4. 7218Progress Way, Delta, B.C. V4G1H2 Tel/ (604) 946-WAVE(9283) Fax (604) 946-9269 Toll Free: 1-800-664-WAVE(9283)

Wes-Micro Electronics Inc. 13988Cambia Road, Suite 373, Ri chm ond, 8 C. VSV 2K4 Tel/ (6Q4) 279-1866 Fax:(604) 279-1867 Branch office: Richmond Hill; Tel: 605) 886-0390 Fax: (905) 886-265D

Westcon Canada Systems Inc.

Western Carbon & Ribbon (1993) Inc.

Unit 9, 4751Shell Road, Richmond, B,C. V6X3H4 Tel: (604) 279-2580 Fax:(604) 279-2581

Toshiba of Canada Ltd. 191 McNabb St., Markham, Ont. L3R BH2 Te/i (905) 470-3478 Fax: (905) 470-3479 Toll-Free: 1-SOO-663-0378 Branch office: Richmond: Tel: (604) 303-2500 Calgary: Te l ./403) 248-3883 Fax/(403) 248-3926 Edmonton/ Tel: /403) 455-4544 Fax.(403) 455-0733 Ottawa: Te l :/6131782-236Q Fax:(613) 782-2219 Victona' Tel . (604) 595-7111 Fax (604) 595-7111 Quebec City: Tek (418) 62tv2080 Fax:(418) 626-5044

Tice International Co. 789 West Pender St., Suite 668 Vancouver Tel: (6D4) 608-0288 Fax:(6Q4) 608-0286

1445Poweil Street, Vancouver, B.C. VSLJGB Tel: (604) 251-3J 15 Fax: (604) 251-1277 Toll Free: 1-800-665-4393

Western Digital Canada Corp.

50 Bumhamthorpe Rd. W, Ste710 Mississauga, On. LSB 3C2 Tel/ (905J 566-4702 Fax:(905) 566-4711

Western Pro Imaging Labs 1325 Boundary Rd., Vancouver, BC VSK' 4T9 Tel/ (604) 299-1439 Fax:(604) 299-951 7

Wizbot Inc. 2400 WyeCrOft Rd., Unit 11, Oakville, Onb L6L 6MB Tel/ (905) 847-6696 Fax:(905) 847-6170 Email' wizbot905-847-6696ookup net

White Knight Distributing

Truger Technologies Inc.

105-3760Jacombs Rd., Richmond, B,C, I/6VJY6 Tel (604J 279-9908 Fax:(604) 279-9902 Toll Free: 1-800-668-6188 Branch Office: Richmond Hill,Ont. Tel.(905)886-3862 Fax: (905)886-3090 Toll: 1-800-852-5039 Tel:(403)291-1688 Fax: (403)291-0889 Toll: 1-800-668-3381 Halifax: Tel. (902)468-9898 Fax.(902) 468-5988

7305 Rapistan Court, Mississauga, Ont. LShlSZ4

Xerox'Canada Ltd.

Trimex Marketing Inc. 4611 Viking Way, Suite 120, Richmond, B.C. V6V2K9 Tel: (604) 278-6700 Fax (604)278-8619 Toll Free: 1.800-663-8883 Bmnch office: Jsfnrkhain Onr. Tel/ (9051474-0) ll Fnri (905) 474-)952

Tel. (905) 542-8454 Fax: (905) 542-9223 Branch offices: Montreal, Que.. Tek (514) 339-1885 Fax/ (514) 339-1882 Vancouver, B.C.: Tel:(604) 482-8649 Fax: (604)482-4285

Trumpet Distributors Ltd.

5650 Yonge St.. North York, Ont. M2M 4G7 Tel: (416) 229-3769

Xylan Canada 2 Robe/t Speck Parkway, Ste750, Mississauga, Ont. L4Z 1HB

Tel/ (905) 507-2600 Fax:NQS) 507-2828

Unn2138 20800 Yvt-*stminster Hvvy., Richmond, BCV6V2W3 Tel. 1-888-881-2288 Fax: (604) 279-9972

Zenith DataSystems Canada Ltd.

TTX Canada Inc.

675 Cochrane Drive, Suite 101, Markham, Ont. L3R OBB Tel: (SDQJ 749-0813 Fax: (416) 756-2117

J& J200 Aerowood Drive, Mississaga, Ont. L4W257

TVM Video & Monitor Canada Inc.

