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February 2009
www.crn.co.za
Inside
EMC anticipates growth in SA P12>>
Small business storage needs still rising p20>>
Convergence: networking’s hot topic p29>>
Kaunda Chama
16 – HP advances Adaptive network vision
kaundac@systems.co.za
COMINGS
Avaya appoints head of
EMEA Distribution
& GOINGS
Capital will seek out and make strategic invest-
ments, allowing innovative home-grown tech-
Avaya has appointed Thomas Veit as director of nology companies not just access to our capital
Avaya Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) but also to our technological expertise and
distribution. He will lead the distribution strategy global network,” says Mensah. “The move into
for Avaya’s products and solutions across its Africa illustrates Intel’s view that Africa as an
business and channel partners in EMEA. Veit emerging market will continue to unearth great
brings more than 17 years of experience business opportunities for us” he adds.
Thomas Veit Sam Mensah
and success in building pan-EMEA distribution
Thomas Veit
programmes. Most recently, Veit worked Peter Watt joins Itec
at SonicWALL as senior director, EMEA sales operation & Former Business Connexion (BCX) CEO Peter
emerging markets, where he was responsible for the restructuring Watt has been appointed deputy chairman of
and rationalisation of distribution and reseller channel Itec Distribution, bringing with him extensive
relationships. “Thomas brings a legacy of solid expertise in strategic and leadership skills. “Having been
distribution strategies, and will help Avaya to expand its channel with large public companies most of my life, I
relevance and responsiveness,” says Jeremy Butt, VP, worldwide look forward to helping the management team
Channels, Avaya. of this growing business to achieve its
Peter Watt
objectives and roll-out key projects designed
Intel Capital appoints Sam Mensah to enhance Itec’s market position,” says Watt. His primary function
Intel Capital has appointed Sam Mensah as its director for South at Itec will be the development of business strategy, executive
and sub-Saharan Africa. Mensah has been with Intel Corporation development, and mentoring and assisting in the establishment of
for the past six years, he previously worked in London at Deutsche governance committees. He will also watch over and guide the
Bank and tech consulting firm Gresham Financial Systems. “Intel company’s expansion into the overseas market.
New Manhattan USB Radio HP South Africa managing director, “HP South Africa has always
Manhattan has announced its new USB Internet Radio that receives and been committed to promoting empowerment and ascribes to the
records radio broadcasts on personal computers. Through Internet underlying principles of broad-based black economic empowerment ini-
access and a USB port, the Manhattan USB Internet Radio delivers more tiatives as the key to realising our full potential as a company and as a
than 14 000 radio stations from around the world to desktop and note- business imperative.”
book computers, whether you’re under a palm in Rio or in an Internet
café in Miami. You can connect, listen to and enjoy favourite sports, talk,
music and news broadcasts without subscriptions, user restrictions or Alvarion’s new move
costly upgrades. Its multi-function on-screen control panel provides Alvarion, an international wireless broadband
access to intuitive search, sort, audio controls and settings. pioneer, has launched a new distribution model to
address vertical market requirements and expecta-
tions. The Alvarion distribution strategy currently
HP takes tech to varsities being rolled-out as part of its partner programme,
HP recently announced the successful implementation of the Technology has seen the appointment of Duxbury Networking
for Teaching Grant programme at the University of the Free State. HP’s as the master distributor of Alvarion products in
Higher Education Technology for Teaching Grant initiative creates an southern Africa. Duxbury Networking offers turnkey Graham Duxbury
opportunity for new models of success on campus by integrating mobile wireless solutions to its partners, including feasibility studies, pre and
technology into the classroom setting. This initiative is aimed at post-sales, and technical support. As a distributor of the Alvarion product
improving teaching and learning experiences through the innovative and range in southern Africa, the company is now able to complement its
effective application of mobile technologies. According to Oliver Fortuin, existing range of wireless networking solutions in the licence-free bands.
