Reseller Middle East April 2015

ISSUE 220 | april 2015 www.resellerme.com

• Analysis of the KSA market.

• Steps to control credit issues in the IT channel.

• DISTREE ME 2015 updates.

the value quotient Sariya IT on growth strategy and value-added offerings.

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Last month, I had the opportunity to attend Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which is the place to be in if you want to see the latest in high-end smartphones, tablets and other gadgets. This year I was surprised at the range of wearables on display and it seems big phone guys are also diving deep into this market. Now with the launch of Apple watch, the interest in wearables has never been so high.

With the growth tables slowing down, wearables could provide the channel with a very steep growth curve over the next couple of years if the shipment projections are anything to go by. IDC says the wearable shipments will reach 45.7 million this year, and this include what the firm calls basic wearables – those that don’t run third-party apps – as well as wearable devices worn on clothing, eyewear and other devices.

Another market research firm NPD says the wearable device shipments could reach 91 million units this year.

Though the wearable market is expected to be driven largely by consumers, in the long term the market for wearables in the enterprise market could surpass the consumer market, according to Deloitte. Wearables, says Deloitte, allow technology to augment workers in places where it wasn’t previously feasible--where hands-free, heads-up awareness is absolutely essential--whether it’s for safety, logistics or etiquette. Many of the more advanced technologies for wearables are being developed first for the enterprise and healthcare segments, which have clearer use cases.

Right now, the biggest problem with wearables is the price tag – it still costs around $200-$300 for a smartwatch today and it will take devices priced under $100 to drive big consumer volume. And very soon, similar to PCs and mobile devices, we might see a price battle in the wearable market and entry of unbranded vendors from countries such as China selling products at lower prices. In fact, NPD DisplaySearch’s study expects the dynamics of the wearables market to be similar to DVD, LCD TV, smartphone and other digital consumer markets with commoditised hardware. Wearables are a fashion statement now but soon could become a necessity for health and other reasons, with more services tied to them. The market is hot right now and the time is ripe for the channel to cash in on the growing wear your own device trend.

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Reseller Middle East april 2015

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CONTENTS

34

ISSUE 220 // april 2015

cover feature Review

54

Parrot Zik 2.0

hot products

The value-quotient Amjad Fathi Al-Omar, General Manager, Sariya IT, reveals growth strategy and plans for the KSA market.

Highlights 6

News

We help you catch up on all the major news and announcements in the regional channel community.

Opinion 29

The co-marketing enigma

Manish Punjabi of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, on tackling the challenges of co-marketing.

32

ASUS launches Transformer Book T300 Chi

Partner to expand CommVault’s Robert Brower discusses market trends in the data and information management space.

Feature 38 Rocketing to growth

56

58

Wacom launches full HD resolution pen display

RME investigates the opportunities and challenges of the distribution business in the booming KSA market.

interview

vendor focus

30

Specialisation is key

52

Boosting partnerships

Citrix’ Johnny Karam and Luca Marinelli explain the company’s updated partner programme.

Reeman Ansari from VMware elaborates on Partner Exchange 2015.

60

Alcatel-Lucent presents Smart DeskPhone

highlights

Seclore and Sariya IT sign KSA Seclore, the global nextgeneration rights management solutions provider and valueadded distributor Sariya IT, have officially announced an exclusive distribution agreement for KSA. The strengthened partnership is an important step for Seclore’s business growth in one of the key markets in Middle East.

Seclore and Sariya IT Company have been partnering for developing a channel for Seclore’s Information Rights Management solution.

The new agreement expands the partnership covering the complete product portfolio of Seclore as well as the renewal business.

“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Sariya IT Company. The new distribution agreement will help us bring secure external collaboration to other important markets in the Saudi Arabia,” explains John Grillos, VP of Business Development, Seclore. “Many organisations are sharing very sensitive files outside of their organisations perimeter with third parties.

Seclore FileSecure automatically adds persistent security to a file, ensuring that the information is safe wherever it goes. With their extensive expertise, we are confident that Sariya IT Company will help us deliver the value of Seclore FileSecure to the Saudi Arabia market.”

Amjad Al-Omar, The General Manager, Sariya IT Company, adds, “Seclore is one of the leading providers of Information Rights Management solutions. With a clear focus on enabling secure communications, the Seclore FileSecure solution will perfectly fit into our product portfolio and suit the needs of our reseller base.”

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EnterpriseDB appoints new MEA Sales Director EnterpriseDB (EDB), the global provider of enterpriseclass Postgres products and database compatibility El Komy, Sales Director, Middle solutions, has East and Africa, EnterpriseDB appointed veteran IT executive, Hesham El Komy to expand the company’s activities in the Middle East and Africa.

El Komy will be the Sales Director, Middle East and Africa at EnterpriseDB and work directly with the Vice President of international sales. Bringing nearly 15 years of enterprise software industry experience, El Komy’s appointment is part of the company’s expansion across the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region to raise its profile with enterprises and increase market share.

EDB is also seeking to expand its partner network in core markets across the region. As in other regions where EDB has an active partner network, partners in the Middle East and Africa will provide the company’s services and local support but also develop and deliver integrated solutions. EDB already has distributor relationships in place with Redington Gulf in the UAE and Linux Warehouse in South Africa.

“As more and more companies embrace open source and Postgres for their data center, EDB is expanding to support them. I have worked with EnterpriseDB in the past and no one is better positioned to deliver an open source based solution to enterprise data centers,” said El Komy. “The largest enterprises can spend 35 percent of their IT budgets for databases. Providing the same level of mission-critical performance and stability as traditional solutions,

EDB’s Postgres Plus can cut database costs by 80 percent or more.”

“The Middle East and Africa regions are growing in importance for EDB as adoption of Postgres continues to expand worldwide,” said Sandor Klein, Vide President of International Sales at EnterpriseDB. “El Komy has the skills and contacts in the regions that help us raise our brand recognition but also identify the right partners to most benefit end users and support the open source based model.”

El Komy is returning to EDB after a one-year stint at Brocade, where he was regional marketing manager. Before joining EDB, El Komy was a senior marketer and channel partner and alliances manager at Red Hat for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. He joined Red Hat from Progress Software and had also done a stint at Infor, joining the company through the acquisition of Systems Union Group.

As more and more companies embrace open source and Postgres for their data center, EDB is expanding to support them. I have worked with EnterpriseDB in the past and no one is better positioned to deliver an open source based solution to enterprise data centers.”

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highlights

Help AG launches MSS in the Middle East Help AG has established its new Managed Security Services (MSS) division to help enterprises combat the Stephan Berner, MD, Help AG threat of cyber-attack and achieve IT compliance. The company will now offer essential managed security services that will be delivered either on-premises or remotely from its regionally based Cyber Security Operations Center by highly trained and fully-certified security professionals.

“Even large enterprises in the Middle East lack the financial

and human resources to have specialised teams of IT security experts. Typical IT departments are stretched between administrating existing systems and deploying new solutions to streamline business processes. This leaves them with little time to continuously monitor the infrastructure for cyber threats and makes incident response a tremendous strain on already overworked employees,” said Stephan Berner, MD, Help AG. “Our MSS is an affordable way for businesses to gain ready access to the very best security experts in order to significantly enhance their security posture.”

The new MSS division will offer customers 24/7 monitoring, compliance, forensic analysis, incident handling and remediation,

log management, operational event reporting, and security platform management. These have all been designed as subscription OPEX based services that can be easily integrated with the customer’s existing security infrastructure, whether it is on-premises or cloud based, said the company.

To showcase and demonstrate its different services, Help AG has also set up an additional center at its headquarters in Dubai. The company encourages potential customers to see in real time how its teams of security analysts operate in the Cyber Security Operations Center and believes this will give them complete confidence in the service quality. Help AG will also be participating in the regional security show, GISEC 2015, scheduled to take place at the end of this month.

Dell forms META Business Region Dell has brought together its business in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa to create one new Driss Elougmani, GM, business META, Dell region – META (Middle East, Turkey and Africa), which will be led by Driss Elougmani.

Dell has created a more scalable organisation where its specialist resources can operate across the entire region.

Ultimately this will provide a richer experience for customers and partners, said the company.

Dell has seen significant growth across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. According to the company,

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many organisations throughout the region face similar challenges and demand greater levels of advice and support as they expand their businesses. The enhanced organisational structure will enable the vendor to be even more focused on the needs of customers and partners, making best use of its regional hub and product centre in Dubai.

“At Dell we continuously strive to develop new and innovative ways to better meet the needs of our customers and partners. The creation of a META business region enables us to make the best use of our talent and portfolio of leading end to end solutions. We will also be able to share more customer references, helping customers of all shapes and sizes across the region achieve their business goals,” said Michael Collins, VP and general manager, EMEA Emerging Markets.

Driss Elougmani, previously

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executive director and general manager of Dell’s Africa and Turkey business, will now lead Dell’s META business. Elougmani, a veteran of Dell for 13 years, brings extensive leadership experience and an impressive track-record of business growth from his previous roles.

Dave Brooke, previously executive director and general manager of Dell’s Middle East business, is moving to a new executive role, heading up Dell’s Client Solutions business in the Emerging Markets. Brooke, responsible for running the Middle East business since early 2009, oversaw significant growth in the region, helping to establish Dell as a recognised and trusted strategic partner to a host of influential customers and channel partners.

Dell’s South Africa business continues to remain a separate organisation.

highlights

PanzerGlass seeks partners and distis in UAE The Denmarkbased, PanzerGlass, a global manufacturer of screen protection for mobile devices Jesper Mikkelsen, GM, such as MEA, PanzerGlass smartphones and tablets, is looking to partner with premium retailers, distributors and corporate clients in the region.

Present in the region through partners for a few years now in markets such as KSA, the vendor has set up sales office in the UAE last year, to cater to the increasing demand of the product.

Jesper Mikkelsen, General Manager, Middle East and Africa,

PanzerGlass, said, “We manufacture screen protectors for more than 100 different model of smartphones, everything ranging from ZTE, Sony, Samsung, HTC to iPhones. PanzerGlass is a high-end product, retailing at AED 129, which is a bit more than competition. All our products have been tested to be the strongest protection for a mobile device.

The strategy is to convince the consumers that if they buy a high end mobile device, they should buy protection in order to protect it, not only from scratches but also from bigger damage.”

The vendor is in talks with leading distributors, retailers and corporate clients in the market. Mikkelsen said, “We like to work with clients, who provide tablets for hospitals and smartphones for corporate. We want to get the message out that if they

buy PanzerGlass, the company saves money in the longer run.

“We believe it is the right time to provide a product that has a better quality. Few years ago, the main focus was on price, which has changed today. Customers are willing to pay more for better quality.”

The vendor has been in the Saudi market for more than a year now through a partnership with Jarir Bookstore. It is also participating in GITEX Spring Shopper 2015, to demonstrate the quality of the product to the end customers.

“Our main focus is growth, we are looking to expand. We deliver the value without hassle for our clients.

We also do in-store training for all the retail stores across the globe and this will be practiced in this region as well,” added Mikkelsen.

Avaya to drive SDN networking educational courses & certification

Avaya has announced plans to create a new industry certification programme to drive expertise in SDN-Fabric Jean Turgeon, Avaya based networking. The Avaya Certified Expert-Fx programme aims to bridge the current skills gap in the Middle East between traditional, hardwareintensive networking technologies and next-generation, softwaredefined fabric-based networking.

“Businesses and organisations in the Middle East are already embracing the dynamic networking capabilities of Avaya Fabric Connect. The ACE-Fx certification will equip IT professionals with the expertise, power, and confidence they need to take these businesses and organisations to the

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next level with the advanced skills needed to design, build and manage the next generation networks,” said Jean Turgeon, Vice President for Worldwide Networking Sales, and Chief Technologist, Software Defined Architecture (SDA), Avaya.

The announcement was made at the annual Avaya Technology Forum in Dubai, with more than 500 technology and networking professionals from across India, China, Russia, the Middle East and Africa regions in attendance.

The certification programme is designed to enable networking engineers and IT professionals to deliver the transformational networking capabilities provided by the Avaya SDN Fx architecture.

