The Integrator - East Africa

The gathering momentum There is a considerable momentum now in the ICT markets of Africa and in part initiated by the entry of more brands and distributors looking to do business in Africa. Surely, the arrival of more companies that are extending their operations from other regions, will mean that there would be significant investments happening in these markets.

These would include new offices, warehouses, recruitments of local staff etc. These are perhaps the best of times for quality IT, sales and backoffice talents in the local market.

Kenya is largely seen as the best suited to emerge as the hub of the region and indications are the country is surely on track to keep that promise.

The neighbouring markets including Tanzania and Ethiopia as well as other countries are also on the cusp of a shift in momentum. While there are obviously challenges, most of those challenges might fade away when a considerable wave of trade investments come in from the increasing number of companies that are now seeking to set up some sort of direct presence or operations.

For long, several vendors and distributors had shied away from the challenges that confront them in these emerging markets but it is likely that they will need the comforts of the promises that these markets offer in terms of additional sales to boost or sustain profitability. However, it will have to be a win-win situation as companies will be expected to demonstrate their commitment to the local markets and establish full fledged support for customers in the region.

R. Narayan Managing Editor

Publisher: Vivek Sharma Managing Editor: R. Narayan Art Director: Faiz Ahmed Sales Director: Alishan Zaidi Sr. Sales Manager: R. Subramanyan Business Development Manager: Mallika Rego Sales Coordinator: Smitha Jithesh

Regulars News Eyetech Stats & trends Pg 6 - Distiview

Content

Editorial

Accelerating growth

Mitesh Shah, Director, Mitsumi Distribution speaks to the Integrator about the company’s growth and directions ahead

Pg 8 - Feature

Strategic expansions

Despec has in recent years expanded its business into the emerging markets of Africa and simultaneously consolidated its operations in the Middle East.

Pg 10 – Feature

Ready for the next leap

Touchmate continues to make a strong statement as a brand of growing appeal and is vying for even honours with MNC brands.

Pg 13-Distiview

In the expansive mode

Matthew Rudd, Regional Manager at Comztek speaks about the company’s plans accelerate growth and expansion

Pg 14 –SIscope

The AV specialist

Rajesh Lakhani, MD at Sight and Sound Limited speaks to The Integrator about the company’s focus areas.

Pg 16- Cover Focus

Driving momentum in Africa

Alongside spearheading Technology innovation, Intel continues to grow its focus in the regional markets as we find out in a conversation with Omar Bajaber, Kenya Country Manager at Intel

Pg 18 - Distiview

An extensive focus

Munir Bharwani, CEO and MD at red Dot distribution about the company’s steady emergence and consolidation as a prominent distribution house and as well as its expansion into additional territories

Pg 20 –point2point

A growing focus

Sachin Jadhav, Territory Manager, WECA for Avaya speaks exclusively to VAR Magazine in the following about the company’s and partners strategies in Africa

Pg 22 –point2point

Conjuring the blueprint for success

Jones-Wu, GM at OPTI UPS, a leading manufacturer of UPS and power backup solutions discusses the company’s strategy for East Africa

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May 2012 | The Integrator

3

News

Technology, the key to Development, says IBM IBM recently announced the launch of a report entitled “A Vision of a Smarter City: How Nairobi Can Lead the Way into a Prosperous and Sustainable Future that highlights transportation, energy and public safety as three critical areas to address in line with the growth of Nairobi’s more economically empowered and mobile younger generation.

It outlines how Nairobi should turn to the latest technologies and global best practices to transform itself into a smarter and more efficient city as it strives to cope with an expanding population and become a major African business hub.

“With increased urbanization and substantial economic opportunities, major African cities like Nairobi are coming under more pressure than ever to transform,” said Tony Mwai, Country General Manager, IBM East Africa. “For Nairobi to reach its full potential as a regional powerhouse, new technologies and approaches are required to modernize the city’s systems and to make it a better place to live, work and do business.”

Mindware looks at expansion Mindware, one of the leading distributors in MENA and one of the participants at VAR Conclave held during the IT Expo in Nairobi, Kenya last year, is looking to expand its business in Africa. Mindware is organized into 3 business units which is Hardware & Components , Business Solutions and Networking Solutions The major brands in components are Intel, Kingston & HIS. “We have always kept a balanced strategy between Volume Distribution and Value Added distribution. Intel has been one of our historical brand and long term strategic Partners in the components business but the hardware space has been expanded with DELL products , Graphic Cards (HIS) and memory Kingston,” says Mario Gay, GM at Mindware.

The company believes there is great potential in the assembler business in many African markets and therefore is keen to expand its components business in East Africa. The distributor will focus on opportunities largely in the commercial space.

According to Anees Rehman, Business unit head of Components,” After Intel had introduced its MEA (Middle East Africa) Plus go to market strategy for distributors, there is a vast opportunity that we are able to look at. We are therefore excited to kickstart business in some of the faster growing market territories like Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana etc. ”

Kuza Biashara wins Kenya’s Vision 2030 Innovation Award The Connected Kenya summit came to an exciting end on 5th April as Kuza Biashara emerged top to clinch one of the Nation’s top innovation awards. The Vision 2030 ICT innovation award is part of the Connected Kenya Summit that took place from the 2nd to 5th April 2012. The purpose of these awards, started in 2011, is to “Recognize and Celebrate Kenyans who have developed ICT solutions that drive economic growth and social development as outlined in Kenya’s Vision 2030. The innovation awards were the creation of the Kenya ICT Board and the Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat. All applicants for the awards were required to be registered as a business in Kenya and have had their product in the Kenyan market for at least six months. The applications were then reviewed by a team of independent judges representing the ICT private sector, academia, public sector and civil society.

Over 400 applications for different categories from all over the country. Kuza Biashara won the award as the Best Innovation in the Education and Training sector, which was the most hotly contested category. Sriram Bharatam, Founder and Chief Mentor of Kuza Biashara was on hand to accept the award along with Juliet Gateri, Operations Head of Kuza Biashara.

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The Integrator | May 2012

WD completes acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage

GerabSys aims for Africa inroads

Western Digital has completed its acquisition of Viviti Technologies Ltd. (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies), effective Mar. 8, 2012, for $3.9 billion in cash and 25 million shares of WDC common stock. The new WD will operate with WD Technologies (WD) and HGST as wholly owned subsidiaries.

Aggregated revenues of the two companies in 2011 were $15 billion. As chief executive officer of WD, John Coyne heads up the new office of the CEO, with Steve Milligan as president, Tim Leyden as chief operating officer and Wolfgang Nickl as chief financial officer.

Gerab Systems Technology (Gerabsys), a value added distributor of LAN, mLAN’s, SAN’s, WAN, WLAN and WPAN networking products in the Middle East is now embarking on an expansion into the CIS and African markets. Operating since 1987, Gerabsys’s corporate office is located in Dubai and export office is in Jebel Ali.

A recently updated HDD forecast by IDC predicts industry revenue growth at a CAGR of 8.6 % per year from 2011 to 2012.