BY KAUNDA CHAMA
nology and longer battery life,” he explains. that it can be tailored to suit the needs of the therefore the economic decline does not affect
According to Naidoo, key features of the user and customised to fulfil all require- the growth of our company,” says Naidoo.
Sahara ImageBook 15WS include an Intel ments. This is an exciting new solution that Analysing the market in terms of IT use,
2GHz Core 2 Duo Mobile Processor, 2GB we believe will make a difference to people’s Naidoo states that large corporations and
memory, a built-in 2.0 mega-pixel webcam, digital lifestyle,” Naidoo comments. businesses are expected to be tighter and
a 15-inch TFT LCD display, a 250GB hard He continues to say that next month more controlled, at the same time he is
disk drive and a super multi-DVD writer. Sahara will introduce a next-generation net- expecting more growth in terms of IT use in
He says that it also includes Quick book, a fully functional device that will allow the government sector.
Switching Speed, a feature that automatically resellers to tap into the new market. “The household market is also showing
switches the CPU to hurry up and idle mode. He also comments that Sahara is operat- growth with regard to computing and skills,
Naidoo says there is an increasing need ing extremely efficiently with regard to its dis- while the FIFA World Cup will enable small
for affordable, robust and feature-rich wire- tribution model that is based on cash on businesses and resellers to grow their busi-
less technology within the home network and delivery. “We do not expose ourselves to nesses,” he comments.
home business space. bad debt,” he remarks. Naidoo comments how Sahara remains
“This is a thriving area of the market Given the current economic challenges in consistent in keeping its business. “Getting
where the rate of technology adoption is the market, Naidoo says Sahara will not fall the basics right and achieving operational
increasing to keep up with global skills set as it has the strong backing of the Gupta efficiency is very important. Sahara continues
requirements. This solution combines the family that has always maintained high prof- to provide its resellers with good training
very best in processor and chipset technolo- itability within the Sahara Group. and putting the right tools in place, because
gy for quick connectivity and also offers a “Even though the market is the other way we know that when they grow, we will
high memory and storage capacity for effec- round, we remain a very strong company. grow with them. Always ensure that when
tive management of multimedia files. We are still hiring people, and our sales team you lay a foundation you sustain its growth,”
The value in this offering lies in the fact and reseller programme have expanded, Naidoo concludes.
ANALYSIS: TRENDS
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
Pack Rats
Small businesses save too much, too often. How can you help them deal?
Virtualisation:
a very hot topic
Most IT organisations are implementing the virtualised environments.
BY DUDU SHABA
than that of Europe and United States, more than $1,8 billion in 2009.
primarily because South African organisa- “One of the main drivers of server
tions are taking a more cautious look at the virtualisation is the green issue. Using fewer
concept and waiting for more success stories servers drives the effective utilisation of server
in the form of references and case studies. capacity, and from a green perspective it
helps reduce electricity consumption as less
power is needed to cool the consolidated
“Organisations are investigating the opportunities that exist servers,” he comments.
in virtualising operating systems and applications, with an Another factor that Sutherland raises is
that the management of servers is becoming
aim to consolidate infrastructure and drive business alignment” increasingly more costly.
“Virtualisation gives us a 1 to 7 physical
– Manfred Gramlich, Sun Microsystems.
to virtual ratio on average and often a lot
more. This means that 6 out of every 7
servers are not seen, which makes managing
“The adoption rate is also constrained by them more difficult. More importantly is the
concerns such as bandwidth costs and the fact that there isn’t the obvious red light that
reliability of the connections into the cloud. comes on when a component fails.
There will also be a natural trust issue that There needs to be visibility and manage-
will have to be overcome, as many local ability to the virtual environment to enable
organisations fear their vital information is more effective capacity planning and control
no longer on their own infrastructure and in on VM server sprawl,” he says.
their direct control, but rather managed by Meanwhile, Gramlich adds that the market,
the cloud service provider,” he comments. however, has not been educated enough in
Manfred Gramlich, storage leader for Sun the advantages of effective provisioning.