6851 Antrim Avenue, Burnaby, B.C. V5) 4M5

111 Granton Drivea401, Richmond Hill, Oni L4B 1LS Tel: (905) 882-0090 Fax:(905) 882-S367

Top Link Distribution

Sun Microsystems ofCanada Inc. Sunnet Image Ltd.

Vastek Remarketing Inc.

6830 Cote de Liesse, St. Laurent Que. H4T 2A 1 Tel (514) 344-5151Fax (514) 344-0855 Toll Free: 800-667-6769

1791 Albion Rd., Toronto, Ont M9W557 Tel: (416) 674-380D Fax: (416J674-1225 100Renfrew Dr. Markham, Oni. L3R 9R6 Tel/ (905J 477-6745 Fax: (905) 477-9423

5420 Norm Service Road, Burlington, Ont. L7L 6C7 Tel: (800) 891-MEGA Fax: (905) 336-7380

@ J JB . 13982 Cambie Road, Richmond, 8 C. VBV 2K2 Tel/ (604) 279-0320 Fax.(604) 279-D321

Tel: (905) 238-6610 Fax:(905) 238-5409 Branch oNces: Vancouver: Tel: (604)270-3755 Fax:(604) 270-3705 Calgaq Tel: ( 9 05)250-6877 Fax:(9D5)4741952 Winnipeg: Tel (204J 633-7180 Fax:(204) 633-718t

Stealth Computer Corp.

U.S. Robotics, MCC

13980 Bndgepon Road, Richmond, B.C VBV JV3 Tel: (604) 276-0096 Fax. .(604)276-2669

Ultinet Computer Corp.

The UNnet B(dg., JQDBndgehnd Ave. Toronto, Ont. MBAJZ4 Tek (416) 256-2000 Fax:(416) 256- 1449

UNIVELL Microsystems Inc. a 107-3830 JacpmbS ROad, RiChmOno, BC.V6V JXG

Tel/ (604) 276-9986

Fax:(604J 276-9983

Urtec Dataiink 129 Telson Rd. Markham, Onr. L3R1E4 Tel/ (905) 415-0145 Fax:605) 475-9840

56 W H O LESALER September 1996 hop i//vvww.ccwmag.corn

Zentronics 5600 Keaton Crescent, Mississauga, Ont. LSR355 Tel: (905) SD3-1105 Fax.(905) 803-1123

ZyXEL 4920E.La Palm a Ave. Anaheim, CA 92807, USA Tel/ (714) 693-0808

Dueto sgace.ctxnpeny Jxoste are no letty.rcomplirnenvtry.

To inclutk compety Pto61ewith Jisuns pleasecall your accounttetxesentatn-afor debuts,

To be in c luded in th e C a natliastcomputer Wholesaler (CC%) Sotttcing Directory.Please fax yourcompany name. address.Phone number. fex ousnber ux

CD' Sotsrcittg Directory Fax: (604) 608-2686 CCW retains right to list or delixt any company

for aay reason.Tltts listing is complimentary.

CCW cannotbe responsible for ettots or ombsions.

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IN VE STM E NT

ec no o e or oc s X"dL Becca Ai Thc llaw w ith Ihc»tock In:Irkct is tltat it place» Irtt-

by Thomas Klehr

echnoloyg«tock» rcbouncied Irum July l7th Inw» and moneyflowed back into thc -hou»ehvld" name technology conlpaf lie». Thc Il'cfld vf Aloney Ilusvlng oul uf less e«tabli»hed names and into Ihc larger cvmpanic« is duc more tn a late "hull" market cycle. When the market« appearto be approaching a peak. money liow» into more

T

defensive cvmpantes. I'und A1anger» do IIAI w;lnl to bc

holding speculative investments when Ihc future direction ot' thc market i» volatile. I or thc technology indu»try. this mean» that money liow» to the well ftnanced. marker. leader», ln this market. even some of the big names the do not meet earning» estimates will be severely punished. Witness the 20c/c correction in Motnraltt and Hewlett Packard, both companies disappointed with earning« forecast«and the marketpumshed thestacks in vnc day.In nervous markets. therei»no gnce lvrunexpected news. For thc shortterm. this means that tech companie«»vill bc under very clo»e scrutiny. Companies wiII have tv exceed earnings and grossth expectation«. and any shortcomings will be mct with »evercsell -off». For younger companies that are in the develvpment stage. available capital »vill be tighter. IVfany tech companies whv were in the process of going public arc waiting for the IPO (initial public offering) market tv improve, Thc dilemma is that many young companies need an infusion uf cash to remain competitive. LJnfurtunately. the valuations for these companies are being revised downward which tends to place prcssure on younger companies that have already gone public.