Announced recently, Avaya SDN Fx, which is built on the Avaya Fabric Networking technology, provides a complete next-generation networking solution that delivers on the promise of SDN without the hidden complexity

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that comes with the towering overlays of software and hardware inherent in many other vendor approaches, said the company.

The ACE-Fx certification programme is being structured as a 4 ½-day intensive, hands-on workshop and exam held at Avaya Networking Lab facilities and other locations in the ME, China, Russia, India, African and Turkey. The ACE-Fx certification can help Avaya channel partners focused on networking reach Platinum Partner status by providing the third certification required for this status.

Networking professionals can also be certified by Avaya for Networking Fabric and Mobility. Existing network industry certifications from other entities will also be recognised, allowing networking professionals to directly enter the ACE-Fx class without reinvesting in other Avaya courses.

The ACE-Fx programme is expected to launch in the second half of 2015.

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highlights

Ruckus Wireless & WestconGroup expand distribution partnership Global wireless systems provider, Ruckus Wireless has expanded its distributor agreement with WestconGroup to cover the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Levant region. The agreement has assigned WestconGroup as an official distributor of all Ruckus Wireless Smart Wi-Fi solutions, to assist the company in its plans to expand further into the Middle East region.

Muetassem Raslan, Regional Sales Manager, Middle East and North Africa, Ruckus Wireless said, “The phenomenal proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops

within the Middle East by an increasingly mobile and connected population provides an excellent opportunity for systems integrators to expand their portfolio with market leading Smart Wi-Fi from Ruckus. We believe WestconGroup is a great distribution partner to help us address this expanding market, and we are pleased to extend our distribution agreement with them.”

Raslan added, “WestconGroup has the expertise, reach, resources and relationships to assist us in our vision. With their Middle East and Levant distribution network, experience and positive track record, we believe we will continue

Injazat expands secure cloud offering

Injazat Data Systems has announced further enhancements in the areas of enterprise cloud solutions to address the growing demand by businesses across the Middle East looking to adopt advanced cloud technologies.

Injazat has recently seen a significant uptake of highperformance cloud technologies which has quickly become a major focus for both government and enterprise customers across the UAE. The enhanced portfolio of secure cloud services is designed to provide maximum uptime and flexibility with the highest levels of

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data security, said the company.

Ibrahim Mohamed Lari, CEO, Injazat said, “Businesses today are increasingly realising the benefits of cloud computing and seeking solutions that are more flexible, cost effective and secure. With our enhanced portfolio of secure cloud services, Injazat offers these organisations a platform to combine the highest security levels with the reliability of the cloud and join enterprise IT movements towards virtualisation, Big Data and advanced data recovery.”

The company will also offer secure cloud services to businesses across the Middle East, delivering local support combined with a mature framework of integrated processes and governance.

Overlaying the various models will be Injazat Security Services and Injazat Consulting Services, which will help ensure that customers are linked with the best solution mix for their needs based on security requirements and industry trends, added the company.

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to grow strongly in the region.”

“An important part of our Steve Lockie, Managing Director, success WestconGroup Middle East is to help our business partners identify and capitalise on emerging market opportunities,” said Steve Lockie, Managing Director, WestconGroup Middle East. “As a fast-growing enterprise-class wireless LAN (WLAN) supplier, Ruckus Wireless has developed a rich portfolio of solutions to help our customers excel in the marketplace.”

An important part of our success is to help our business partners identify and capitalise on emerging market opportunities.” stats Global wearables market forecast to reach

45.7 Million 126.1 Million units shipped in 2015 and

units in 2019 Source: IDC

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highlights

Samsung & MDS Gulf partner to open first Samsung store

StarLink organises annual partner conference StarLink had conducted its annual Partner Conference for 2015 at Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, earlier this month. The event was in line with the distributor’s 2015 theme of ‘Partnering into the Future’, with an attendance of over 100 channel partners from across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa.

The Partner Conference showcased five new vendors, recently added to company’s distribution portfolio – Websense, Palo Alto Networks, Ixia, Infoblox and Splunk. The company said that the event served as an ideal platform for the vendors to meet distributor’s strategic partners and other resellers, to talk about technology offerings, partner programmes and plans for the coming year.

Nidal Othman, Managing Director, StarLink said, “The theme for StarLink in 2015 is ‘Partnering into the Future’ and in regards to our channel, the focus will be on aligning more closely with strategic partners so that they can in turn assist government and enterprise customers in the region become more compliant and resilient to next-generation threats.

“We were very pleased with the partner conference this year and we received excellent feedback about the event from participating vendors and partners as well.

We look forward to a great year of mutual success and growth with our channel.”

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Samsung Electronics has partnered with MDS Gulf Holdings to launch an experience store at Bawabat Al Sharq Mall in Sami Abi Esber, President, Abu Dhabi. The MDS Gulf Holdings new location is the first Samsung Experience store in the region to focus exclusively on the company’s smartphones, tablets and cameras.

Ismail Yoon, President, Samsung Gulf Electronics said, “People are the starting point and the endpoint of everything we design, and our experience stores give consumers

the chance to discover that firsthand. As the only store to focus solely on Samsung’s mobile portfolio, the Bawabat Al Sharq location will introduce consumers to our intuitive mobile devices in ways that are tailored to the needs of the mobile consumer. As Samsung continues to create products that resonate with real people, our footprint in the region will only continue to expand with their support.”

Sami Abi Esber, President, MDS Gulf Holdings, said, “This store marks the start of our retail partnership with electronic giant, Samsung. In addition, the opening is part of our ongoing commitment towards achieving high customer satisfaction. We look forward to working closely with Samsung and open more stores in the long term.”

GITEX Shopper Spring 2015 launches Shopper Smart Living section

GITEX Shopper Spring 2015 is back this year with a new dimension to its offering with the launch of Shopper Smart Living – a dedicated section with the latest in home appliances, energy efficient white goods and smart home tech. According to organisers, Shopper Smart Living brings the latest in innovation and eco-friendly advances in everything from washing machines, refrigerators and dishwashers to air conditioning units, ionizers and lighting.

Taking place from 1 – 4 April 2015 at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), the third edition of GITEX Shopper Spring 2015 and the debut of Shopper Smart Living are expected to meet the increasing demand for home appliances and consumer tech products that is being driven by a fast growing local and regional population.

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“Technology touches at least one point in almost every consumer’s life these days, and in most cases, many more. GITEX Shopper Spring and Shopper Smart Living will offer consumers a wealth of choice for almost every corner of their homes, offices and everyday lifestyles, so this is really about smart shopping,” said Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice President, Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). “Last year’s GITEX Shopper Spring generated over AED 101 million in sales, and welcomed more than 125,000 visitors. We expect this year to be even bigger, offering consumers the perfect one-stop-shop destination to discover the latest products to improve their home, work, school and personal leisure time.”

Mohammed Gharaibeh, General Manager, Home Appliance division, Samsung Gulf Electronics, said, “Samsung is changing the way people interact with their technology, and our home appliances are setting the pace for a new age of innovation. Customers can observe and even experience everything that stands just beyond the horizon at our stand.”

highlights

HTC founder takes over as CEO The Board of Directors of HTC Corporation has named Cher Wang, Chairman and co-founder of HTC, as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. The former CEO, Peter Chou will transition to a strategic new role leading future product innovation.

“We are seeing rapid changes in the industry, with the smartphone as our personal hub connecting us to a growing world of smart devices. We pioneered the smartphone industry; now we are applying that thinking to realise the potential of a new generation of connected products and services. The overwhelming response that our virtual reality product, HTC Vive, received earlier this month underlines the importance

of these new connected technologies for our future,” said Cher Wang, Chairman and CEO, HTC. “As an entrepreneur at heart, I am excited to see so many new opportunities, and I am honoured to accept this opportunity to help shape the next stage of HTC’s development.”

Over the last two years, Wang had been increasingly involved in the running of various aspects of the business, to allow Chou to focus on product development, a role in which he has demonstrated world-class design and cutting-edge technology expertise. The Board of Directors and executive team agreed that it was now appropriate to formalise that progression and make the

Crayon to offer optimised services to UAE Microsoft EA customers Crayon Middle East, part of Crayon Group, the global leaders in software asset management (SAM), cloud, volume licensing and Joachim Hagström, CEO, associated Crayon Middle East consulting services has announced an exclusive offering for Enterprise Agreement holders in the United Arab Emirates transferring their agreement to Crayon Middle East in 2015.

Crayon initiative to foster the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement programme offering to further improve productivity of the IT infrastructure, simplify the acquisition, deployment and management process and the usage reporting of software licenses amid complex software environments.

“Our aim is to provide addedvalue benefits in our offerings to assist organisations standardise their software licensing usage while securing

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substantial savings on their IT estate investments and costs “ said Joachim Hagström, CEO, Crayon Middle East.

“Crayon’s go to market solutions comprises much more than the service delivery; it covers relevant logistics, compliance fundamentals, solutions development and consultancy, advisory and legal compatibility.”

According to the company, Crayon competencies go above and beyond this offer to provide the EA customers the solution that truly stands out. Adding to the value that the EA offers to organisations with 250 or more users or devices seeking a manageable volume licensing programme with the flexibility to buy cloud services and software licenses under one agreement; the company will develop License Optimisation and License Scenario Analysis to secure savings between 10 to 20 percent of the licensing cost of any Enterprise Agreement over the 3 years of the agreement lifespan. This engagement will be offered without any extra charges and delivered by the company’s certified Software

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organisational changes necessary to enable the company to proceed to the next stage of its development.

In his Cher Wang, Chairman and time as CEO, Co-founder, CEO, HTC Peter Chou oversaw the successful transition of HTC from a handheld device ODM to a global branded company. In his new executive role as Head of HTC Future Development Lab, Chou will be instrumental in identifying future growth opportunities for the company.

Asset Management consultants.

Uniting with Snow Software, the developer of on-premise and cloud-based Software Asset Management (SAM) technologies. The solutions provider can supply and support organisations throughout the implementation and the deployment process of Snow Software tools to assist them in identifying their IT assets and vulnerabilities while significantly reducing costs.

Adding to the enticing offer, clients transferring their EA agreements to Crayon Middle East in 2015, will secure a delegate seat offered with a flight ticket to attend the 5th edition of the Nordic Infrastructure Conference 2016 in Oslo, Norway. Founded by Crayon, NIC is a ‘must go to’ event for all infrastructure professionals and senior technicians.

In 2014, Crayon Middle East started managing Microsoft Volume Licensing Programmes including Enterprise Agreements, Select (Plus), Government, Academic, GGWA to service Large Organisations, MPSA, and related enrollments like Enrollment for Education Solutions, Server and Cloud Enrolment (SCE) and Azure Enrollment.

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CONTACT US: dl-sales-middleeast@arubanetworks.com

highlights

TP-LINK ME signs partnership with Jarir Bookstore for KSA SOHO and SMB networking products and solutions, TP-LINK Technologies has signed a partnership agreement with Mark Zhao, Country Manager, Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia, TP-LINK Middle East based retailer Jarir Bookstore.

According to the vendor, the deal with Jarir Bookstore will not only strengthen its presence in the KSA retail sector, but will open doors for its products to be sold in more than 30 stores that the retailer has across the Kingdom.

Lucas Jiang, Sales Manager, GCC Power Retailer and E-Retailer, TPLINK Middle East, said the company is delighted to have partnered with Jarir Bookstore because it is known in the Saudi market for providing the best quality products and service to its customers.

Jiang added, “Jarir Bookstore now has the opportunity to resell networking products to the consumers and TP-LINK will help the retailer to develop its store in the store concept. We are hoping, TPLINK becomes the top selling networking

brand in KSA retail stores just like we are in the UAE,” he said.

According to Jiang, the biggest challenge in KSA is that most chain stores don’t have enough shelf space for presenting the products. “In addition, we have done research in the local market and selected the most suitable items from our wide range of products to assure these fit in with the consumers’ desire in the market,” he said.

Mark Zhao, Country Manager, Saudi Arabia, TP-LINK Middle East, said currently, the company has only entered Jarir Bookstore and is providing consumers through this partnership several models. Zhao said in other retail outlets such as eXtra, Hyper Panda, Lulu and Emax, consumers can also find a limited array of TP-LINK’s products.