"With a significantly broadened customer base and expanded resources, the new WD is in a strong position to seize the growth opportunity in stored digital content," said Coyne. "We have acquired a strong presence in the traditional enterprise market, substantially increased our presence in the industry's fastest-growing segments-cloud and mobility-and improved our capability to address new market initiatives such as enterprise SSD, storage solutions for small business and low-profile HDDs and hybrid drives for Ultrabooks. As a result, WD is better positioned than ever for success."

Electronic Cargo Tracking System by Techno Brain for Revenue Authorities Techno Brain, a software development company in Africa, has announced the official launch of Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) at Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) by Commissioner General, Harry Kitilya at Dar es Salaam.

Techno Brain was selected by TRA to provide them with ECTS solution that will enable them to track and monitor movement of trucks, identify illegal diversion of goods, increase truck turnaround time, improve government revenue, enhance transparency & transit times and ensure safety of trucks & uninterrupted movement of goods within the region and the neighboring countries. After making a detailed study of TRA’s requirement, Techno Brain has successfully implemented Transit Truck Monitoring System (TTMS), a specialized Electronic Cargo Tracking solution at their headquarters in Dar es Salaam.

“We are delighted to work with Tanzania Revenue Authority on this challenging project. We would look forward to provide our Electronic Cargo Tracking solution developed in partnership with our technology partner, ABAX International to transporters and government authorities across Africa in coming days,” said, Rajeev Agarwal, IT Consulting & Business Automation Services Practice Director, Techno Brain.

“We are now looking at firm expansion into new emerging markets as well as expand the range of products we offer. We want to extend the DataCom brand we own into other categories like accessories and into laptops, PCs etc. We want to move this range into countries like the CIS and African markets,” says Francy Joseph, CEO of Gerabsys.

Syed Anwar, VP sales for MENA and CIS at GerabSys says, “We will be distributing other products like servers, PCs from brands. We have concluded discussions with DTK for distributing their tablets. We are also doing some sub-distribution at the moment in Africa markets but have larger plans including introduction of our own range of products in categories like flash drives, accessories, portable media players etc under the Datacom brand."

Francy Joseph, CEO, Gerabsys.

May 2012 | The Integrator

5

Distiview

Mitsumi

Mitsumi is a leading distributor in the East Africa region and has been in operations for over 16 years. The company is now embarking on increasing the territorial coverage it does across the African markets.

Mitesh Shah, Director, Mitsumi Distribution speaks to the Integrator about the company’s growth and directions ahead

Accelerating growth Discuss your distribution portfolio and the markets of focus?

Mitsumi embarked on its journey in Africa 16 years ago with a core emphasis on growing the company’s PC business. We entered into the distribution business in 2009 and since then, we added distribution rights for leading brands like Dell, Toshiba, HP, Microsoft, Acer, Samsung, Benq and Tripplite.

We have classified our territories into four regions East, West, North and Southern Africa. The East & West Africa business has grown by over 50 % YoY. In 2012, the growth engine for Mitsumi will be North Africa.

We intend to seed the Southern African region over 2013. I envision Mitsumi as a world class company with great people contributing to the advancement of Africa.

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The Integrator | May 2012

Mitsumi has a first-mover advantage in Africa since the company was the first to establish a chain of in-country presence in these markets ranging from facilities like warehousing, stocking points and support service centers in 1996.

The company has operations in 12 countries in Africa. The market covered

by Mitsumi includes the East & West Africa. We distribute a wide range of products covering Computers, Data Centre, Storage, Security, Networking, Software and Hardware.

We have divided the business into 3 regions in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and DRC (East Africa). West Africa operations grew from Nigeria in 2009 to Ghana in 2008 and Ivory Coast in 2011. We intend to grow into Liberia and Cameroon this year. Southern

Africa operations constitute Zambia and Mozambique.

What are the most promising verticals in the markets you address?

We are currently consolidating our IT volume portfolio and look forward to strengthen our distribution arsenal with the introduction of VAD business to our portfolio in 2012. Telecom and security are booming segments with exciting new technologies on the horizon.

I believe cloud computing will be the core focus over three to five years and innovation and distribution practices will be key to differentiation thereby driving growth.

Do you also address value distribution?

Value distribution is a very significant

contributor to the bottom line. During the first three years in distribution, we had to prove ourselves and vendors needed to know that we were going to be serious about it. Recently, we have added Tripplite to our portfolio and we feel that they have some products that are unique in the market. I also feel, we have a great foundation and platform to take the value business to new heights with the addition of 3 major Value brands to our offering in Africa.

We will keep you abreast of the new and exciting developments in Mitsumi IT Distribution to grow the Value business in Africa.

Discuss the expansion/ consolidation plans for the current year?

I’m very optimistic in terms of market growth. We will be heavily pursuing growth around our areas of focus and I think that the rationalization and the capacity now open for Mitsumi is a key sign to all the vendors that we are looking at some major tie-ups to deploy our free capacity. We are targeting both organic and inorganic growth in 2012 and investing heavily in infrastructure and man power to realize our goal of bringing affordable technologies to Africa. I’m glad the vendors are listening and have now firmly taken notice of Mitsumi’s capabilities to provide both scale and reach to fortune 500 vendors. We will seed and ramp up Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius and Zimbabwe over 2013. Our main growth engine for the next 5 years is Southern and North Africa.

What are the current challenges in the East Africa market?

The unpredictable nature of the market had a significant impact on everyone’s business, so Mitsumi took this opportunity to restructure and refocus for growth going forward. We have drawn on our experience to focus on our product mix, market coverage and operational efficiencies to succeed in Africa market.

I see a situation where everyone wants to do and be everything, which doesn’t add any real value to the market. That’s

why Mitsumi is really focusing on where we can provide benefits to both resellers and vendors.

While the channel has rallied back to fend off the effects of the worst global recession key channel leaders expostulate success or failure in 2012 will largely depend on innovation, solutions selling and adoption of emerging technologies which will spur growth, profitability and boost the industry going forward.

I am very optimistic about 2012 as the IT sector shows healthy increases in government spend and increase in Africa. This will create major opportunities for the regional IT Channel.

Do you believe the markets are getting due attention from the vendors?

The demand for computers and computer-related products and services has registered a marked increase in Africa, due to the ongoing process of computerization that is sweeping through most East African countries at the moment.

Vendors are looking for solid growth in this region. They are investing heavily in East Africa to ensure that they can introduce cutting edge technologies business as availability and affordability is key for consolidating low hanging fruits into opportunities for creating sustainable growth.

Is the East Africa market price conscious? How does that influence your go to market strategy in terms of the product stocks you carry?

African market is price-sensitive market. African buyers are always on the lookout for high quality, competitively priced goods to meet their requirements.

As a distributor I believe, having incountry presence, right knowledge of product portfolio, in depth knowledge of market segment and high level of support both technical and sales will overcome this issue. This is vital for places like Africa where the market is growing and establishing a business is

often a long drawn process.

I believe we have to act locally, work locally and think globally.

Discuss some of the strengths you bring to market as a distributor?

Mitsumi has been present in Africa from 1996 and has since consolidated its presence in Africa YoY. We have 15 warehouses and 8 service centers and this is slated to grow to 18 warehouses and 11 service centers in Africa. We have a strategic warehouse located in Jebel Ali. More than 150 employees and subsidiaries and 12 locations ensure speedy, effective and professional service to resellers throughout Africa.