58 W HOLESALER September 1996

~rrp.'wwwccccmag.corn

ditional values and time con«traint» vn tech cvmpanie».

Thc reality i» that Bill Gate» could not tlIrcc 1st the pvtcntial ot' thc internet. imagine the clifAculty for Wall street analy»t». Espcct »olatility to remain in this indu»try. a« long a» analy»t» mca«ure cvmpanie» with quarterly performance and in;Iccurate growth foreca»I». I think there ha« tv bc more»aluc placed on managentcnt and the knowledge r;Itiu of the cmplovee». In looking ai thc hutnan resource» vl' a company. a clearerpicture vl value can bc achieved.

Strategic alliance» bctxvccn companies in the industry is kcy to detining who Ihe key player» will be and in svhat direction they will bc heading. Vision and the ability to react quickly Iv changing trends will bc a key recipe for technology conlpttnies to «urvlvc aAd gfvw. The cvlrlpcutl'vcnc»» vf the indu»tn dictate» that there will bc winner» and Io«er».

I have broken dvwn some of the «ector» and highlighted some of Wall Street's projections. It i» important tor cvmpanie» in thc indu»tr» to gra»p the perception the AIarket places on different high tech sectors, The market provide» the inve»tmcnt dollars and therefore has a»trong influence on the direction and success of the variou» component«of the indu»try.

Gornputers, PGs and Peripherals The PC industry is undergoing a fundamental structural change «» PC companies conIpcte for market share in an increasingly comnx1dity-like and rapidly consolidating market. Thc keysfor companies tv become»uccessful

I NVE 5 T M EN T

include: increasing brand awarene»s, forging kcy distribution deals. and remaining price competitive»vhile decreasing inventory turnaround time. For thc balance of l996 eXpeet PC unit ShipmCnt grOWth tOSIOW tO17'7(. Or abOut f(8

million units worldwide. Reduced PC unit gro»vth can be attributed to market »uturation und filuggish glvbal economics, ln conjunction»vith»lv»ving growth, the industry in experiencing intense down»vard price pres»urc.

Aggressive pricing in the industry «hould continue a» wc areapprvuchingthe Christmas seafi on and therefore expect gross ntargins tn decline. Cvmpanie» should maintain strict cost controls. increase productivity tv implement the latest technology. Inventories n1ust be Inunaged io ensure that demand i»»satisfied without Ininting excessive product.

Internet 4 Intrsnet

demand remains strong. particularlv at enterprise fiervcr leveL Spending «n net»vork-centric computing architectures continues to grow. t'ueling the demand for UNIX servers.The mainframe markethus reached a pointofsaturation, with the fihift to CMQS systems.

Semiconductors Semiconductor»tock» are expected to come under some pressure afler dte release of the July book to bill ratio.

The numbercame inat .88 and.93 was expected. This figure indicate» thai semiconductor maker~ received $8S in ordcrfi for every %IOO worth of chip» they fihippcd. New chip order» in July were $2.81 billion. down 5.I (>( from 2.96 million in June und down 37.61>r frvm July l998 booking» of $4.81 billion. The numbers might be a linlc d(',ceiv-

The word is getting out. Large corporations have realired thc value of setting up an iuirunct and Ihc Lvord is integration. The imema! intemct i» exploding vn to the scene as comp;mics are able tn coordinate their internal information and dataha»es better thm they ever have before. The

Ing. Illcctlu»e of t»vo I'actors. Ih» ft(lling pri(.cs for mcntory chip» . particularly for DRAMS. and th» usual »ummer »vcukne»» I'vr order». Ho»ve ver. there docs seem Iv be a lull in demand compared to this time la»t year. Thc lull in demand i» nvt being seen by (Ilail street as un indicuiioa that thi»»cctor i» hc;Idcd flir rccefi»i(m, but rather they urc count-

LlsP. Oi %cb bniw»cf technology hus proven that It c'In

Ing (1A;I plsnnl»tng Pth qtlal'te(1

incrca»e productivity and efflcicncy, thereby incrca»iug prvfitfi. The demand for inierncttvorl'ing solutions will have thc highest gro»vth rate in Ihc technology indu»iry for the h;(lance ol 1996 aud into l997. Inve»t(ir» will reward companies that Inunage their growth and increase Aturkct share. I.vvk for th» market leader» Iv make calculated acquisitions in order Io achieve market dvminancc.