“We have decided to focus on developing the business in power retailers and having Jarir as one of our main power retailers bodes well for our strategy of growing presence in the KSA retail segment,” he said. “We are now working closely with Jarir and our Access Point portfolio has now been introduced in the store. “Eventually, we are hoping consumers enjoy the experience with the convenience provided by TP-LINK products in the KSA market.”

emt Distribution to participate at GISEC 2015

emt Distribution, the specialty IT security products distributor has announced its participation at GISEC 2015, the region’s leading cyber security Mohammad Mobasseri, exposition to be CEO, emt Distribution held from 26th to 28th April 2015 at Dubai World Trade Centre in Dubai, UAE. Mohammad Mobasseri, CEO, emt Distribution said, “For past few years, cyber threats altering the security

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april 2015 Reseller Middle East

landscape and posing a real danger to not to just the security corporates, businesses, governments but also to individuals. GISEC provides an excellent platform to network industry experts, security specialists and with like-minded professionals from all across the region.”

Senior executives and security experts from emt, and its key vendors will be present at GISEC to present their technology.

The distributor will be displaying at Booth No.SR-A30, Sheikh Rashid Hall, Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Center, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, UAE.

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Global signs Synology NAS deal Global Distribution has signed an agreement with Synology to distribute the range of Network Attached Storage (NAS) server products in GCC and Africa.

Founded in 2000, Synology have a range of NAS products, from smaller solutions for home consumers through to large scale rackmounts, scalable up to more than 600TB, for business and enterprise users.

Laurent Journoud, VP Sales and Marketing, Global Distribution, said, “With the increase in storage consumption and the requirement for large volumes of data to be available quickly and easily, Synology delivers a suite of products that address this need perfectly. From home and small office to large scale business, Synology has today’s best offerings that represent a new sales opportunity to our reseller partners, from retail through to corporate, but especially in the mid-market” Derek Tu, Regional Sales Manager, Synology, said, “The GCC has been one of Synology’s main and important markets.

We’ve seen the demand for Synology in this region to be very strong especially in recent years. With the join of Global Distribution, our channels may enjoy even better product availability, logistic and local support.”

The full range of Synology DiskStation products are immediately available from Global as of today.

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highlights

D-Link to enhance Gulf presence A global player in the connectivity and networking space, D-link has announced expansion plans to enhance market presence in Gulf countries such as Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

The vendor aims to launch aggressive marketing strategies to build its retail presence across Gulf markets.

Sakkeer Hussain, Sales & Marketing Director, D-Link MEA, said, “We will enhance our presence in these countries through partnership with power retailers. We are in the process of finalising with many new partners on this front.

We are also looking to recruit more partners across retail, channel and enterprise levels.

“We will also appoint in-country persons over the next couple of months. The retail boom that we observed in the UAE market few years ago, is now taking place in countries such as Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and

Kuwait. We are looking to capitalise on this. Our Sakkeer Hussain, Sales & strategy in Marketing Director, D-Link MEA the UAE has been successful and we now want to replicate this in the other markets. We have a relationship with all the major retailers here and will now extend it to the other Gulf countries.”

D-Link has implemented successful channel partner programmes in this market and this will continue to be a part of its strategy in the new markets.

“We have set a benchmark with our channel partner programmes.

And we look forward to build this even further in the new markets. We will also work very closely with our local partners in each of these countries.”

Hussain also added that the market will hear a lot more from the vendor over the course of this year.

We have set a benchmark with our channel partner programmes. And we look forward to build this even further in the new markets. We will also work very closely with our local partners in each of these countries.” stats Smart Cities will use

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Dimension Data named as Microsoft Skype for Business Global Elite Launch Partner The global ICT services and solutions provider, Dimension Data has been Peter Menadue, Group GM, Microsoft appointed as one of Solutions, Dimension Data the few Microsoft Skype for Business Global Elite Launch Partners. This follows an announcement by Microsoft that the next version of its communications and collaboration tool, Microsoft Lync – now called Skype for Business – will be ready for sale in the first half of 2015.

When Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011, the company said Skype was a communications tool for

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april 2015 Reseller Middle East

outside the firewall, while Lync was an offering for inside the firewall.

Now, the next version of Skype for Business truly connects Lync to the vast Skype network which includes thousands of Dimension Data’s clients, employees and partners, according to the statement released.

“As a Microsoft strategic partner for over a decade, we’re very excited about Skype for Business.

Over 300 million people use Skype for messaging, calling and sharing.

With Skype for Business, Microsoft is bringing together the familiar user experience of Skype with the security, compliance and control of Lync,” said Peter Menadue, Dimension Data’s Group GM for Microsoft Solutions.

Menadue said Skype for Business video calling is an advantage for

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organisations wanting to engage face-to-face with their on-the-move employees and customers, anywhere, anytime from their video room system, desktop, TV or mobile device. “Our teams are excited because it adds to our vision around workspaces for tomorrow. It also enables our clients to adopt unified communications into their business applications, and leverage the cost and efficiency benefits that go hand in hand with the Skype for Business platform.”

Menadue pointed out that Dimension Data has a strong track record for deploying high volumes of Lync on a global scale. “Our teams are already beta trained and ready to deliver Skype for Business to our clients when the product becomes available in the first half of 2015.”

highlights

Philips monitors appoints Trigon as authorised distributor

Arun Chawla, CEO, Trigon

MMD, the brand license partner for Philips displays, has appointed Middle East distributor, Trigon, as authorised distributor for its entire range of monitors across GCC countries including UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Vineeth Sebastian, Regionals Sales Director, MEA, MMD said, “Our comprehensive range of monitors

and displays combines state of the art technology with sleek designs to create an awesome array of products that can be used in business, home, game or hospitality applications. We believe this partnership will allow existing and new partners to benefit from the expertise and depth of knowledge about display solutions that are integral to Trigon.”

“Over the years, Trigon have forged strong alliances with channel partners, resellers, dealers, and retailers across the region that provides us a readymade platform to expand over reach,” said Sebastian.

“We are excited to have Trigon as part of our distribution network. Given

their experience in the local market, combined with their specialist display knowledge, it will support us to access new business opportunities and grow our market share in the region.”

Trigon CEO, Arun Chawla added, “With a solid reputation in display business, Philips monitors are well known to offer quality, innovation and expertise in its products. We are confident that with this new relationship, we will not only strengthen our product portfolio, but also open up new business avenues for our channel partners in the region. We look forward to working closely with their local team to make it the winning brand in the region.”

Aruba Networks signs WestconGroup as ME VAD Network access solutions provider Aruba Networks has announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with WestconGroup, the regional value-added global distributor of security, unified communications, network infrastructure and data center solutions. The relationship extends from the Middle East and includes France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and South Africa. As per the agreement, WestconGroup will distribute Aruba’s portfolio of access management, network infrastructure and mobile engagement solutions through its extensive network of resellers and systems integrators across these regions, enabling regional organisations to create nextgeneration wireless networks.

Osama AlHaj-Issa, Channel Director, Middle East and Turkey at Aruba Networks said, “We are currently experiencing a huge demand for our mobility solutions and exponential year on year growth. As we look to tap into the

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april 2015 Reseller Middle East

huge business potential in the region, we find it critical that we form alliances with key partners that share our vision and have the capabilities and resources to help us grow.

“We are delighted to sign on Westcon as our new distributor in the Middle East. We are confident that their deep understanding of the market and their excellent technical expertise will greatly strengthen Aruba’s reach throughout the region and help us penetrate the government, hospitality, education and healthcare sectors, which are key verticals for our company.”

Within the Middle East, the distributor initially plans to focus its efforts on expanding Aruba’s footprint in high-growth markets such as UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan and Oman. The partnership will involve WestconGroup recruiting the right channel partners and managing them to build a steady revenue stream and scale Aruba’s business in the region. Westcon will run regular Aruba related demo and

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Christopher Green, Divisional Director, WestconGroup Middle East

enablement sessions for its partners.

“We believe in the benefits of best-of-breed solutions, and in the wireless networks space Aruba Networks brings a full suite of market leading technology and solutions. We are excited about the Aruba Networks partnership and are confident that this will be highly successful and valued by our partners and customers,” said Christopher Green, Divisional Director, WestconGroup Middle East.

“We believe this adds considerable value to our existing portfolio of leading security solutions as they continue to drive product innovation in core markets, and further strengthens our position as the market-leading security and networking distributor in the Middle East.”

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highlights

Fortinet revamps global FortiPartner programme

Maya Zakhour, Channel Director, Middle East, Fortinet

Fortinet has enhanced its FortiPartner Programme for the EMEA and APAC regions. The new programme, including new certification and realigned partner levels, is designed to help partners build expertise on the full range of the vendor’s network security products, extend service offerings and expand into new areas of the security market.

Maya Zakhour, Channel Director, Middle East, Fortinet said, “Trends for mobility, agile infrastructures and cloud set alongside the evolution in advanced cyberthreats, means organisations increasingly demand high-performance, integrated security solutions and experienced partner support. Our new programme will support our resellers to increase expertise and leverage our end-

to-end network security solutions to better align their services with the needs of these customers, and ultimately boost value.”

The new FortiPartner Programme includes elements such as the Network Security Expert Certification (NSE) Programme. The new eight level certification programme has been developed to equip partners with in-depth expertise across Fortinet’s full scope of integrated solutions and includes a wide-range of self-paced, instructor-led and practical courses for all technical professionals.

Designed to build partner knowledge and expertise in the increasingly complex network security concepts demanded in today’s business environments, the program will help accelerate partner sales, develop new services and validate advanced skills and experience inline with the evolving cybersecurity landscape.

The new NSE programme incorporates newly created content not covered in FCNSA and FCNSP

certifications, and over time will eventually replace the existing certifications. All Fortinet’s online courses are free to existing channel partners.

The certification will also give partners exclusive access to benefits such as enhanced escalation, invitations to NSE-only events and to be recognised in the industry among an elite group of security professionals.

The vendor has also redefined its partner levels in order to provide a status that partners can leverage globally. The programme is designed to help identify and grow a reseller’s service strength and specialisms, aligning with their own business goals, and provide the appropriate partnership level for advanced support, development and opportunity in untapped markets.

The company has invested in further marketing support across its international channels, including locally-aligned content and multilingual telemarketing teams to provide qualified leads for extending sales reach and profitability for partners.

FVC and Sonus sign MEA distribution deal FVC, a value-added distributor in the Middle East & Africa (MEA), has signed an agreement with Sonus, a global player in enabling and securing real-time communications, to tap into the growing SIP-based, Unified Communications (UC) opportunities across the region.

S. Parag, Managing Director, FVC, said, “UC is a strong area for investment by enterprises across the region and this agreement with Sonus strengthens our solutions and enable us (and our partners) to offer cutting edge communications solutions that enhance any existing plans especially in the Microsoft Lync environments.”

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april 2015 Reseller Middle East

With a significant growth in enterprises considering Microsoft Lync as a platform for Unified Communications and enterprise voice, Sonus Session border controllers (SBCs) serve a critical role in making their vision become a reality.

Joop van Aard, Vice President and GM, Sonus EMEA said, “Sonus is committed to engaging with a select group of partners seeking to capture the rapidly growing SIP-based UC opportunity in MEA. The Sonus FVC relationship will provide channel partners a highly competitive business value proposition with flexible deployment alternatives.”

FVC will provide its partners

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S. Parag, Managing Director, FVC

with support at every stage: from consulting, sales, marketing, channel development, implementation to support and training. With this value backed by experienced and trained workforce, it will be able to create and penetrate opportunities of high value for Sonus with partners across the region, said the company.

Windows Server 2003/R2 End of Support July 14, 2015

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You have the opportunity to transform your datacenter and open up a whole new world for your business.

Microsoft envisions a datacenter without boundaries—where you can extend beyond the resources you have on-premises to more easily use cloud resources when you need them. Rapidly build new global-scale applications or websites.

Scale infrastructure at a moment’s notice to meet the most demanding business requirements. And reduce the cost of storage, backup, and recovery.

Microsoft technologies offer another great advantage: dynamic delivery of applications. The goal of creating infrastructure is to help your IT professionals respond to the needs of the business more quickly and with greater agility. With the power of automation, IT professionals are equipped to provision, deploy, monitor, and manage nearly everything—applications and infrastructure—from a consistent platform across clouds.