Mitsumi plays a vital role in the value chain, linking manufacturers of technology to thousands of resellers covering wide geographical territories.

In-country facilities and regional stocking points across the Africa markets catalysed the growth of the Volume Division business.

What are the channel initiatives that you do in the region?

Mitsumi channel initiatives are fundamentally different from those of other distributors. We are providing excellent leverage support services, delivery options and competitive pricing through discounts and rebates.

This will give our customers additional reason to do business with Mitsumi We have created different marketing campaigns and programs to educate partners. We recently concluded a Channel Event in Ethiopia. Over 80 Channel partners attended the event thereby rendering the event hugely successful. We had also run anti piracy campaigns that create awareness among Channel community to buy genuine products.

Mitsumi encourages and invites all resellers across Africa to partner with us for authorized channel business. We plan to hold blitz campaigns to educate resellers on the huge risks in dealing in grey and how to mitigate this challenge.

May 2012 | The Integrator

7

Feature

Despec

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania where it has its own teams transacting business through the local channel. In addition, the distributor has also opened a free zone facility in Tanzania Dar-E-salaam, Tanzania, which will cater to the needs of the East & Central African markets.

The free zone facility will drastically cut the lead time in getting the products to the local market and gives Despec a great advantage in the fast growing markets of Africa. The distributor also has local warehouses in Kenya, Tanzanina and Uganda.

Faisal Jamal, COO at Despec says,

Faisal Jamal COO, Despec

has also expanded the products lines it offers to its partners in Africa.

He adds, “We have opened up new product lines in East Africa. We are not only into the distribution of printer supplies but have added Norton and the entire product lines of HP IPG. The supplies business itself has grown significantly not just in East Africa but across all territories.”

Despec wants to ensure that its diversification strategy for faster growth does not come at the expense of its current businesses. The company

Strategic expansions Despec has in recent years expanded its business into the emerging markets of Africa and simultaneously consolidated its operations in the Middle East.

While Despec started as a distributor of Office supplies and is a leading name in the printer consumables business, in the past several years, Despec has successfully diversified its product portfolio to include additional product categories like printers, accessories etc. In addition to these strategic extensions, the company has embarked on territorial expansion into African growth markets like Kenya, Tanzania or Uganda that underline the ambitions of the company to consoldiate its role in the region’s distribution business.

The company has several success stories to talk of in terms of in-country expansion. Some of these markets include KSA, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait in the Middle East with the region continue to contribute the majority of its revenues. In Africa, the major countries of focus have been

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The Integrator | May 2012

“By stocking products closer to these markets, we are offering our partners an unprecedented advantage that was missing so far in those markets because of the absence of a regional hub. We have made significant investments in local operations in these markets. This is also in line with our commitment to the fast growing markets of Africa where we are seeing our volumes growing faster than our expectations.”

Further, the company is looking at more expansion initiatives in the African continent. Next on the radar are opening subsidiaries in Mozambique, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

The company’s enterprising team is participating in several trade shows in some of the interior markets and in the process tapping new partner prospects in markets that are expected to soon grow at a good pace. The distributor

continues to see itself as a Supplies specialist that offers the complete range of brands with HP being the leading brand.

Despec is also very careful that it doesn’t add products and brands without ascertaining the value proposition. These decisions are based on whether the product is a natural extension for its portfolio as well as how easy is it for its partners to sell.As Faisal points out, the company is doing what it can to ensure that its partners are profitable in doing business with them and that they are seeing a stable and growing partnership with Despec.

Through its ambitious initiatives in the emerging markets of Africa as well, Despec has ensured that it is ready to walk the talk when it comes to pioneering market expansion for brands it carries.

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tel: +27 (0) 12 665-0888 fax: +27 (0) 12 665-0680 email: asd@africasd.com | www.africasd.com All products and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Feature

Touchmate

Touchmate continues to make a strong statement as a brand of growing appeal in retail markets and is vying for even honours with MNC brands.

Read more about the company’s strategy in the following feature

Ready for the next leap Touchmate from the Quality group has been one of the truly home grown brands in Dubai that has established a growing appeal in other markets beyond the GCC. The brand has shown resilience though tougher times and has continued to expand its array of products, with recent launches that include a 3D Tablet and an LED TV. A wide range of products has helped it tide over the challenges that can confront manufacturers with a smaller product range when Technology shifts happen in those categories. Touchmate seems to factor those risks in its go to market strategies.

Vasant Menghani, Founder and MD of Touchmate says, “With a bigger range of products, it is easier to manage the challenges that arise from the shorter product lifecycles that are part and parcel of the IT industry. This also means that we need to continue bringing in new range of products at every possible opportunity. Further, running products mature very fast in terms of their pricing and profitability while new products help manage the profitability.”

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The Integrator | May 2012

There are other advantages as well when the brand has a wide assortment of product range to offer its partners and customers. The brand’s visibility definitely gets a boost when it has a recall across product categories.

Vasant adds, “With our wide range, Touchmate is able to attract new customers as well as always retain loyal retail partners. We always get good visibility across the hypermalls and we are therefore well known as the leading supplier of IT gadgets as well as accessories to all hyperstores in GCC and Africas. The sizable range of quality products offered at reasonable prices and at times through effective product bundles has guaranteed a strong recall for the brand.”

Touchmate has set sight on bigger ambitions. With its products vying for attention amidst a clutter of MNC brands in categories like desktops or tablets as well as accessories, the brand is making its case to be considered as an affordable alternative to the bigger brands. Touchmate is steadily establishing its credentials as a bigger brand able to compete with some of

the MNC brands on its own terms.

The company seems on course to emerge as a brand with global scale and ambitions.

Vasant explains, “We have made good gains in the past two years and do see the recognition from the industry that acknowledges Touchmate as a big brand, helped by our continuous efforts at introducing a newer range of innovative products. We have been able to keep our partners and customers happy. We have successful partnerships with major retailers including Carrefour, Sharaf DG, Lullu, Emax, HyperPanda as well as Eppco and the Duty Free stores that have given us great visibility and they also seem to count Touchmate on level with MNC brands.”

Touchmate has ensured it has great retail visibility and availability at major retailers. The engagement with power retailers has become key for the brand and Touchmate has ensured it has been able to grasp the business model of the power retailers and work closely.

He also adds that the company has

always ensured high quality products and MNC quality product packaging as well that has helped grow the acceptance of the brand. The company has boosted its presence in other territories, having extended its presence to India in the past two years as well as having made significant strides in covering most of Africa and GCC countries.

“With a presence on several online stores and services in all locations, Touchmate organizes several events that also helps in brand building as well as offer several partner schemes to boost partner morale. We have a goal to set up our own production facility for tablets and innovative gadgets so that we can supply worldwide. We will start focusing on this next year while this year, we would look to set up a large headquarters in DIP.” The company is in the process of setting up bigger offices in D.I.P, where it can accommodate over 100 staff.