%(ill street prvvides Ihc inve»tmcnt capital but the reality is that thc cori)iirutc u»e ((f Icchru>logy »vill hc thc driving t(iree ot new product». Large Lorpvralions are looking l(ir "I'illcr «pp»". applicutivn» that »viII drautatically benefit the bott(»n line. They like I(1 sct the»tundard» und this i» where mo»t of thc technology b(litic »vill bc won vr lost. My suggest(on Iv teehAvlvgy tiu»Ines» o'»vncrs and Invc»tof» Is to invest in product» or con( punic» thai will catch the eye. und dccp pockets of thc corpor;Itc world. For irinovators und «peculator». attempt to find out »vhut the needs ot' large cvntpanie» 11rc an(l then find uppllcailvA» thai cun fill Iho»I'.

Internet related companies exploded on Io ihc market last year. culminating with a plethora of high flying Ipos. most vl' Lvhich have fallen back tv cttrth. W;ill Street is maintaining a »vail und see auitudc. with ihe ntujvrity of the Intel'cst gfavtluung, toivulds co(npunles pl'vvlchng infra structure solutions. The market i» looking ivr companies that cun intprove speed. The glaring lack vi bandwidth imposes u lot of conditions on developing attractive contem.

Thcrcfore. uny solutivns that are proven tv increase speed Lvvuld be handsontely rewarded. Security i» thc other major issue that concerns the flnuncial viability of the internet. In order to capitalixe on commercial applications of the Aet, advances in the security of inlormation is vital. There are numerous cvmpanies that provide security solutions for the internet and intranet, but there urc nnclear market lcuder».

Investor» are looking for a company to brcak-nut and take a dominant positioA.

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Cangousellcomputersto thepubl>cschoolsystem?

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Pretty much cveryhialy a greei t h a t

iludcnti need

cxpoiure lo cnn>puters-— thli ilni r>nly lnlpli>vii schnnbvnl'k. Oven ill eilrly

gradei. hui it helpi >n;>kc itudcnts comfortilblc with lhc sorts of lnvli that they will bi

uiing in virtually cve>w job, «fter graduation. ln BC. Iof exalt>pfe. the Prvvin>.'ial gi>vi.'fnnlenll ha» sct a l i lfgit--nil>.' i'i>mputcr lvr

every f> eletl'lentary sludcilli. 'lltd nli c l i >l' every 3 ii »condaly-level iludinii, Sn v"here are the ivmputiri in lhe public iihvnli g»ing lv ionic fri>m. li thii a market wuh potential I'i>r CC W readers".'

Many»clu1nls. particularly efcn>cntary scllnvls, lack hinh dedicated computer labs anil cvnlpuler»pcixalist teachers. Ill sonic caiei. il thirc are ivmputeri, ii mav be unlly a handf'ul i>I' machinei for ieveral hundred kids — and many limei. the hardrv;>rc may be Commodore 64» or Apple lli. popular over a rlccade agi>. Other schr>vf» are rvnrking ivith hand-me-dnivni...Computer» donated by individuals. companiei. lhe Federal gvvcrninent. or groups like phone company s Phone Pioneers i>r thc Science Council iif BC — welcome additions, but in all casei. machine» that are nhivlctc. LOnlario schnnli have a unique history — a decade or morc ago. their Provincial Fduiation Il;finistry mandated a unique, made-in-Ontario computer f o r schools... but nniv. that laudable. but incompatibl»effort has been abandoned. and Ontario schonli. like others are focusing on standard Macs and PCs).

I'he ichvols that dn have relatively modern cvnlputer» have often bought them with muniy raised by the parents — in BC, nften as, a reiult vl sponsoring casino ni hts.

There;irc some signs that this siniativn is ch»ulging Ii'>l' tile hewer. however. The BC Ministry of Irducatin>L, for i,xainplc. hai puhllihcd Acw cu>T>i:i>fun'1: guldelinci fnl lc'achcri a i ming a t i n t egrating I nl'ormalivn Technolo y into all subject areai at all grade levels. And because these new guidelinei i>equire aci:eii tv mndern hardwa>v.,thi gnvernuicnt has aliv increased lhc funding available fnr iehonli tr> purchaie computer hardwal'c. rein l ling in nc'wip;ipel' accnliilli o f 5 ILIII lnllllvn»cl ailrlc in AC iilolle Inl' r'i>niputers ill si.'I'loni i.

With Jigttres like tltat $l(N

m illio n

b e in g t h r o fvn

arouttd for computer pur-

chases for schools, it cotdd appear tltat schools migltt

+nally be providing a new ntarket for many contputer distributors. (But) A/l t h i s means that the school mar-

ket wil/ be a difficult one to penetrate.