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highlights

TP-LINK expands SMB products array TP-LINK has expanded its SMB products portfolio with the launch of the EAP220, a business class indoor Wi-Fi access point and T3700G-28TQ, a 28-Port Gigabit stackable Layer3 managed switch.

The EAP220 provides support for features such as EAP centralised controller software and real-time operations monitoring.

It sports four internal antennas with wireless concurrent dual band speeds of up to 600Mbps, and has an onboard Qualcomm Atheros Chipset, and the company’s centralised management controller software “One of the main considerations for access points in the workplace is placement and flexibility,” said Denny Liang, Vice President MEA, TP-LINK Middle East. “The EAP series was designed to be as compact and as

versatile as possible to allow for easy installation and maximum coverage. The inclusion of our controller software means that our EAP represents Denny Liang, Vice President MEA, TP-LINK Middle East an extremely Gigabit RJ-45 ports, four Combo Gigabit cost-effective one-stop solution such as SFP and four 10Gbps SFP+ slots. easy configuration and installation for It comes with multiple Layer3 routing small and medium businesses.” protocols, including Static Routing, Meanwhile, the T3700G-28TQ RIP, OSPF, ECMP and VRRP. “These Layer3 switch is a JetStream 28-Port integrated routing protocols provide Gigabit Stackable Layer3 managed reliable, high-performance and scalable switch, which is the first L3 managed routing function for a wide range of product of TP-LINK’s switch series. network installations,” Liang said.

The switch is equipped with 24

VMware appoints new EMEA channel VP VMware has announced the appointment of Scott Dodds as Vice President of Channel and Alliances in EMEA regions.

In this role, Dodds has responsibility for creating and developing relationships with VMware’s channel and alliance partners across the region.

He also has overall responsibility for the small and medium-sized business customer segment, driven through VMware’s channel and alliance partners.

“Scott brings a wealth of software industry experience that will be instrumental to VMware’s success as we bring more business opportunities and technological capabilities to our partners with our software-defined platform,” said Maurizio Carli, Corporate Senior Vice

President and General Manager, EMEA VMware. “We have a worldclass global partner organisation and Scott is a proven leader whose expertise will be invaluable in helping our partners to drive further success in the mobile-cloud era.”

Scott joins from Microsoft having held a variety of management roles in sales, engineering and business development during his 11 year tenure. Most recently he ran its Small and Medium Size Solutions & Partners business for Western Europe, a position he held for 18 months. During his 30-year career in the technology industry Dodds has gained channel management experience in other IT companies in Europe including Acer and Compaq.

“VMware is uniquely positioned within the industry to deliver

Scott Dodds, Vice President of Channel and Alliances in EMEA, VMware

innovative and comprehensive software-defined solutions to organisations of all sizes,” Dodds said. “I am looking forward to collaborating closely with VMware’s diverse partner community and anticipate continued mutual success as we help our customers solve their biggest IT infrastructure challenges of today and in the future.”

www.resellerme.com

Reseller Middle East april 2015

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Alcatel-lucent

opinion

The co-marketing conundrum Manish Punjabi, Channel Marketing Manager MEA, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, explains how the regional channel players can tackle the challenges of co-marketing.

A majority of tech vendors deliver products and services using a 100 percent indirect model i.e. through a network of certified partners.

Consequently, vendors deploy a variety of co-marketing tactics with channel partners to build the brand, generate leads, etc.

But during my conversations with other vendors, co-marketing seems to strike a common chord, co-marketing with partners is quite a herculean task. Channel marketers push channel partners to do more than just one-off ‘fire and forget’ tactics such as print advertisements and events. It is now all about the ROI. Supporting co-marketing financially Vendors use either MDF or Coop to fund co-marketing with channel partners where all expenses are equally shared between the two.

• MDF (Market Development Funds) are fluid funds because they rely on a periodic marketing plan discussion between vendor and partner. As a result, the budget can vary from one period to another.

• A business partner accrues coop based on purchases made from the vendor and this amount is valid for a

certain period, for example, 12 months for an AlcatelLucent Enterprise partner.

However, what is a good co-marketing model – Coop or MDF? What should be the ideal reimbursement rate? Would 100 percent reimbursement incentivise the business partner to make efficient use of the funds for lead generation? The accrual nature of coop makes the allocation predictable for partners because it is based on a percentage of the purchases and the partner can plan activities with a sense of assurance of reimbursement.

MDF, if used appropriately, could incentivise the partner to move up through the partnership levels.

Every vendor deploys a mix of coop and MDF to achieve its desired marketing goals. For example, a leading wireless player uses coop with bigger partners such as the distributor and top-tier partners but keeps the MDF for the smaller players. These partners might be ineligible for coop but willing to co-invest in demand generation activities to develop the business. Our coop is wholly dedicated for the partner who accrues it while new partners coming onboard depend on MDF. This has often left me at a loose end because MDF is finite and often in short

supply. Yet there is a pot of untouched money in the coop as not all partners are equally active in using the funds.

The legacy of coop In Middle-East and Africa, we have several loyal partners who have been with us for 20 years. In many cases, accrued coop funds were considered as earned money or an entitlement akin to rebate. This led to anxiety and frustration at the end of 12 months when unused funds expired or when we applied a 50 percent reimbursement ratio.

Value4Partner initiative for the best partner experience With a two-tier model, we rely on our partners to deliver the best customer experience – prompt and accurate quotations, super customer service through trained resources, etc. But we realised that the best customer experience is linked to the best partner experience.

At our recently concluded worldwide partner conference, InPulse2015, we launched a new partner initiative called Value4Partner (V4P) programme.

The programme aims to create the best partner experience in the industry by halving the partner’s cost of doing business with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise.

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From the coop point of view, the accrued funds will be revised as Engagement Funds, a model that will offer greater flexibility to redirect funds from nonperforming partners to the more deserving or new ones.

With this new initiative, I hope to wake up every day thinking ‘Which partner is motivated to co-market’ versus ‘How do I motivate my partner to do more co-marketing? ’, which was the case in the old model.

Channel co-marketing is not black and white While I am neither the first nor the last person exploring this subject, there is no concrete or one-size-fits-all solution.

Numerous agencies and consultants offer supposed solutions such as concierge marketing but channel marketers have to use a different stroke for different folks.

Vendors work with a plethora of partners, across a multitude of regions and have to adhere to stringent audit processes.

Equally, partners work on tight margins and cannot afford to lose sight of the target i.e. the purchase order. Both parties have to adapt like two expert dancers who know when to lead and when to follow because the end goal is the same – to deliver the best customer experience and make money.

Reseller Middle East april 2015

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interview

Citrix

Specialisation is key Citrix’ Johnny Karam, Regional Vice President, Middle East and Africa and Luca Marinelli, Vice President, Channel Sales & Strategy, EMEA, explain what partners can expect from the updated partner programme.

Earlier in the year, Citrix unveiled a new channel programme designed for partner growth through specialisations.

Regional partners had a chance to be updated on the new features at the company’s annual event, Citrix Partner Accelerator, held recently.

With customised content for each region, at the event more than 100 Citrix Solution Advisor partners were given an overall view on the vendor’s strategy and direction for 2015.

They were also informed about sales and technical enablement techniques along with how to create demand generation through effective marketing.

The company’s focus has been on how different elements of technology integrate and drive mobile workspaces.

Johnny Karam, Regional Vice President, Middle East and Africa, Citrix, says, “We have also announced workspace pods, which was possible through our recent acquisition of Sanbolic.”

Sanbolic offers workloadoriented storage virtualization technologies. Therefore, when Citrix implements a virtual solution for its customers, the integration efforts required by

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customers are reduced greatly.

“Because what happens is that Sanbolic takes the virtualisation software from us and then create the hardware, install the software on it, do the integration, enhance and optimise it.

“The pod that we have announced is a pre-configured Citrix VDI solution that comes on a HP box. We are already offering it for selected customers and will be available widely in Q2. Partners will be excited about this because it will reduce their efforts to do the integration. It will help them increase their revenue because they are bundling the solution and will increase their competitive advantage,” explains Karam.

“Our key announcement has been around specialisations, which is exciting for our partners because we are really taking this relationship to the next level. We are investing in partners who really want to invest in us.”

The four specialisation categories are desktop virtualisation, networking, mobility and cloud networking.

Luca Marinelli, Vice President, Channel Sales & Strategy, EMEA, Citrix, explains, “The criteria

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Our key announcement has been around specialisations, which is exciting for our partners because we are really taking this relationship to the next level.”

Johnny Karam, Regional Vice President, Middle East and Africa, Citix

remains the same to get to these four categories. For example, they will still need to provide customer references, take online tests and invest in additional people to prove they really are specialised in that specific topic.

“This is important from the sales engagement point of view because it will be easier for our sales force to engage with them for a specific opportunity as the capabilities are better defined now. Also, when it is about referring partners to customers, we will be able to say, for example, those set of partners are all platinum or gold certified but some of them have networking specialisation while some of them have the mobility specialisation.”

Customers can now select the partners depending on the skills they require. Moreover, Marinelli says, it is not going to be so simple to take those specialisations, “but it is something our partners have asked for.”

Two years ago, the mobile workspace vendor had revisited its existing partner programme to build one that is consistent and clear.

“The updated programme provides partners an understanding on what’s the return on their investment when they invest with us at every level. Partners want to be better differentiated when it comes to their capabilities.

Earlier, we couldn’t say if there was a difference between two partners who are at the same level. Partners wanted us to create a programme with clear specialisations so

that the customer has better understanding about what their abilities are and will help position them better again those partners who don’t have these specialisations,” says Marinelli Specialisations will be an additional element for the partners to get special skills

and also to receive rewards.

Besides the economic reward, partners can also now look forward to more profitability and competitiveness as the reward is both an upfront discount and a back-end rebate, adds Marinelli.

“We need our partners to keep investing with us and

The updated programme provides partners an understanding on what’s the return on their investment when they invest with us at every level. Partners want to be better differentiated when it comes to their capabilities.”

Luca Marinelli, Vice President, Channel Sales & Strategy, EMEA, Citrix

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keep pace with our technology and our developments to position as best as possible the solutions to our customers.

This will boost profitability for all stakeholders.”

According to both Marinelli and Karam, mobility is leading the business conversations. Organisations need to enable employees to be more productive and ensure they can work from anywhere and everywhere.

“Mobile workspaces is the theme for today. If you go back few years, the desktop to the PC is like today what the virtual workspace is to the cloud.

Today work is no longer a place, it is something you do. That’s the workspace, which we are promoting to help businesses do this,” says Karam.

According to Marinelli, partners are still grappling with enablement and this is further accelerated by shortage of skills. “We have built an enablement plan for the first time, last year, which we are rolling out across the EMEA to address this challenge.

Through this plan we have dedicated senior engineers to help and train partners put together complex solutions” Karam adds, “The enablement is something we need to keep investing in because we are not dealing with a technology that is common. We are at the forefront, and innovation is core to what Citrix does. We are not selling a commodity software, therefore when you are at the forefront of technology, enablement needs to be rapid.”

Reseller Middle East april 2015

31

interview

CommVault

Partner to expand Reseller ME catches up with Robert Brower, VP, Worldwide Customer Support and Training, CommVault, to know more about market trends in the data and information management space.

Can you elaborate on the value local partnerships offer to the company?

Culture and influence are the primary reasons why we value local partnerships.

How a solution is accepted or received will vary from customer to customer simply because of the nuances of how it is presented. We spend a great deal of time, also over a million dollars a year, working on enablement of our partners in each of the ecosystems we operate in.

Partners are leading the services and support in this region and we are always growing our channel. We identify our partners based on their capabilities to learn and their abilities to execute. We work with them on a quarterly basis to ensure that they are educated and enabled and that they are meeting the same

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goals of customer satisfaction as we are.

How do you enable partners to uphold the brand name?

We have a series of assessments, which we provide to our partners. This includes our core technology suite and access begins with customerfacing information. The idea is to learn the product as though you were going to use the product. This is provided at no cost of that qualified partner.

Once the partner achieve the required certifications, we open up a programme called ‘Vitality’.