There would be bigger warehousing facilities to keep more stocks and the company is opening an office in Saudi this year. There are also plans to open an office in China including a manufacturing facility of its own by middle of next year. The company also plans to sustain higher brand visibility and recruit partners for markets where it hasn’t entered as yet.

Vasant adds, “Currently we have tie-up with three factories in China that manufacture mp3/mp4 devices, keyboards and speakers. However we are keen to have our own manufacturing facility soon for Tablets and gadgets.”

Vasant concedes that their engagement with the reseller channel is an area that calls for considerable improvement.

He says, ‘Resellers have traditionally focused on low priced components and PC parts where we did not fit very well.

After we started engaging the retailers, the focus on the reseller channel was insignificant but that should change soon. In the past 3-4 years, Touchmate has seen a strong growth of the brand

value and we should therefore be more comfortable in going to the channel with a wider range of products including some Tablets, accessories etc and with some attractive rebate schemes for partners. Soon Touchmate would be more visible in the reseller channel.”

In keeping with its objectives to take the brand firmly into overseas markets, the company has taken some firms steps. Having made its presence felt in Africa and India in addition to the GCC, it has set its eyes on the CIS and European markets.

He says, “There is huge demand for Touchmate products in GCC, Africa and India and unfortunately we are not able to meet the demand fully with our supplies. With the introduction of Tablets, the demand has been higher and we are faced with the situation to increase our supplies. Once we are able to increase our supplies to existing markets, we will still be looking at the CI and European markets by next year.”

Touchmate works with partners in all these markets and has its own sales manager in place with partners to attend to sales promotion activities.

In markets where they are unable to find suitable partners, the company goes direct with services directly from Dubai and in addition keeps a Territory manager to manage the needs of the local market.

Touchmate has relied on entering the latest product category with a product that offers additional features. A case in pooin point is the 3D Tablet it recently launched in the market.

Vasant says, “The Touchmate 3D Tablet is certainly the leading product in our range currently. It is the world’s first 3D Tablet and users can enjoy 3D effects without having to wear any glasses. It carries the Wow factor. We worked on this project for 6 months before launch. This was the outcome of our efforts to bring a product in the Tablet range that boasts of some

features which not even MNC brands have as yet and we succeeded.”

The manufacturer also jumped into the LED-LCD TV fray as an extension of the fact that it was already a brand in LCD-LED PC Monitor displays.

He says, “Responding to partner demand, we moved into the LEDTV Business as we have also been manufacturers of LCD PC Monitors for long. We are proving several additional features compared to MNC brands and at very reasonable prices, much lower than MNC brands. The extension into consumer electronics is part of our expansion strategy to meet consumer demand.”

Touchmate has thrived on responding to shifts in the market. And while it has moved into tablets as a category, it still sees the desktop category as going strong.

Vasant adds, “The PC and Notebook categories will never die out but technologies and the look and feel will keep transforming. We continue to post good sales in desktops units and are very shortly introducing an All-In One at a good price. There will be more demand for Tablets when Windows 8 is launched.”

Touchmate intends to increase its focus on Tablets. There will be as many as 10 models in the range. In addition, the company intends to make further inroads into the consumer Electronics segments and even foray into some fast moving Home appliances categories.

In addition, the company will unveil new versions of some of its software products including office Document Control and also harbors ambitions of launching its Apps stores.

The company claims it has seen stronger sales from the start of year in comparison to last year. With partners opening more stores, Touchmate intends to make its products accessible to a larger number of buyers. In summary, the signs are good for Vasant and his team at Touchmate as they pursue new frontiers of growth.

May 2012 | The Integrator

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Distiview

What are the domains of focus for the company’s distribution business?

Comztek began operations in East Africa six years ago exclusively distributing Microsoft products. Soon afterwards, Comztek introduced other software products to its portfolio, including Symantec and Adobe. We don’t like to think of ourselves as ‘boxpushers’, and instead pride ourselves as providers of integrated licensing and networking solutions for our partners.

We’ve shown strong organic growth over the years, and now also distribute Fujitsu, HP Networking, and Ruckus Wireless products. There will be other

Matthew Rudd Regional Manager, Comztek

is good. We think it’s important to focus on long-term growth, rather than short-term gains, and unfortunately there is still quite a lot of ‘Wild West’ activity in ICT procurement in East Africa. That said, the market is definitely maturing, and certain verticals – such as finance, communications, manufacturing – are leading the way. In Kenya, the Copyright Board is showing its teeth, and is working responsibly with key vendors to ensure that piracy (in a software sense) becomes less prevalent.

Do you work with systems integrators

In the expansive mode complementary products soon.

Formed in 1995, Comztek is seen as one of South Africa’s leading communication systems distributors. Comztek has its head office in Johannesburg with offices in Kwazulu Natal and in the Cape Province. The company recently refocused its operations to include six business units, Networks, Security & Storage, Software Infrastructure, Consumer Electronics, Data Center and Voice & Video. The distributor has also expanded its operations into east Africa. Matthew Rudd, Regional Manager at the distributor speaks to The Integrator in the following interview about the company’s expansion and focus areas

Comztek

Elaborate on your expansion initiatives in Est Africa?

Comztek East Africa supports several hundred partners in Rwanda, Burundi, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya. We are still primarily a software distributor, so we don’t need a lot of warehousing space. We build strong partnerships with key resellers and, together with our vendors, invest in training for partners and end-users to ensure product awareness and demand creation.

Comztek Group has offices in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Lusaka, Windhoek and Mauritius, with presence in several other countries including Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Growth leads to consolidation, which in turn will enable further expansion into new markets across sub-Saharan Africa.

Do you see ICT procurement in key verticals on the rise here?

There is great potential for growth in the ICT sector in East Africa – which

as well as box moving resellers?

Absolutely. Like most companies, 80% of our business comes from 20% of our customers – and almost all of those are system integrators, whom we support as best we can. That said, the retail market is increasingly important to us, and will be a core focus during the coming months in East Africa.

Discuss the channel incentives and training initiatives that you deploy?

We do understand that a crucial part of our service – and our success – is based on the training we provide. So, for instance, we’ve installed a 24-seat training room with virtual desktop infrastructure in Nairobi, which we use for ‘zero client’ and proof of concept demonstrations. We provide training ‘boot-camps’ for resellers and endusers, in all the products and countries we support, and it’s rare for a week to go by without hosting a training course somewhere in our region. In addition, we’re generous with prizes and awards in recognition of our partners’ increasing technical competence and loyalty to brand.

May 2012 | The Integrator

13

SIscope

Sight and Sound Limited

We have won several awards and special Recognition from our principal vendor – Polycom. We were the Polycom Partner of the Year, East Africa 2011 and won the Polycom Special Recognition for Business Commitment 2009 – 2011.

Do you see a growing demand for video conferencing and unified communications?

Definitely, yes. It has been forecasted that by 2015, 90% of traffic on all networks will be video.

Unified Communications refers to communication anywhere, anytime and on any device. 40% of workers in the world are mobile/teleworkers. With the Real Mobile Telepresence solutions from Polycom solutions on the Tablet PC’s and Smart phones, it will enable meetings on the go.