Some school districti ;uc also pushing ahead vn their nwn... Vancouver. for exatiiple. BC"» largest district. ii in the midst of' wiring all their schvols with ISDI>l line~. connecting them tn a wide area network. and providing all s chools rvith high-ipccd Internet access.

Unfortunately, with a very fciv exceptions. this niay prvve to he a difTicult inarket to penetrate. Here i why.

%hile schools and schnnl districti want computers. Lhev nftcil Bnd colnputcfs»cary.

Moil tcacheri have liulc background witfl computers. and aren't very comfortable with them. And iehnols, typically dnn'l have technical support vn site. At thc same time. rvhilc businesses may bc prepared to replace their conlpuliri e'very Ic>v veal'i. ibis luxui'y' h;isl'1 1 bein available tn schools ircmcmber all those Cvmnlndvre f>4»... I Lct'i ha>k at tlhe Vanrouver iehvol systcnl, I'l>r example, ln order t v ; Lcccs» n\vncy fr>>AL Lhc Provilncial Miniitry vf educ;>Lion fr>r h;irdware purchasei. Vancouver schooli need to abide hy purchasing guidelinei issued by thc Ministry. Periodically, the g overnnlent rcrlucsts companies tn submit hardware fnr evaluation. thai can he recommenrled to the i chvvls... currently. that hardware l i i i includes vari>>us models by exactly three Alanufactui'ers: Apple. IRfvf. and AST: vvhlle' in inmcyears.a fcw smallercvmpanies.such as Datalrain. have had «pprnved modeli, this ii not currently the case.

An individual school district can limit that list I'urthcr. and can ask retailers nr distributor» tn subnlit bids for bulk purchasei within that district. Since an individual district such as Vallcouvcr will have to keep the maihines up and running after lhc warranty period runs vut. they may want to limit the number of models they have to support. At the same time. they ivant to ensure that the hardware will be robuil enough lv last through a long periodof Aon-stop student usc, Sv teachers in Vancouver often felt fru»trated. when they Lverc told that their school

«»p:: iv»>cc»»» »ai>c pm 5epte>r>ber 1996 W H O L E5ALEII 6 1

C OLU M N could only buy relatively-expensive AST Bravos. models aimed ai the business market. when they saw full colour fliers advertising similar-appearing AST Advantage coinputers being sold cheaper... the school district replied that the Advantage models. aimed at the home market. did not meet district standards.

Schools can purchase other models of computers â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but they have io use their own funds to do so... money raised by parents. for example. But if they do that, the school district w i l l n o t p u t t h o se, n o n-standard machines on district inventory. so the individ-

ual school is responsible for insurance and maintenance. Some schools have chosen to buy a l arger number o f l e ss-expensive machines that way. while others have taken

line. Datatrain. for exainple, missed that deadline one year. and as a result, was not listed for the following school year.

Smaller companies may want tn approach individual schools; it can't hurt to talk to a school s principal. or to see if the school has a staff committee looking at hardware purchases. Be prepared to be frustratedschools cannot spend Provincial governmentprovided lunds on off-brand hardware, but they may be willing to discuss using socalled discretionary tnoney â&#x20AC;&#x201D; casino-night profits, or the results of other fundraising.

You may be able to sec what you' re competing against... the Vancouver district, for

example. sends a list of recommended hardware and prices out to schools. several times a year.

the more cautiousroute of spending morc money to remain compatible with district standards.

An added frustration for many companies will be the traditional Apple-centric attitude

Largeenough companies may want to consider trying to get listed on the Provincial recommended hardware list... that means providing models for evaluation. by a set dead-

of manyschoolsand districts.A pple hasbeen quite successfully at courting the education market, ever since the Apple Il-days of the early 80s. with the result that many schools. particularly elementary schools. but in some

cases,' whole school districts have standardized on M a cintosh machines. Although Apple's recent financial problems are causing schools to look at this, PC-focused dealers will find themselves having to work extra hard to penetrare these school districts.

And if you do make a sale io a school, expect io provide a lot of support... remember. few teachers arc power users, and ihe machines are going io be used non-stop, by little sticky peanut-butter fingers. Factor the cost of that support into your price quote.

But if you are able to build a relationship with a school or a school district. and if you are patient and supportive, they will prove a loyal market (and. as teachers and administrators circulate). they can make it easier to sell io other schools. as time goes on. MRi9

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