Vitality includes a series of online and flipped education processes. Flipped essentially means partners can consume the online classes as and when they have time through our online system. Then we have a week-long event, where all the partners, who have completed these support centric classes,

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are brought together to an open forum where they can share, discuss and even do activities. It creates a user community of our partners to be able to lay out best practices and everybody comes in with prior knowledge of what they need to know by the end of this objective. Once the partners complete this, they have the access to our backend database for knowledge and information sharing, they are also able to escalate incidents to our development team. Our focus for 2015 and 2016 will be continued enablement of our partners.

What are some of the data management challenges that the customers and partners are struggling with today?

One of the biggest challenges for customers is to identify where they are in the hype cycle. Today, we see that our end customers are considering technologies such as Big Data and cloud. However, how these technologies can enable and enhance their business is not very clear.

There is uncertainty when it comes down to that. That’s a complex unit partners have to worry about and learn to manage. They need to discover the best way to ease the customer into venturing down this road. Another challenge for partners is centralisation.

Increasing number of smaller organisations are outsourcing their technology requirements to their preferred partners so that they can focus on their core business. We have some partners who are used to having data centre-centric services, and they are watching their market disappear as these small and medium sized customers move into managed services and cloud. Partners need to asses where they are along the hype cycle as far as their skills and capabilities are concerned. We have dedicated teams in support, engineering and sales to help those partners who want to move into cloud to do so successfully. We closely look at those customers and resellers and try to align them.

What is the future looking like in terms of data related technologies?

The cycle of innovation is growing rapidly year-on-year.

Things that had taken us 30 years to advance to will now take only 5 years or less. Over the next 5 years, we would have more than quintupled the amount of data on the planet. We will have the second generation of college graduates coming out who will have Big Data statistics skills and will be doing some interesting things around it.

Databases themselves will give rise to a different kind of structured data. There will be no such thing as unstructured data, everything will be metatagged and analysed. We will not be thinking in terms of gigabytes or terabytes but in terms of petabytes or zettabytes. Mobility and cloud will revolutionise to the next levels. This is where the future lies.

Cover story Sariya IT

The value quotient Amjad Fathi Al-Omar, General Manager, Sariya IT, reveals growth strategy and channel plans for the year.

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April 2015 Reseller Middle East

www.resellerme.com

Security is one of the biggest concerns for all major and small to medium organisations in all markets around the globe today. And Saudi Arabia is no exception.

KSA is one of the biggest IT spending markets among the Gulf according to IDC. The research firm predicts that it will increase by 4.6 percent year-on-year in 2015 to total USD 36.95 billion. And as the country moves towards smart government initiatives, the security risks only continue to grow.

Amjad Fathi Al-Omar, General Manager, Sariya IT Distribution, says, “Security is a growing sector all over the world. It is important to have strong security policies, procedures and even systems and level of applications, starting from the bottom layer to the very top.”

This also means the opportunities are immense, says the security and network infrastructure VAD. Al-Omar says, “It is a technologically voracious market, especially in terms of security solutions. Also, the existing companies in Saudi Arabia are not able to fulfil the complete requirements. There is ample amount of potential for business to grow here.”

The Saudi-based Sariya IT, which is a part of the Al Kuhaimi Group, has been in the market since 2002.

Even before that it was a

“Our philosophy is to be a value-added distributor, we are not just a box-mover. We are providing services such as after-sales, POCs and installations, and even have service-level agreements. We are selling solutions, services and enabling partners.

We are expecting the growth to be in double digits over the next two years in terms of the volume of business in KSA.” functional company in the early 80’s, but was working only on internet solutions.

“In 2002, we changed the nature of the business and entered distribution. Our philosophy is to be a valueadded distributor, we are not just a box-mover. We are providing services such as after-sales, POCs and installations, and even have service-level agreements. We are selling solutions, services and enabling partners.”

As a distributor, one needs to have a varied portfolio of products.

But as a specialised VAD, Sariya IT’s vendors include Kaspersky Labs, Seclore and Gwava on the security side while Cyberoam and Unitrends fall in the network infrastructure portfolio.

“The market is huge. We are expecting the growth to be in double digits over the next two years in terms of the volume of business in KSA.” However what partners need to keep in mind

is that when they are handling an account to deliver one particular product or solution such as document management, it is important to also see the opportunity for other solutions. “Especially in security,” adds Al-Omar.

“There is an opportunity to also sell UTMs and back-up solutions along with the regular products. When you start securing infrastructure and building your security solution on top of your infrastructure network, with an account like that you have the opportunity to sell four or five additional security products.”

Al-Omar believes Sariya IT has an advantage in the Saudi market thanks to the benefits of using its corporate name – Al Kuhaimi Group. “We certainly stand to benefit from our group but also we offer complete solutions as we have the entire portfolio required for an account, from civil

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engineering, security, fire alarms, biometrics, security infrastructure, security products and even physical security such as cameras and safety. These kind of turnkey products in our portfolio allow us to penetrate the Saudi market even better.”

Today many players call themselves value-added distributors, however what it means to be a VAD differs with each company.

According to Al-Omar, there aren’t any true VADs in Saudi Arabia.

“Some might term themselves as a valueadded distributor but we are yet to see a real competition in this area.

Sariya’s value proposition is not to simply sell and close the relationship with the customer. Besides selling, we add value by doing pilots or POCs and offering customers after-sales services. All these factors help us to penetrate the market even more.”

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feature

sariya It

Sariya IT has grown 29 percent in 2014 over 2013 and is expecting to close the year with a growth of 30 to 35 percent. Al-Omar says, “We are expecting to do much more in terms of enabling and recruiting partners. Our expectation is to reach 250 percent in services while our total revenue will be around 30 to 35 percent growth year-onyear in 2015.”

What differentiates Sariya IT from other players is its philosophy of being ‘exclusive’.

“When we sign up with vendors, we say we should be exclusive for the first three years at least. This is because we spent a great deal of efforts in training, seminars, roadshows and enabling resellers.”

He goes on to explain that at times there is competition from the resellers themselves. “Larger systems integrators (SIs) buy tenders from government and sell directly to the end user, which means they work as a sub-disti at times. But in most cases, they do not have certified engineers and certified sales person.

“The volume of security is big in Saudi Arabia today.

This means we need large resellers and SIs to work on it because of the financial issues, therefore, we need to build the loyalty with the larger SIs.” With close to 3000 registered partners in its ecosystem, the distributor classifies them into three

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April 2015 Reseller Middle East

categories - registered, authorised and premier.

“Premier resellers are those who are either registered as a Gold or a Platinum reseller with any one of our vendors, they automatically become a premier reseller to Sariya.

The benefits they enjoy are having priority in registering the deal with us, larger discounts compared to others and have rebates at the end of each quarter, provided our targets are achieved,” explains Al-Omar.

Every market has its own set of challenges. In Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest challenge is that with the market being quite large, there are many players in the same field. “You must assume that when speaking to a customer or a reseller that they have heard about 10 other solutions already.”

While experience and big accounts can give you an added advantage here, one must look at approaching the market differently.

Another challenge is educating the partners. “As a distributor, we need to invest into a product but no one can compel resellers to promote those products.

Therefore, we need to spend time educating our partners on the features and benefits of the line-up.

We do this by offering a good partner programme.”

While it is fairly easier to explain the benefits of a product, as it is tangible, it’s not the same when selling services. “Not all of our

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customers understand the value of selling the services.

Therefore, sometimes we need to go with our resellers to the end users in order to start the conversation around services.”

But, this is also challenging, Al-Omar says, because most customers are price-conscious. “So if you are competing with another distributor who is not a VAD then we will lose because he is simply selling the products to the customer and not focusing on value.”

In 2015, the VAD aims to continue its focus on services and security.

While the market is set for growth and is getting more matured, there still remains a dearth of events on partner education, adds Al-Omar.

“We are looking to recruit even more channel partners over this year. You need to build their trust and loyalty, it is not about selling only.

Resellers care only about margins and not about the services behind. What we do then is convince and show them the long-term benefits and also the value of selling the services. By selling services, partners are able to increase their profitability. This needs to be understood better in the channel community.”

Al-Omar’s advice to the market is “focus on big accounts from the beginning of the year itself, as large accounts do not close within a short

At a glance Company: Sariya IT Distribution General Manager: Amjad Fathi Al-Omar Year of establishment: 2002 Parent group: Al Kuhaimi Group Country of origin: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Distribution model: Value-added distributor Head office: Dammam, KSA Sales offices: Jeddah, Riyadh in KSA, Dubai in UAE and Doha in Qatar Revenue in 2014: USD 40 M (approximately) Y-o-Y growth in 2014: 29 percent Top brands: Kaspersky Labs, Seclore, Unitrends, Cyberoam, Gwava

period. The market is currently slow, but if you have a strong pipeline and loyal partners, the market scenario will not affect you much. Also, go out there and find new accounts instead of competing in one, Saudi Arabia is a large market and the potential is immense.”

Office 2402, Mazaya Business Avenue BB1, JLT, P.O. Box: 487840, Dubai U.A.E Tel : +971 4 4357209 I Fax No: +971 4 4357216 www.spectrami.com I info@spectrami.com

feature

KSA focus

Rocketing to growth Reseller ME investigates the opportunities and challenges of the distribution business in the booming KSA market.

Fact file Country: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Capital: Riyadh Population: 29.2 million Size: 2,149,690 sq. km.

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April 2015 Reseller Middle East

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is the largest emerging market in the Arabian Peninsula, by sheer size and population.

The country is embarking on the upcoming wave of technological transformation by heavily investing into ICT solutions to upgrade its existing network and

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communications infrastructure.

Home to around 68 percent of SMEs, according to a Deloitte report, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions 2014 Middle East, the country is seeing an unparalleled growth from this segment. The report predicts the SME investment

in KSA to grow to over USD 70 billion by the end of this year, making it one of the leading growth factors in regional SME ICT spend. “The Saudi Arabian ICT market will continue to mature in 2015 as various transformation initiatives across key verticals like government, telecommunications, and

finance gain momentum and IT decision makers continue to explore the business impact of third platform technologies such as cloud, social, mobility, and Big Data. Information security and availability of skilled resources will become more vital than ever,” says IDC Saudi Arabia’s Senior Research Manager, Hamza Naqshbandi.

So, what are some of the opportunities and challenges for distributors doing business in the Kingdom?

Girish Narayanan, Managing Director, Granteq Distribution, says, “Saudi Arabia is a large territory and has the largest population in the Middle East. The government has a visionary thought to provide the basic amenities of healthcare,

education, housing, and telecommunication to all the areas of the country and thus is investing heavily into AV & ICT to be able to provide good quality amenities to a large population in dispersed areas. Business transformation is leading the overall KSA market.”

According to Abdulaziz Al-Helayyil, IDC’s Regional

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Director for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain, the expanding use of applications, mobile devices, social media, and other technologies will result in an explosion of data within many Saudi organisations, leading many of them to invest in storage infrastructure, data mining, and analytics applications. “As such, demand for storage devices,

Reseller Middle East April 2015

39

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KSA focus feature

Top 10 IDC’s ICT predictions for KSA in 2015 BI tools, and backup and recovery solutions is expected to remain high in 2015,” he says.

With around 17 years of experience in the Saudi market, Al-Jammaz Distribution has witnessed the progress of the country’s ICT development.

Asim AlJammaz, VP, AlJammaz Distribution, says, “One of the unique aspects of the KSA market, when compared to others in the Middle East region, is its wide distances between cities. It is a big country and requires communication and connectivity investments to keep it connected.”

Therefore, if anyone wants to do business in the country, he cannot limit himself to just one city.

Having seen a growth of 25 percent YoY, Narayanan says, “The traditional IT business of infrastructure projects is still dominant in KSA, however most end users are mainly emphasising on transforming their business. Hence, the country’s positioning will

1. The Saudi ICT market will continue to post steady growth, with spending to exceed $36 billion.

2. Regional and local government bodies will place greater focus on driving their Smart City strategies and will begin to examine the viability of various smart initiatives.