Rajesh Lakhani MD, Sight and Sound Limited What are the solutions and services you provide?

Sight and Sound Limited is a limited liability company that was incorporated in 1991. Since then the company has grown to become a recognized as the NO# 1 Audio Video Systems Integrator for various top Brands like Polycom telepresence and video conferencing systems, Crestron Systems Control, Extron, Kramer, NEC and other Leading Audio Visual equipment.

We are committed to be a solutionsoriented audio visual company specializing in telepresence, video and audio conferencing solutions. We are giving end-to-end solutions, using the world’s best technologies thereby giving our clients flexibility and scalability, the highest level of service in the planning, designing and implementation phases of corporate audio visual and information technology initiatives in direct support of business objectives.

This will enhance and encourage the adoption of unified communications solutions in the decision making process thus managing the most important resource within the business environment – Time.

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The Integrator | May 2012

case in point is the rapid development of the “Cloud” and having the Video Managed services on the Cloud will be next big thing, we at SSL are working on this project and will make it happen Please discuss the brands you work with for different solutions your provide?

We work with Polycom, the global leader in voice and video conferencing and telepresence. Crestron is the brand we work with for systems and automation and controls. We partner with Extron for high end switching and cabling for the AV industry and with Evoko for Meeting room solutions. from NEC, we get the projection and display solutions. We also include products from Sony in our video solutions setups. Kramer is the brand

The AV specialist

Sight and Sound Limited is a leading systems integration company in Kenya. Rajesh Lakhani, MD at the company speaks to The Integrator about the company’s focus areas.

Discuss the verticals you are most active in as well as the markets?

We operate in Government, Banking, Financial, Education and Health sectors. In the health sector, we recently showcased the power of telemedicine; showing a live surgery happening from the OR of the Aga Khan University Hospital to delegates of the Pan African Urological Association conference who were seated at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Do you see demand for high end IT infrastructure on the rise?

Yes. This is now being accelerated by the need for more services running on the network as well as ability to access these services remotely. A good

for audio and video signal distribution and for Sound systems installations, we have JBL or Ellies, Bang and Olfusen.

Names some major customers where you have deployed solutions ?

Most of the Blue chip companies are our clients. These include UN bodies, telcom companies and other reputed institutions. Some of these include Unicef, UNDP, Standard Chartered Bank, Airtel Kenya, Safaricom Ltd, Orange Telkom, Access Kenya, Cocacola east and central Africa, Rockefeller Foundations and more.

Cover Focus

Intel

Do you see PC shipments continue to be growing across East and West African countries?

We have seen tremendous growth in Sun Saharan Africa in terms of PC shipments. We expect the growth to continue in double digits. Better Internet connectivity and economic growth of the countries have influenced this growth as well as the increasing level of education among the citizens who continue to aspire for better knowledge.

Is the demand for tablets growing significantly in Africa? Do you see demand shifting in favor of tablets with first time buyers and eating into

Omar Bajaber Kenya Country Manager, Intel

Alongside spearheading Technology innovation, Intel continues to grow its focus in the regional markets as we find out in a conversation with Omar Bajaber, Kenya Country Manager at Intel

the PC market shipments?

The demand for tablets is growing across the World and Africa is no exception. However Tablets continue to be used as companion devices as is evident and are still beyond the reach of many.

Do you see the Ultrabook growing to be a significant addition to the Notebook segment?

The Ultrabook is a super product. It has all the physical attributes of a Tablet and the functionality of a laptop. We expect the Ultrabook to do very well across the region and there is a lot of excitement around it.

Driving momentum in Africa Intel has introduced the quad-core 3rd generation Intel Core processor family, which promises enhanced visual and performance computing gains for gamers, media enthusiasts and mainstream users alike. Available now in powerful, highend desktop, laptop and sleek all-in-one (AIO) designs, the new processors are the first chips in the world made using Intel’s 22-nanometer (nm) 3-D tri-Gate transistor technology.

Intel unveils quad-core 3rd generation Intel Core processor family

The combination of Intel’s cuttingedge 3-D tri-gate transistor technology and architectural enhancements help make possible up to double the 3-D graphics and HD media processing performance compared with Intel’s previous generation of chips. As a result of the stunning, built-in visual

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The Integrator | May 2012

Is Intel engaging with leading systems integrators to build specialized devices for different verticals like digital signage, healthcare etc in Africa?

Intel is still relatively new in Sub Saharan Africa. We continue to grow our presence and I am sure when the opportunity arises we will take advantage of it. Intel Capital is working to find the right investment opportunities in Africa and around World. On Healthcare we have on the ground a dedicated Business Development Manager working out of our Kenya office and developing healthcare programs in different countries across the region.

Do you see continued growth in the X86 server shipments in the regional market?

X86 continues to make inroads against RISC based systems. The African Economies are the fastest growing economies after Asia and Latin America. Businesses in the region are investing in their IT infrastructures to support their growth. This has led to

performance, all the things people love to do on their PCs — from creating and editing videos and photos, surfing the Web, watching HD movies or playing mainstream games — are quicker, crisper and more life-like. With as much as 20 percent microprocessor performance improvements and new technologies to speed the flow of data to and from the chips, the new processors further extend Intel’s overall performance leadership.

significant growth in the X86 Server Market which is growing at double digits.

Discuss any forthcoming channel engagement initiatives from Intel across the region especially with integrators in different verticals?

We are currently focusing on the Consumer Channel and are investing to bring our Channel partners up to speed in training for their sales force as well as working on large programs which the channel can sell to. We will be announcing these programs in the very near future.

vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group. "Our engineers have exceeded our expectations by doubling the performance of media and graphics versus the best processors we’ve built until today, which means incredible new visual experiences are here for new all-inone PCs and upcoming Ultrabook devices. What makes all this possible is the combination of Intel’s leading manufacturing and processor architecture, and our unwavering commitment to drive computing innovations forward."

In the coming months, additional versions of the 3rd generation Intel Core processors will be available to power a new wave of systems ranging from Ultrabook devices, to servers and intelligent systems in retail, healthcare and other industries.

Intel accelerates manufacturing roadmap

“The 3rd generation Intel Core processors were created from the ground up to generate exciting new experiences," said Kirk Skaugen, Intel

The performance gains found in the new processors are due in part to the three-dimensional structure of the new Intel transistors. Until today,

Do you expect the 3rd generation Intel core processors will help speed up the Ultrabook and other product segments like All in one and high desktops?

3rd Gen processors will significantly help ramp up all segments. With 2nd Gen Intel has always taken the approach of what the end-user desires in their PC. With this approach we have introduced features such as rapid start, more efficient power, better graphics and greater performance. Thus all 2nd Gen and 3rd Gen products bring user experience to the forefront of PC designs.

Is the demand for high end PCs, laptops and Ultrabooks growing in Africa?

Africa as I said earlier is where the growth is. Users are more knowledgeable on technology and they aspire towards getting the best value for their money. The story tells itself when you go around Retail stores in Nairobi and you are spoilt for choice on the products on display, from low end Atom powered units to high end 2nd Gen Core i7’s..

computers, servers and other devices have used only two-dimensional planar transistors. Adding a third dimension to transistors allows Intel to increase transistor density and put more capabilities into every square millimeter of these new processors.

Intel engineers also reworked the graphics architecture of the 3rd generation Intel Core processors, helping to deliver dramatic improvements in the overall visual experience. Changing the chips’ architecture while at the same time shrinking the size of the underlying transistors is an acceleration of Intel’s “tick-tock” model. Previously, the company adhered to a strict “tick-tock” model in which a new manufacturing process was introduced in 1 year (the “tick”), and the architecture of the chip (the “tock”) was altered the next.

May 2012 | The Integrator

17

Distiview

Red Dot Distribution

Munir Bharwani CEO & MD, Red Dot Distribution

Red Dot Distribution is a leading distributor of IT products in East Africa and was founded in 2001 by the Bharwani Group. The company holds distribution rights for a number of major vendors including HP, Microsoft and Samsung. Munir Bharwani, CEO and MD at the distributor speaks about the company's steady emergence and consolidation as a prominent distribution house and as well as its expansion into additional territories 18

The Integrator | May 2012

An extensive focus Elaborate on the regions you cater to as distributors of IT products?

We are distributors in East Africa and we have over 85 people working as part of operations, the majority of who are in sales and logistics functions. Red Dot’s firm commitment to customer service, competitive prices and efficient logistics are key factors of our growth and continued success. Today, Red Dot has the largest distribution network and an ever growing market share in East and Southern Africa for IT product distribution.

In East Africa, we cater to Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. We are headquartered in Tanzania and have sales offices in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. These offices help us cater to the region’s markets. We have a master warehouse in Jebel Ali in the UAE, where we stock our products and route to whichever

markets as required. Kenya and Tanzania are two of our major markets and Southern Africa, a growing focus, is also doing well.

What are the various brands you distribute?

We handle distribution for 8 different brands in our portfolio which gives us a comprehensive suite of product lines to address the requirements of our partners.

HP is the oldest brand and we started business 10 years ago with it. We cater to the entire product line including PCs and laptops, printers and servers.

Samsung is another major brand in our distribution business. We take care of distribution of Samsung printers and monitors, ODDS and laptops. We don’t do distribution of the tablets from Samsung since they include 3G SIM

and gets classified as part of the phones category. We also distribute the NC215 solar laptops from Samsung, which are arguably the world’s first laptops that get recharged with solar energy. They were launched first in Kenya in August last year and there has been a huge demand.

With Toshiba, we do distribution of both their laptops and their tablet – the Thrive, which was launched last October.

We have recently started working with Dell and is the newest BU we are catering to. We are currently taking care of distributing High-End and the Mid-End range of Notebooks as well the range targeting students. We try to cater to each of the market sectors.

We are authorised distributors for Microsoft in east Africa as well as southern markets of Africa.

As per the market, there is lot of requirement for Windows and Office 2010. We are also distributors for APC power supplies and UPS solutions etc.

In security software, we include distribution of eScan products including desktops and server editions.

In addition, in accessories, we have distribution rights to Logitech and are sole distributors of their accessories in east Africa- mouse, cooling pads, keyboards, headphones, web cams etc.

In addition to East Africa, have you expanded your focus to other parts of Africa?

We do focus in southern Africa as well and work through associate distributors, since we don’t have local presence in those markets. For instance, we do a lot of Microsoft promotions in Zambia, Zimababwe, Nambia, Mozambique etc. As well as for brands like Toshiba, Samsung etc when these associate distributors raise requirements, we supply to them. Similarly, we do supply eScan and Logitech products as well but

requirements are smaller. This is how we are taking care of the business in the southern Africa markets.

Have you introduced any business tools to help your partners?

In order to cater to the requirements of the resellers, we have introduced resources on our website for our resellers. They will create their own accounts and would be able to track their order status, statements etc.

We do have a problem of resellers being scattered across locations in some countries. However, in Tanzania, the resellers are concentrated in a smaller region with perhaps 80% of resellers located in Dar-es-salaam. Since we have a large sales team, we try and reach maximum number of people and we also have resellers trying to reach us because of the awareness initiatives we do from time to time including the billboards, advertisements in newspapers etc. We also do a lot of training sessions or roadshows in different countries on behalf of our vendors such as Toshiba, awareness programs for Microsoft genuine software etc. These are among the ways we reach out to the channel.

Which sectors are most active in the East Africa markets?

Tanzania, Uganda and to some extent Ethiopia are dependent on government orders for their business volumes. The purchases are done mostly government agencies. This is mostly done through tenders.

For Tanzania, 70% of the IT business is still government based and 30% is retail based. For Uganda and Ethiopia, it is more or less similar. For Kenya, it might be a more even distribution between government and retail volumes.

Kenya is the most advanced consumer market of the region and therefore retail has picked up quite well in Kenya but is only picking up in Tanzania.

We have smaller shops set up catering

to only IT products. We have a few resellers who are now multiplying their lines of business like doing both IT supplies and stationary.

Some have opened IT stores in hypermarkets but this is just at the beginning now. The pace is slow and just beginning to emerge.

What are the challenges you have to battle?

The markets have been flooded with grey market products and there is an issue of counterfeit products being bought. It is a significant challenge and we do awareness sessions which make consumers aware of why they must buy genuine products and why they must buy only from the legal channel.

We provide partners credit facilities but have to be circumspect with extending credit facilities to new partners. We can’t extend our credit facility to every reseller coming in without a thorough background check. We make sure the reseller has a financially strong position before extending the credit facility.

What are further market expansion plans?

We are looking at opening an office in Zambia and increase our presence in Ethiopia and Uganda. We are planning to focus more on southern Africa and there are very few companies there.

What are the various verticals that are most proactive in ICT investments?

The Government verticals have been most active. However, business units which have started coming into the region are also bringing in a growing demand. Banks have started investing heavily into IT infrastructure and Oil companies are also good spenders in IT. They are going in for latest configurations of products they procure from our resellers. In fact, we have seen that the demand usually is for latest products, even in the consumer markets.

May 2012 | The Integrator

19

point2point

Avaya

A growing focus Discuss your operations in Africa The East, West and Central Africa markets come under the emerging markets region and reports to the Dubai office. We have a team handling West, Central and Eastern Africa.

Avaya is increasing its focus on the African Markets.

Sachin Jadhav, Territory Manager, WECA for Avaya speaks exclusively to VAR Magazine in the following interview about the company’s strategies in Africa

What is your distribution strategy here?

We have two distributors in the region which are Redington and Virtual Works. While Avaya’s direct presence in this region is only about six months old now, the company has had business and clients through partners for several years.

Which is your strongest customer segment in Kenya?

We have a good presence in the banking sector & Service providers are also important to Avaya and as a result, all four service providers are also our customers.

Apart from all these, we have transitioned a good number of Nortel customers in Kenya over to Avaya; Nortel used to the leading PABX vendor in Kenya and we look forward to the opportunities presented by this customer base.

How are you placed in healthcare and

20

The Integrator | May 2012

hospitality deployments?

Avaya is noted for its strength in the hospitality sector across the Middle East and Europe, and we are working to more firmly advance our success into this region, including bringing old installations forward with modern technology, helping them increase their efficiency and flexibility to better serve their customer base.