3. Telecom operators will intensify their transformation efforts as regulators push for a level playing field.

4. MVNOs will change the dynamics of the consumer mobile market.

5. Next-generation access networks will drive the pervasion of the Internet of Things (IoT).

6. Hybrid cloud models will gain traction as international SaaS providers finally expand their cloud footprints.

7. Investments in business continuity and disaster recovery will gain momentum as “risk” becomes the primary driver for backup as opposed to “compliance”.

8. The majority of Saudi enterprises will continue with basic analytics tools and dashboards, as they will not consider Big Data analytics necessary.

9. Citizen services will help fuel adoption of consolidated ERP systems, and public sector organizations will begin to seek ERP with embedded analytics.

10. There will be over 16 million smartphones in use in the kingdom by the end of 2015, with a 28.0% increase in LTE device shipments, thus providing a broad user base for new operator services.

Source: IDC

revolve around these new initiatives, such as BYOD, digital signages, interactive and smart learning and Big Data.”

Radwan Basheer, General Manager, Mindware KSA, agrees the KSA market will continue to be a lucrative one for technology products and solutions. He says, “At a time when most major technology solutions

providers complain of declining sales in Europe and to a lesser extent North America, the consistent performance of the IT sector in Saudi makes it a prime market for growth. A number of IT channel players are now looking at extending their capabilities to Saudi, given the potential.”

Most of the growth is attributed to the

The traditional IT business of infrastructure projects is still dominant in KSA, however most end users are mainly emphasising on transforming their business. Hence, the country’s positioning will revolve around these new initiatives.”

Girish Narayanan, Managing Director, Granteq Distribution

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large infrastructure and government funded projects in the country.

Mohammed Esam, Channel Sales Manager, KSA, StorIT Distribution, says, “More and more CIOs are beginning to understand the role of IT as a key enabler to their business growth. Owing to market growth and an increased demand of IT solutions, the number of resellers in the country has also increased year-on-year.”

Identifying the growth potential, StorIT Distribution had launched its Saudi business only about four years ago and has about 250 partners across Saudi Arabia. “We work with a wide channel network comprising of value-added resellers and solution providers in Saudi Arabia by offering comprehensive end-to-

Reseller Middle East April 2015

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KSA focus feature

Why to invest in KSA end turnkey solutions to customers in the SMB, SME and high enterprise segments of the market.”

According to Mindware KSA GM, the distributor has witnessed high market share with vendors such as Dell, Symantec, Citrix and Intel Security. Along with the uptake of the third platform technologies, security too has become an important focus area for businesses across the globe. This is reflected at an equal, if not a higher level in Saudi Arabia, owing to the strict rules and regulations.

AlJammaz also adds, “The security space is another big area of opportunity in the Kingdom for security players. Information security is of utmost important, how to secure data for the surveillance systems and how it can be moved around the country securely are some of the top concerns today.”

The Saudi market is grappling with a problem that is core to the

• Saudi Arabia is the region’s largest ICT market with strong growth in consumer and enterprise end markets • Deregulation, privatisation and WTO accession promoting private-sector opportunities—supported by significant investment incentives • Public-private funding partnerships such as KACST’s R&D co-funding initiatives by KACST • Public-private partnerships supporting venture capital funding such as recent collaboration between SAGIA and Intel • Strong commitment to e-commerce and e-governance initiatives (including IP protection) • Significant unmet demands for web-based and mobile services; increased enterprise and government usage of web-based services provide large-scale opportunities for contractors and service providers • Massive public investment in connectivity for Economic Cities provides unique opportunities for green-field projects covering millions of users • Public investment in computer and Internet literacy programmes Source: Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA)

distribution business – lack of qualified resources and right skill sets.

According to a recent IDC report, as the Saudi government continues to push organisations to comply with its Nitaqat (the Saudisation programme introduced by Saudi Ministry of Labour) regulations, the research firm anticipates the availability of advanced IT skills will become scarcer.

AlJammaz adds, “Hiring

qualified resources is a huge challenge as the labour laws are getting more stringent every year.”

Besides the scarcity of resources, another challenge includes government payment cycles. AlJammaz says, “Government payment cycles take time, which affects the resellers, and delays the payments to distributors or vendors.

While there has been some

Another problem includes the banks not supporting SME resellers in terms of finance. Although there are huge opportunities in the country, it becomes difficult for some resellers to tap into this without sufficient funds.”

Asim AlJammaz, VP, Al-Jammaz Distribution

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relief to this problem, it is not completely tackled.

“Another problem includes the banks not supporting SME resellers in terms of finance.

Although there are huge opportunities in the country, it becomes difficult for some resellers to tap into this without sufficient funds.

They need to think of ways to grow themselves and how they can get investors to help them fund with financing projects.”

Channel stakeholders need to keep these challenges in mind when entering this market and find ways to overcome it.

However, even with these issues, the country is speeding up on its growth trajectory and channel players cannot risk not being present in this market, if they intend to monetise the opportunities present.

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feature

Credit challenges

Playing it safe Reseller ME discusses how players can combat credit issues in the regional IT channel and what measures can be adopted to control it.

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april 2015 Reseller Middle East

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Over credit issues have tormented the regional IT channel for a long time and although it continues to be a challenge, industry experts say things have improved over the years. The Middle East IT channel market, like most of the other emerging markets around the globe, function primarily on credit, to assist the smaller reseller partners in financing larger projects.

Compared to a few years ago, there were only about three to four reported cases of resellers fleeing the market. However, the ripple effect caused by such incidents has a deep impact in terms of business. While the cases are fewer in number today, the debt amounts are much higher, affecting all the stakeholders of the channel.

A veteran in the channel business, Shailendra Rughwani, CEO, DCG, says, “The credit situation in the IT channel in the region has been a concern and a topic for discussions since long. Over the years, the IT channel has evolved and we have seen the channel, including distributors and vendors, being even more cautious when dealing

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with the companies in UAE. Today, we can say that among the channel and resellers, the situation is getting better than the previous years. But it still is a major obstacle in doing clean business as the market here is completely credit oriented.

“There is a clear understanding that to do business here, one needs to give credit, and on the other side, it is easy to obtain credit from companies. Over the years, we have seen companies exiting the market but this has considerably reduced. Therefore, it is nevertheless a good sign overall, as companies have been careful and cautious in extending credit.”

According to Girish Narayanan, Managing Director, Granteq Distribution, although the IT industry in the Middle East has seen improvement over the last three years and is gradually on the road to recovery, there are credit issues that are still hanging like a cloud of gloom over the sector.

“This pertains to payments terms, bounced cheques and ensuring receivables on time,” he says.

Identifying that to solve a problem, it is important to

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Credit challenges

first understand it clearly, Massimo Falcioni, CEO, Middle East Countries, Coface, believes there are a few critical reasons behind the credit issues in the IT channel. He says, “One of the key things that is happening today, which is traditional to the industry is stock management and stock rotation.”

As manufacturers invest more into research and development, there are a multitude of new products entering the market on a large scale and on a shorter cycle. When this happens, channel players are faced with the challenge of managing the stock.

Falcioni adds, “Therefore, the stocks are increasing while the products are also becoming obsolete fairly quickly. This may not seem like a big issue for the reseller because they are able to sell it anyhow. But the problem that arises is that the price they sell at is lesser than the original value. This leads to the loss of value of the stocks in

Every reseller and distributor should be insured on its trade receivables.

If they are not, then they are not exploiting everything they should from the business. They should outsource all the risk management, assessing and monitoring, through a credit insurer.”

Massimo Falcioni, CEO, Middle East Countries, Coface

the channel, which creates liquidity problems.”

Needless to say, this also affects margins in the channel. Parallel to the traditional reselling channels, there are many resellers reselling stock at a low price, which is competing with the traditional distribution channels. “This is also creating complexity for the distributors to manage correctly and protect the value of the resellers.

“The other reason is around the currency, the fall of the Euro is a new opportunity to buy mobiles and devices in Europe and

resell in this part of the world. This is changing the geography of purchasing,” adds Falcioni.

For a problem like this, only a collective solutions model will help in resolving it. While adopting a cautious approach is one way, what more can channel players do to overcome this challenge?

Hesham Tantawi, VP, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, Asbis, says, “If distributors manage their partners well then there are no credit issues. Also, partners need to stop internal trading to better the situation. Government

If distributors manage their partners well then there are no credit issues. Also, partners need to stop internal trading to better the situation.

Government support is also an important factor in such situations.”

Hesham Tantawi, VP, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, Asbis Middle East

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april 2015 Reseller Middle East

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support is also an important factor, how aggressive the measures are to protect those affected from bad debts.”

Narayanan says, “The traditional mode of giving 100 percent advance payment is fading out and every organisation seeks to ensure full performance before releasing payments.

Hence, there is a lot of rigidity that prevails in the market today when it comes to giving credit.”

But at the end of the day, it is a responsibility that all the stakeholders need to take seriously.

Rughwani says, “A joint effort can go a long way in trying to control credit fraud. It is not possible to completely eradicate credit fraud but it can surely be controlled. Transparency among the channel players is very important and is the first step in this direction. Players need to do business vigilantly and be cautious. Overstocking and forced sales should be avoided, which will further help. Also, by cooperating

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Credit challenges

with an organisation like ours, where we can take up initiatives and help in doing business, which will be profitable to all concerned.”

Often, the industry expects to have better information-sharing processes in place, so that defaulters can be identified from an early stage. But it is important to understand at what levels this should be done.

Tantawi adds, “Distributors do share information among ourselves, however, as a distributor, I have invested into the information obtained from sources such as banks and government, this is valuable information. We are not going to share this with the second tier customers or partners.

Information-sharing has to be among the lenders.”

Agreeing that credit fraud cannot be completely eliminated, Narayanan says, “Having a multilayered security strategy in place is the basis to have this issue in control.

There should be a first level control, followed by a regulatory or compliance system in place. Even though new ways of payments are evolving, such as online, mobile POS, contactless-enabled cards and mobile NFC, yet there are also regulatory and compliance measures coming in to play. These along with anti-fraud tools can combat frauds to a major extent.”

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april 2015 Reseller Middle East

Transparency among the channel players is very important and is the first step in this direction. Players need to do business vigilantly and be cautious. Overstocking and forced sales should be avoided, which will further help.”

Shailendra Rughwani, CEO, DCG

With addition to these measures, insuring products is another solution that can aid the channel in a big way.

As of today, according to Falcioni, resellers are not insuring as they should.

“It is a matter of culture of understanding the risk of non-payment. I think the problem is that everybody prefers to risk rather than to protect. We have registered a few runaway cases last year.

These were floats, which are not covered by credit insurers. However, there are other situations, where companies can go bankrupt and cases of delayed payments, both of which are covered by credit insurers. At the moment, the penetration is low of resellers availing these features.”

The education and awareness levels of trade credit benefits continue to be low in the industry today.

“What resellers are not fully aware of is that they could fund their activity discounting the trade receivables with a bank, provided the receivables are insured. The insured

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receivables could be the immediate cash entry and can fund the working capital of the distributors and resellers and help in managing the liquidity issue.”

Also, another factor preventing channel players from insuring is the fact that they know the people they are trading with, functioning on a basis of personal trust. However, there have been cases over the years, where established players have defaulted on payments, because of market volatility.

Falcioni adds, “Every reseller and distributor should be insured on its trade receivables. If they are not, then they are not exploiting everything they should from the business.

They should outsource all the risk management, assessing and monitoring, through a credit insurer.

This is the safest and cost effective way to be in the business with peace of mind and no surprises.

“And simultaneously, in order to face the challenge of 2015 of lack of liquidity,

they should also do a second step, insure and inform their banks about the policies they have and request additional funding based on the insured trade receivables.”

Narayanan is positive that the credit situation will be addressed in a better fashion over the next few years as channel players become more aware and educated on policies and measures.

“Middle East is a vibrant market, despite the political tension it is undoubtedly the region’s one of the fastest growing markets, with massive investment opportunities.

There are investors coming in because of the strong infrastructure facilities, lifestyle trends, regulation practices and access to opportunities. Hence, with all this happening it is evident that growth is taking place, for which several anti-fraud techniques are evolving ceaselessly. Compliance and overall security strategies are slowly being focused upon.”

e date: Save th E 2015, M E DISTRE 4th May, 1 o t h t 2 1 2015

DISTREE ME 2015

Event

Effective meetings Farouk Hemraj, Director and Co-Founder, DISTREE Events, runs Reseller ME through the new features attendees can expect from DISTREE ME 2015, scheduled to take place from 12th to 14th May, 2015 in Abu Dhabi.

The Internet of Technology (IoT) wave has been one of the key market trends since the beginning of the year.

Smart solutions have crept into every product category and has opened the door of opportunities for the industry players.

Increasingly, we are seeing that the trend is trickling down to the retail level, where retailers are now able to have intelligent one-to-one conversations, armed with a repository of information about each customer.

DISTREE Middle East 2015 aims to reflect the industry transformation and offers a common platform for buyers and retailers to come together and have impactful discussions. In its 11th edition, the event will take place from 12th to 14th May 2015 at Fairmount Bab Al Bahr, Abu Dhabi.

Farouk Hemraj, Director and Co-Founder, DISTREE Events, says, “There will be few changes in terms of technology products, this year. Over the last year, we have observed the growth of some categories while others have slowed down. We aim at bringing answers and helping retailers to move in the right direction. New market opportunities such as smart home solutions and wearables are reshaping the industry.”

“IoT is influencing the way the products are sold. We are also observing the digitisation of the retail space where customers can be identified as they walk into the shop. This enables customised promotion opportunities, which will be more effective. Today, there is a whole new area of interaction that is happening between the retailer and customer, not only online but also at the shop level.”

Keeping in line with the evolving market trends, attendees of DISTREE Middle East can look forward to new areas – Smart Technologies and Connected Commerce – in this edition.

“Connected products cannot be sold just from the shelf, customers need to be educated. So the question is how vendors, distributors and retailers can make this market happen? This also poses as a threat for traditional retail because in the past, electronics and technology products were sold only to a single channel.

Today electronics is invariably present in all sectors from consumer, healthcare, sports to education. To give an example, pharmacies will now become a channel for electronics product though they are health related.”

The profiles of the retailers are changing now, he adds.

Farouk Hemraj, Director and Co-Founder, DISTREE Events As e-commerce is increasingly gaining market share within the region, it will be an important topic at the event.

“We try to bring a perspective of how e-commerce works in other parts of the world and how it can be done here.”

The content of the event is customised to each region, by talking to significant players in the market to understand issues and challenges present.

The market is going through many changes, says Hemraj.

“There is tremendous pressure on traditional players present in the PC category and we see emergence of several new players in the smartphone arena. This will lead to even higher competition, especially in the lower end. We are trying to reflect these market trends in the variety of vendors that will be present at the event. There will be some new brands from the smartphone category as well.”

This year, exhibitors and attendees can keep a track of their scheduled meetings, seminar timings, details of workshops and general information through the event’s new mobile app.

www.resellerme.com

Quick view Event: DISTREE Middle East 2015 Venue: Fairmount Bab Al Bahr, Abu Dhabi Format: Pre-scheduled, one-on-one meetings New tracks: Smart Technologies and Connected Commerce Highlights: GfK keynote speech, Retail Voices – a retail panel discussion Sponsors: Quantum - Platinum sponsor, CTRONIQ and Mercantile Silver sponsors

“We have tested this in Monte Carlo and it was successful. 85 percent of the participants were using it as compared to the 5 percent we had last year.

Everything is mobile now.

We have to rethink the way to interact with customers and suppliers through the mobile app.”

Reseller Middle East april 2015

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vendor focus

Vmware

Boosting partnerships At VMware’s Partner Exchange 2015, the vendor announced updates for its partner network.

Reeman Ansari, Manager Partner Organisation, MENA, VMware, elaborates on the finer details.

An annual affair at VMWare, Partner Exchange 2015 announced several partner programme updates for the year. The virtualisation and cloud infrastructure vendor introduced Partner Professional Services programme, vCloud Air, which enables Managed Service Provider opportunities and new competencies around software-defined data centre and mobility management along with updates on its partner network.

Reeman Ansari, Manager Partner Organisation, MENA, VMware, says, “The Partner Professional Services Programme enables consulting partners to sell and deliver their own services engagements.

This programme will be available to a limited number of pilot partners in the first half of FY15, and is expected to expand in the second half of FY15. Eligibility will initially be focused on partners that have demonstrated expertise in selling and delivering softwaredefined data center solutions.”

As part of the programme benefits, partners can access experienced Software-Defined Data Centre (SDDC) architects and experts without any cost.

“In addition to training discounts and access to VMware architects, customerfocused labs will be offered to partners to accelerate time to self-sufficiency. Partners will be empowered with services sales and delivery IP that

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Reeman Ansari, Manager Partner Organisation, MENA, VMware has been tried and tested to deliver predictable outcomes in customer implementations,” added Ansari.

Through the company’s vCloud Air Network Programme, partners can expand to include MSP opportunities for vCloud Air Network service providers.

The two new solution competencies that partners can now avail include mobility management solution and Software-Defined Data Centre competency (SDDC). While the mobility management solution is available with immediate effect, partners will have access to SDDC in Q2.

“The mobility management solution competency provides in-depth AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management technology training within a programme framework.

Partners achieving the

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competency are eligible for solution rewards rebates when they sell AirWatch products and the VMware Workspace Suite help partners accelerate their ROI,” explains Ansari.

The SDDC competency encompasses elements of the company’s networking, software-defined storage, server virtualisation, management operations and management automation solutions competencies, and rewards partners who have invested in all five competencies.

Additionally, partners are also required to have a minimum of two VCAP or VCIX certifications in the SDDC area and complete additional sales training focused on delivering the vendor’s vision and IT Outcomes. She adds, “Partners achieving the SDDC solution competency are eligible for solution rewards rebates.”

According to Ansari, one of the ways partners can profit with SDDC is by increasing their profitability and upselling to vSphere with operations management.

“After a customer’s environment has been successfully virtualised with vSphere, the next logical step is to upsell to vSphere with Operations Management (vSOM). It offers a unified console that is purpose-built for the virtualisation platform. More importantly, vSOM delivers monitoring capabilities and analytics to track performance, manage capacity and speed up problem resolution. By showing customers the current state of their IT, you can leverage this information to create new selling opportunities.”

As 80 percent of VMware’s customers have only vSphere, partners also have an opportunity to offer a free 30-day trial of vSOM with a vSphere Optimisation Assessment, says Ansari.

Partners can also combine the power of cloud computing with the flexibility of virtualisation to gain a competitive advantage.

“Our vCloud Suite, integrated for building and managing a vSphere-based private cloud, can help customers who have complex data centres. Designed to simplify deployment and operation of our partners’ customer’s private cloud, vCloud Suite gives customers the ability to move at the speed of business,’ explains Ansari.

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Parrot

RME RATING

Parrot Zik 2.0

Parrot’s Zik 2.0 is built for high performance and offers a good user experience.

When a device costs as much as the Parrot Zik 2.0 does, which is around AED 1600, there are great expectations from it, which might not be met always. From the onset, it feels like the Zik 2.0 has been built for not only high performance but also to impress.

If you are a casual listener looking for a great sound experience, you have certainly bought one of the best options available in the market today. The 2.0 indicates that it is Parrot’s second edition of the Zik series. The company has done a commendable job in making this offering better than its predecessor. Having teamed up with the French designer, Philippe Starck, Parrot has been able to create a device, which looks elegant and premium.

The leather that has been used for the ear cups is rich in both feel and look and fits snugly with provision to adjust the head band depending on the users’ comfort levels.

The only negative aspect was that the response time of the touch controls on the right ear cup was slow at certain times. However, it doesn’t have a major impact on the overall user experience. And besides, users can also answer phone calls with the device.

In addition to sporting a sleek design, the device also offers a good sound experience. Unlike traditional headphones, the Zik 2.0 comes equipped with a rechargeable battery that powers it and a Bluetooth connection that can be paired to a smartphone via the Zik software. The interface of the Zik 2.0 application is simple and easy to use. Through the software, users can control the main features of the device, which includes noise cancellation and concert hall.

The interface has a simple 5-page setup with each page allowing users to control or adjust noise cancellation, equalizer, concert hall setup and presets. The device’s built-in microphones give access to users to control the amount of noise cancellation as preferred, which allows better flexibility. The equalizer is unique in the way it is accessed; users can move the central touch point in different directions with a circle that allows them to adjust to different sound profiles such as pop, vocal, crystal, club, punchy and deep. With a simple swipe to the right, the Parrot Concert Hall can be accessed, through which users can control how music exits the headphones in relation to the ear, creating a variety of effects within the

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basic setup of either a Silent Room, Living Room, Jazz Club or a Concert Hall. This feature adds great depth to the quality of the sound. However, what makes the Zik 2.0 stand out from the rest is the Downloadable Presets.

There are several free downloads available and those users who wish to achieve a more customised experience can mix their own mids, highs and lows, to suit to individual tastes and preferences.

The battery life is around 8 hours and it also has the ‘flight mode’, which increases the battery life to almost 18 hours. When in flight mode, the device shuts off the Bluetooth connection and the headset has to be used with the provided cables.

You do lose the advantage the Zik 2.0 software brings to the table but that’s not a big compromise when considering it can be used for a much longer time.

All in all the second version from Parrot is a great buy, both for build and sound quality. The downloadable (iOS and Android) software plays a big role in getting the sound experience up there with the big boys.

High Performance NEXT GENERATION FIREWALL for the Enterprise Your network is constantly evolving. Changes in user mobility, devices and applications are placing new demands on it in terms of performance and flexibility.

Fortinet’s FortiGate 1500D Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) is specifically designed to deal with these changes.

Whether in the data center or at the perimeter of your network, the FortiGate 1500D meets the dual challenge of high performance and security effectiveness.

The FortiGate 1500D was recently tested by NSS Labs and received the coveted “Recommended” while demonstrating industry best value of all of the products tested.

Give your network the performance and protection that it needs with the FortiGate 1500D. For more information, please visit fortinet.com.

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Samsung launches Galaxy S6 & Galaxy S6 edge regionally

Precise Group introduces XYZprinting Precise Group has announced the arrival of da Vinci 1.0 and da Vinci 2.0, which are 3D desktop printers produced by XYZprinting, a Taiwanese-based global technology brand dedicated to bring costeffective 3D printing to the world.

The da Vinci 1.0 and 2.0 is a plug-n-play 3D printer with a large build size designed specifically for students, DIY and hobbyist who have a keen interest in 3D printing.

With no assembly required, a smart design, unique safety features and easy-to-use cloud system, the da Vinci printers have been designed for a 3D printing experience making it user-friendly across all aspects of the process. da Vinci’s all enclosed design protects users from the high temperatures required to print and ensures printing byproducts aren’t released outside the printing area. It also features an open-source cloud database with thousands of free 3D models consumers can customise as desired. With easy-to-install filament cartridges available in 12 colors, users can easily refill the printer or switch colors.

The da Vinci 1.0 retail price is 3,495 AED and da Vinci 2. 0 is priced at 4,495 AED and comes with 12 months warranty.

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The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge were introduced to the region by Samsung Electronics at the World Tour event held in Dubai last month.

The Galaxy S6 edge features the world’s first curved display on both sides. Its glass body, made from Corning Gorilla Glass 4, is available in an array of colorful jewel tones, including White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz and Green Emerald.

Both devices are equipped with a bright and fast front and rear camera. The F1.9 lenses and high resolution sensors on both front (5MP) and rear (16MP) cameras enhance the image quality in a smartphone, even in the dark, said the company. In addition, Auto Real-time High Dynamic Range (HDR), Smart Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and IR Detect White Balance provide advanced light sensitivities and crisp camera solutions.

Furthermore, a new ‘Quick Launch’

feature give users fast, direct access to the camera from any screen in just 0.7 seconds by simply double clicking the home key button.

With fully embedded WPC and PMA certified wireless charging technology, they also sport incredibly fast wired charging, providing about 4 hours of usage after only 10 minutes of charging.

The thin (6.8 mm/7.0mm edge) and lightweight (138g /132g edge) Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge features 14nm mobile processor with 64-bit platform, new LPDDR4 memory system and UFS 2.0 flash memory. In addition, the 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED screen offers users the highest pixel density of 577ppi.