Discuss your channel focus?

We are 100 percent channel driven.

We route all leads through partners.

We have two in-country distributors and tier two partners. We have a mix of new and old partners. We are looking to increase the channel footprint in the region.

The old partners are in many cases happy with the products and solutions they currently carry. Which is why, we also want to do market segmentation in terms of enterprise and SMB verticals. In terms of customer and product verticals, we would be looking to divide the partners to build better focus. The SME market would be the

larger segment and we see growth potential in that.

We are hoping to get a good number of partners on board to tap that opportunity.

Please elaborate your focus on Avaya Flare and Aura?

We are trying to build the market for the Flare. It is not a video conferencing tool but a collaboration device for mail, chat etc. There is a drag and drop convenience. There is a software version and we can install the new software release on an iPad. The idea is not to have a platform dependent application.

Aura is a SIP based architecture specifically built for customers who have deployments from different vendors. This brings all of them under one umbrella.

You can create a session manager layer on which all the applications can be connected. The bottomline is that that you can have different platforms but can access everything from the session Manager layer. We are aggressively promoting this.

We have also developed the Avaya Aura contact centre. Anything you invest would be on the Application layer and this can be accessed from anywhere if you have connectivity.

point2point

OPTI UPS

Discuss your focus on East Africa?

We are keen about the East Africa market. We had ever stretched our products availability into East Africa earlier. It was earlier done by the reexporters. We now want to be there locally and already have our local resource in the market.

We have been pretty successful in the GCC since 2006 and now want to start focusing more on the East African market starting from Kenya, stretching across Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia etc. We are having final discussions with a well established distributor in the region but that will be done in the next few months.

Jones-Wu GM, OPTI UPS

OPTI UPS specializes in modular UPS systems till 3000KVA and a wide range of redundant 3 phase UPS systems with special emphasis on longer autonomy designs. They also provide Networking PDU’s, Software controlled ATS’ for varied applications and have a growing reach in the SOHO and SMB markets. Jones-Wu, GM at OPTI UPS discusses the company’s strategy for East Africa 22

The Integrator | May 2012

our products to market with better support and competitive pricing. Low priced brands may not provide reliable support whereas our products might come at a small premium but you are assured of long terms reliable support on any technical or quality issues. We pay utmost attention to our QC. This helps us keep our RMA low and cut out unnecessary after service expenses. We then pass on the financial advantages in terms of aggressive prices back to the partner and effectively the end user benefits from getting a high quality product at truly affordable prices.

How do you look to keep your partners trained and informed?

Conjuring the blueprint for success What would be the segments of your focus in East Africa?

The stability and the frequency of power downtime make these potentially good markets for us. Critical voltage fluctuations also mean there is a need for reliable power protection products in these markets.

We hope to replicate our Middle East success in the East Africa region, truly focusing on the projects business. The consumer purchasing power in the region is not as strong in East Africa as in the GCC. On the other hand, there are too many low priced brands as well.

So our focus would be more on the B2B Business segment. Ther are nearly 2000 NGOs in and around Nairobi, who would be the major customers of focus for us.

What would be the go to market strategy in terms of distribution?

Having long time relationships with distributors is the key to our strategy for the region so that they can bring

We are looking to cooperate with our partner and get the sales and technical engineer trained in the USA or Taiwan so that they fully understand our products which will help them sell better. We will ensure that new models and their USP’s are well understood and the information is passed on to the end user. Consulting the right UPS solution for the right kind of project is of prime importance so that the end user gets the most benefit commercially and technically Would you be focusing on affordable or entry level models?

We are always starting with our unique UPS models which offer cost effectiveness. We are comfortable with good products for the small Businesses customers in east Africa, which are affordable and for which we will provide dedicated support. We are not ken to focus entirely on entry level products which would be mostly handled via bundled sales.

Educating and empowering the channel VAR Magazine is the leading B2B publication for the MEA IT channel with the widest readership among the region’s reseller community. With nearly 150 print issues to date, the publication plays a pivotal role in keeping the MEA IT channel well informed about the latest industry events and announcements that could potentially influence their business decisions.

VAR MEA Magazine

VAR Magazine also publishes a bilingual edition for the Saudi Market.

The Arabic /English edition brings out perspectives on the trends in the strategic market of KSA based on conversations with local industry spokespeople that augment further understanding of the market.

Pioneering training series for frontline sales Conceived by VAR Magazine, ‘In Search of a champion’ is a series of multi-brand training workshops for frontline IT salespeople and serves as a platform for sales talent development. The format enables interactive training in classroom environment where sales lessons are imbibed.

Participants are graded throughout their participation and champions receive grand prizes at the end of the year. Over the past couple of years, ‘In Search of a Champion’ has drawn wide appreciation from all participants and brands that have been associated with it. With its unique format and process, the event is trusted by leading Technology brands in the channel to keep the frontline sales staff abreast of product, Technology and market updates. It is currently organized in the UAE and KSA markets and is very soon expanding to other MEA markets.

IT Business Networking VAR Conclave is a series of networking platforms envisioned in several flexible formats as standalone events as well as in partnership with leading regional ICT expos across the GCC. VAR conclave fosters channel partnership opportunities and helps clinch strategic business leads across strategic markets. It includes one-on-one focused meetings between participating exhibitors and leading resellers. It is also an ideal platform to showcase products and technologies.

An essential read for the Value add IT channel The Integrator is a magazine that offers strategic insights to the systems integrator and the value add reseller channel. The magazine offers path breaking features and other content including case studies, expert columns, Round Table discussions that focuses on Industry trends which are opening up new frontiers of opportunities for the SI channel. The magazine has the intent of demystifying Technology trends for facilitating the channel’s learning of the same and empowering their decision making in Business. The magazine is distributed to an exclusive database of systems integrators and VARs in the region.

For sales queries, please email info@var-mea.com. or contact Tel: +971 4 3705022, Fax: +971 4 3706639

To read online log on to: www.VARonline.com

May 2012 | The Integrator

23

Eyetech

Dell XPS 13 UltrabookSeries - 10-200KVA Overview: The XPS 13 Ultrabook is a slim 6 mm at its thinnest point (only 18 mm at its thickest point), and features a 33.782 cm (13.3") HD display cleverly fit into a footprint that's similar to an 11" laptop. It is geared to realize increased productivity and security, and decreased downtime with Dell support services.

Key features: • It goes beyond beauty. Bonded Corning Gorilla Glass, machined aluminium and carbon fibre are incorporated to enhance the performance of this Ultrabook.

• With 2nd gen Intel Core processors, this Ultrabook delivers the speed and performance you’ve come to expect from the XPS family.

• XPS 13 Ultrabook boots in as little as 8 seconds and resumes from sleep mode in just 1 second (4 seconds from deep sleep). A solid-state drive and Intel Rapid Start Technology make it possible.

• Intel Smart Connect Technology keeps your email, contacts, calendar and social networks up to date, even when your XPS 13 Ultrabook is in sleep mode.1 • XPS 13 comes preloaded with Skype Premium for video chatting, McAfee Anti-Virus, and lots more.

• XPS 13 comes with 1 year ProSupport. This will cover all of the hardware and software issues and queries 24x7. You can extend this support to a longer term or customise a suite of other services to add to this, including Accidental Damage Protection.

MD Series - 10-200KVA Overview: MD series is modular and online double conversion UPS for sensitive equipments. The power rating covers from 10KVA to 200KVA which delivers the best of combination of reliability, functionality, hot-swappable and flexibility at a competitive price.

It is designed specifically for data centers, computer systems or critical equipments.

Key features: Modular Structure Each power module is designed be hot swappable which makes the power expansion and system maintenance easily. Each module is controlled independently, thus avoid single point failure risk.

Easy Operation and Installation This product offers flexibility to install that reduces installation time. Consequently, it is very easy to maintain and control that provides the highest reliability and best protection for supplying power.

With thelarge touch screen LCD panel, the user can

24

The Integrator | May 2012

easily access to the information of the power module and the system.

Intelligent Battery Management Each UPS module builds in with super charger and the power reaches 3200W. With 10 installed UPS modules, the total charging power rating is up to 32KW. Enhanced Protection System All the power modules and the system are protected simultaneously by the hardware and the software. All kinds of protection functions are realized, including current and voltage abnormal, thermal abnormal, short circuit, etc.

High Reliability Integrated IGBT modules are used in the power module.

Comparing to discrete chips, system reliability and manufacturing consistency are much improved.

Cisco Unified Communications 300 SeriesPoint

Overview Get everything you need for business-class networking and voice communications across your entire company. Affordable and easy to use, the Cisco Unified Communications 300 Series lets you take advantage of IP telephony to reduce costs, boost productivity, and create a more collaborative company. It also includes built-in data and wireless support, plus advanced phone features such as voicemail and automated attendant.

Now you can replace your PBX or key system with a single, all-in-one network solution. Part of the Cisco Small Business product family, this solution is easy to set up and manage but flexible enough to grow and change along with your business.

• Full key system and small private branch exchange (PBX) features • Integrated wireless access point • A wide choice of phones for any business environment • Web-based management for easy phone changes • A return on your investment as your business grows and evolves • Peace of mind with the reliability you expect from Cisco

Key features: • Lower communication expenses • Business-class calling and messaging

Lenovo IdeaPad Z570 Overview: Z series laptops are solid, stylish, portable PCs. Z Series laptops are ideal for study, entertainment, online chats and everyday use. They run on powerful multi-core processors and deliver smart, efficient multitasking and reliable on-demand performance— just what you are looking for in an entertainment laptop. Whether you're a traveling student looking for an entertainment and social networking device or shopping for a laptop with the most multimedia features you can afford, Z series is a good, reliable choice.

The IdeaPad Z570 notebooks are uniquely available in a range of vivid colors, and offer a perfect balance of affordability, performance and

multimedia features. They come with a 15.6” HD widescreen display and a stylish AccuType keyboard. The Z570 strikes the perfect a balance of performance, affordability and features.

It is more fashionable than a basic notebook and is good for a wide range of multimedia applications.

The 15.6” widescreen IdeaPad Z570 notebooks are more affordable than others might think. These notebooks come in a host of vivid colors – like Coral-blue and Metallic-red.

Z570 Key features • 15.6” HD widescreen display and stylish AccuType keyboard wrapped in vivid colors • Up to 2nd gen Intel Core i7 processor; plus, top-of-the-

line NVIDIA GeForce graphics with DirectX 11 • SRS® Premium Surround Sound audio enhancement and specialized stereo speakers for extra bass • Integrated DVD reader/writer or Blu-ray Disc drive • OneKey Theater II – one-touch audio-visual optimization for clearer, brighter images and richer audio • Up to 8GB DDR 1333 memory/ 750GB 7200rpm HDD • Windows Enhanced Experience for Windows 7

May 2012 | The Integrator

25

Stats & trends

PC Market Returns To Positive Growth, Though Gains Remain Small The worldwide PC market saw a slight increase in volume during the first quarter of 2012 (1Q12) compared to the same quarter in 2011, with shipments rising 2.3%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. The results are slightly above IDC's February projections of a 0.9% year-on-year decline due to hard disk drive (HDD) supply constraints in addition to weak economic conditions, competition from other devices, and uncertainty about Windows 8.

HDD supply remained a key constraint through most of the first quarter, although PC makers generally had better access to drives than customers in the retail and distribution channels.

As a result, large PC vendors were able to maintain shipments by managing inventory or absorbing price increases, while the impact to shipments from smaller PC makers was in line with expectations.

"PC market growth remained limited in the first quarter as HDD supply and other factors limited demand," said Loren Loverde, IDC vice president of Worldwide Consumer Device Trackers. "Nevertheless, history has shown that periods of slower growth are followed by recovery as improving technologies make replacements as well as 26

The Integrator | May 2012

new purchases increasingly compelling.

As a result, we expect PC shipments to pick up significantly by the fourth quarter and beyond as HDD supply and pricing are normalized, Windows 8 is launched, and replacements pick up.

"Slow growth in the U.S. shows that despite interesting and new form factors like all-in-one (AIO) desktop PCs and Ultrabook– class notebook PCs, the market remains conservative and focused on replacements.

Commercial buyers are still cautious, while consumers are evaluating multiple products and may be waiting for the release of Microsoft Windows 8 later this year. The U.S. PC market is likely to remain constrained at least until the launch of Windows 8, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2012. We expect vendors, retailers, and channel partners to be working very hard this year to focus their product

lines and their general operations as they prepare for the year-end holiday season, because that alone will likely determine if there is any growth at all in the U.S. market in 2012."

EMEA Outlook

Despite the region's sustained economic uncertainty and debt crisis, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) PC market experienced a rebound, returning to positive growth again in 1Q12. The market benefited from a more favorable year-on-year comparison versus the first quarter of 2011, when sell-in was adversely impacted by high inventory levels. IDC expected softer results in 1Q12 in light of the HDD shortages following the flooding in Thailand. However, both mature and emerging markets showed stronger than anticipated performance, driven by accelerating portable PC sales in particular.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide PC Shipments, First Quarter 2012 (Preliminary) (Units Shipments are in thousands) Rank 1 2 3 4 5

Vendor HP Lenovo Dell Acer Group ASUS Others All Vendors

1Q12 Shipments

Market Share

1Q11 Shipments

Market Share

15,714 11,703 10,122 8,622 5,260 35,691 87,111

18.00% 13.40% 11.60% 9.90% 6.00% 41.00% 100.00%

15,229 8,143 10,338 8,953 4,310 38,164 85,137

17.90% 9.60% 12.10% 10.50% 5.10% 44.80% 100.00%

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, April 11, 2012

1Q12/1Q11 Growth 3.20% 43.70% -2.10% -3.70% 22.00% -6.50% 2.30%

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www.mindware.ae MINDWARE FZ LLC

Tecom, Cayan Business Center, 10th floor, PO Box 55609, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tel: +971 4 450 0600, Fax: +971 4 450 0678

MINDWARE SAUDI ARABIA

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