ASUS launches Transformer Book T300 Chi ASUS has unveiled its new Transformer Book T300 Chi, which is a razor-thin 2-in-1 Windows detachable, offering the convenience of a powerful laptop that transforms seamlessly into a handy tablet whenever needed, said the company.

Transformer Book T300 Chi is fast but silent, featuring a fanless design powered by up to Intel Core M processors for high performance that gives users the freedom to work and play with effortless mobility.

It also features a bright, crisp and clear IPS display with up to WQHD 2560 x 1440 resolution for detailed and vivid visuals.

The highly-ergonomic keyboard is connected via Bluetooth, with a working range of up to 20m.The Transformer Book

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T300 Chi uses in-plane switching (IPS) displays enhanced with ASUS TruVivid technology, giving wide viewing angles with amazing clarity and brightness. And with up to WQHD (2560 x 1440) resolution and a class-leading pixel density of 235ppi, users will enjoy incredibly crisp and detailed visuals. The Transformer Book T300 Chi features USB 3.0 connectivity, via a Type B USB port, for data transfers that are up to ten times faster than USB 2.0.

The ASUS Transformer Book T300 Chi is now available at leading retailers across the region with an RRP of 2,699 AED.

26 - 28 APRIL 2015

Dubai World Trade Centre

Security Innovation for a Connected Future

Co-located event

GULF ENTERPRISE MOBILITY EXHIBITION & CONFERENCE

Register your team today to transform your organisation from smart to secure

Give your security strategy this year’s most crucial upgrade with insights from an unrivalled international speaker lineup and a world-leading conference agenda designed to help you secure connected environments

SECURITY MASTERMINDS HEADLINE GISEC

Daniel J. Lohrmann

Ex Chief Security Officer, State of Michigan Chief Strategist & CSO, Security Mentor

NEW

Safe Cities Briefing Day

6000

Attendees

Bruce Schneier

150+

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MSEE, Chief Information Security Officer, Ministry of Defence, Jordan

CYBER SECURITY

Guard your critical assets from evolving cyber crime

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Thwart sophisticated malware with clever tactics

ENTERPRISE SECURITY

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Upgrade your corporate environment from smart to safe

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Belkin unveils NetCam HD+ The Belkin NetCam HD+ uses a wideangle glass lens to provide details that are crisp and clear, where users can view their home surroundings, right on the smartphone or tablet. With the ability to view unlimited live video from anywhere in wide-angle, 720P HD, users will never miss an important moment.

Users can feel safer with the movement-detection notifications send through emails. The NetCam HD+ also offers night vision, secure Wi-Fi streaming, easy setup and push to talk. Controlled by the free NetCam App, it can be up and running in no time. For even more features, users can subscribe to Cloud+. Subscription service allows users to record, store and access video on the cloud. The package includes NetCam HD+, quick install guide and power supply. It also comes with a two year limited warranty.

Aruba 7000 series Cloud Services Controllers Aruba 7000 series Cloud Services Controllers eliminate the time, cost and complexity of managing disparate singlepurpose point products in the branch, while enabling businesses to extract more value from existing cloud-based unified communication and firewall investments, said the company.

The product features a Zero-Touch Provisioning, which eliminates the time, cost and complexity of lighting-up branch office networks. It triples the resiliency as it supports two Ethernet broadband WAN connections and a 3G/4G LTE cellular back-up link for assured business continuity in virtually all conditions. Branches that use certificate-based 802.1X RADIUS with EAP-TLS get uninterrupted service even if RADIUS servers are unreachable. It is equipped with a programmable policy enforcement firewall and delivers context-aware control to a variety of branch networking requirements, namely:

Web Content Filtering – Provides web content filtering to create contextual policies based on web site reputation.

Microsoft Lync Mobile Unified Communications – Automatically integrates with Lync Server 2013 SDN API and fingerprints hosted Lync Online traffic for a better user experience across the WAN. Integration with Palo Alto Networks Firewalls – Automatically extends threat protection to every branch, for mobile devices and users by context, with no additional hardware or software.

Performance Gains for Cloudbased Applications – WAN optimization and application visibility and control with AppRF technology improve the performance of business-critical apps in the cloud.

Advanced Routing – Implements context-based routing across dual Ethernet WAN and LTE WAN links to preserve bandwidth for prioritized, business-critical traffic.

Wacom launches full HD resolution pen display Wacom presents the full HD resolution pen display –DTU-1141 for private and public business for viewing and filling out full-sized eDocuments and signing them electronically.

The vivid 10.6-inch colour LCD of the new pen display product supports multiple resolutions, up to full HD (1920x1080), providing a great platform for virtually any business software application, said the company. Screen quality allows customers to clearly see the contents of a document, while the hardened, anti-glare surface ensures the display’s paper-like feel and ability to operate in different lighting conditions. RSA/AES encryption is included to ensure transactions are performed safely and securely.

The DTU-1141’s small footprint makes it suitable for most

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counter or point of sale areas. An integrated stand sets the display at a 15 degree angle and the device can also be positioned completely flat on a counter or desk should the need arise. The unit features an integrated pen compartment to secure the pen when not in use and a pen tether is included to prevent loss. In addition, there is a security slot that can be used to prevent theft of the device in public situations.

The new pen display operates as a regular LCD monitor and is easily integrated into standard IT infrastructures. When used with signature software, it becomes an electronic solution for viewing, filling out and signing documents already common in many industries around the globe. It connects to PCs with a single USB cable, helping to remove clutter.

Commonly used functions such as page-up or page-down can be easily programmed onto the four customisable, touch-activated ExpressKeys to facilitate smooth customer interaction. The cordless and battery-free pen features 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity.

26 - 28 APRIL 2015

Dubai World Trade Centre GULF ENTERPRISE MOBILITY EXHIBITION & CONFERENCE

MOBILITY INNOVATION FOR A CONNECTED FUTURE

Co-located with:

Register your team today to empower your enterprise in a ‘Mobile First’ world Cut through the noise and learn how to overcome your challenges. Discuss, debate and position your organisation to succeed through mobility innovation.

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Alcatel-Lucent presents Smart DeskPhone

The new Alcatel-Lucent 8088 Smart DeskPhone helps employees be more productive in the workplace with new visual communication and collaboration capabilities.

The device is part of the OpenTouch 2.1 update, which delivers a personalised connected experience for users.

The OpenTouch Conversation collaboration tool interface is now available on the 8088 Smart DeskPhone. With OpenTouch Conversation users can easily navigate between workstations, tablets, smartphones and the 8088 Smart DeskPhone, to use the most appropriate device for their needs without losing context or interaction in the conversation.

Visual communications help bridge employees, customers and partners to content and help break communication borders within a global environment. The new 8088 Smart DeskPhone includes advanced features for intuitive and comfortable access to wideband audio and HD video conversations.

It is ideal for meeting rooms, transforming them into video conferencing rooms that any user can actually enjoy as doing video is now as simple as a phone call, according to the company.

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Synology releases DiskStation Manager 5.2 Beta Synology has announced the beta release of DiskStation Manager (DSM) 5.2, the latest version of its NAS operating system.

DSM 5.2 is built to make managing a private cloud even more effective, secure, and intuitive.

The integration of Docker allows developers to ship, and users to run, a vast number of applications on Synology NAS with minimal time and resources needed. SSO Server lets users gain access to all services in the same domain with only one single log-in. File Station now can be connected with public clouds so that users can browse and manage files in them without taking up bandwidth.

The smart polling technology dramatically increases Cloud Station’s performance while at the same time reducing network traffic and server overhead. The number of file versions is also customisable for each shared folder.

The new file browsing feature allows users restore a single file, instead of an entire shared folder, from past backups.

They can also automatically rotate old backup data or iSCSI LUN snapshots when designated quota is reached or even benefit from the Smart Recycle policy.

Download Station’s new ‘preview’ feature gives users a sneak peek of what’s being downloaded, saving time and bandwidth from misleading torrents.

AppArmor extends its reach to profiles for packages to effectively restrict malicious software from accessing unauthorised system resources. The support of SMB 3 encryption enables Synology NAS to secure file transfers to Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, reducing the possibility of tampering and eavesdropping when data moves across a company’s network.

Plustek announces eScan A150 standalone network scanner

Document, film and book scanner manufacturer, Plustek has launched its new eScan A150, a standalone network scanner, which is priced at $699.

The eScan A150 has a built-in 7-inch LCD touchscreen with a smartphone-like Apollo interface. Its intuitive user interface (UI) makes it easy for customers to use.

Once the oversize Apollo button has been touched, the scanned thumbnail image shows up for a quick review. Fast

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Edit option allows quick tweaks such as crop, rotate and contrast. As for sending, Apollo’s touchscreen offers a variety of destinations including: all the popular cloud providers email (fax), FTP, mobile device, PC, network folder, USB drive and even to multiple destinations.

Apollo master button is surrounded by four setup planet buttons for easy setting changes from a single screen. It is also Wi-Fi and Ethernet enabled. It has a scan speed of 15 page-per-minute and 30 images-per-min in duplex mode.

The Plustek eScan A150 is available from authorised Plustek distributor, DOX Technologies.

3rdJune 2015

Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai, UAE

Reseller Middle East’s annual Partner Conference and Partner Excellence Awards pay tribute to the achievements of the industry players in the regional channel ecosystem.

Nominations for the highly anticipated 2015 Partner Excellence Awards are now open and run until 30th April 2015. There are 4 categories with 29 awards up for grabs.

For details about specific awards and criteria, please visit our website.

NOMINATE NOW www.resellerme.com/awards SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES Rajashree R Kumar Publishing Director raj.ram@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9131 +971 50 173 9987

Merle Carrasco Sales Manager merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9161 +971 55 118 1730

NOMINATION ENQUIRIES Jeevan Thankappan Group Editor jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9133 +971 56 415 6425

Janees Reghelini Assistant Editor-Reseller ME janees.reghelini@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9128 +971 50 459 5293

Ankit Shukla Director of Sales Business and Technology Division +971 4 440 9111 +971 55 257 2807 REGISTRATION ENQUIRIES CPI Events Team bitevents@cpimediagroup.com

2014 Sponsors

KING OF TABLETS www.touchmatepc.com

Column

Channel surfing Reseller Middle East’s assistant editor offers her thoughts on the Middle Eastern technology channel.

At the1969 CES edition , the key theme was around radio and television.

First edition of CES in 1967

Participants and visitors registering at CES, 1969.

Source: theverge.com and mashable.com

Janees Reghelini, Assistant Editor, Reseller ME

Gizmo talk

As the advances in technology transforms our lives rapidly, it is interesting to observe how it transcends across categories. Before I get more into that, the other day I came across some old pictures (which I absolutely had to share here) of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Oh, boy we sure have come a long way.

In a span of less than 50 years, the industry has achieved more than what was thought possible.

But I want to focus on how retailers across categories should optimise on the opportunities technology is presenting. Today if a customer needs to buy an electronic unit, he is spoilt for choice. Gone are the days when we had clearly defined electronic retailers. Today retail stores

across verticals such as healthcare, sports and lifestyle have electronicrelated products. And vice versa as well, traditional electronic retailers are expanding their product lines to include other kinds. In such an environment, retailers need to be at the forefront to enhance the customer experience. Next month, we have a feature on omni-channel retailing, which will be a good read. But at the moment, we are eons away from achieving that seamless shopping experience. Regional retailers should focus on integrating their systems and developing an ever-present communication channel to connect with their customers instantly.

Customers demand immediate and hassle-free help and attention. Today’s

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customer do not have the patience to go through a call centre or be the target of irrelevant marketing.

Customisation and integration will be two aspects regional retailers should concentrate on, going ahead.

At Reseller Middle East, we have some exciting months ahead of us.

You will see us up and about next month at DISTREE Middle East 2015.

I hope to meet some of you there.

And in June, we have our coveted Partner Excellence Awards and Conference, which will be bigger and better than last edition. We aim to raise the bar each year, and reflect industry trends and recognise best efforts.

Look forward to all those nominations in the next few weeks.

To learn more, contact us at contact@laserfiche.com or call +961-1-294504 x 1176.

VISIT US AT

GISEC 2015 Dubai World Trade Centre April 26 - April 28, 2015 Sheikh Rashid Hall Stand # SR-F50

www.mindware.ae