Microsystems SA, believes that Storage virtu- “Virtualisation means simplification. And if
alisation is a more mature methodology and organisations can simplify they must begin to
is now being supported with innovative take steps to do so immediately. The gap
hardware and software solutions that have between management, deployment and the
the ability to unlock great value. Gramlich amount of data to be managed continues to
says that storage virtualisation has much to widen. This is why virtualisation is currently
offer businesses in reducing complexity and on the front page of nearly every trade
consolidating hardware, along with often journal,” he remarks.
overlooked advantages in data migration.
Andrea Lodolo, CA Africa Manager, Benefits
Technical Sales is also bullish about According to Watt, these are the six major benefits,
virtualisation, He says that it is gaining which are driving server virtualisation in SA:
momentum and most IT organisations are
either investigating, implementing or 1. Quality of service
already using virtualised environments. One of the beauties of virtualisation is the
“Most of these business know why they are ability to shrink or grow the virtual machine’s
doing it, to save costs, sweat their assets, and resource utilization, allowing business
deploy new solutions quicker,” he comments. processes to become more agile.
BY DUDU SHABA
T
he South African notebook market is expected
to be resilient in the face of a slowing
local and global economy as end-users
continue to buy into the benefits of
mobile computing.
That’s according to John Geypen,
business development manager at Acer
SA. He says that 2009 will be the year a
number of technologies such as
notebooks with Blu-Ray drives and
screens with 16:9 aspect ratios start
moving into the mainstream.
“Even though we don’t
expect to see too much in the
way of new technology reach-
ing the market this year, a num-
ber of technologies are starting
to reach a price level and
maturity that will make them
attractive
to the mainstream market,”
adds Geypen.
“Blu-Ray writers, for example, are
now common in high-end notebook
models and will go mainstream by 2010,
while the first high-performance Acer note-
books with quad-core processors are starting Current Trends driver in the market and Dell has seen a
to hit the market. According to Llewellyn Chame, product growing trend towards wider use of ultra-
“Over the past few years, notebook manager, Dell SA, netbooks will continue to portable notebooks in general. Historically,
vendors have carved out the market into a be popular in 2009 as the move towards 14-inch notebooks were the most popular
number of segments to deliver a range of ultra-portable notebooks continues. In his form factor in the corporate sector while in
products that answer to the needs of a broad view, ultra-portable netbooks have seen the consumer sector the 15.4 inch models
set of users,” says Geypen. “Notebook significant uptake in the consumer market proved to be the most in demand,” he says.
vendor companies can no longer take a and still needs to increase in the coming year. At the one end of the spectrum, Geypen
one-size-fits-all approach to the market since “Netbooks are typically seen as a second believes that true desktop replacements with
segments such as the corridor warrior, the device, however, they are not so much large high-definition screens, plenty of RAM
road warrior, the deskbound user and the cannibalising the notebook market as and Blu-Ray optical drives are finding favour
desktop replacement power user all have extending it by adding a new form factor. with power users at home and at work. He
vastly different needs,” he comments. Ultra-portable is, however, still a significant comments that elegant, ultra-thin, ultra-light
Convergence: the
hottest issue in networking today
Enabling flexibility without sacrificing productivity.
BY DUDU SHABA
T
he ability to deploy best-of-breed applications
directly into the network infrastructure assists
networking vendors to differentiate them-
selves and helps their customers achieve
even greater returns on their investment in
networking infrastructure. These applications
create a more powerful and intelligent
network. This is according to Derek Wiggill,
regional sales director, 3Com Africa.
He says that the convergence of open
standards and an economic downturn
prompt people to be more selective in their
choice of networking components.
“Open standards means that they are no
longer locked into proprietary solutions and
can hand-pick products that will deliver
value,” he says.
Richard Sutherland, portfolio manager,
Dynamic Infrastructure also believes that
convergence, mobility and security are the
hottest issues in networking today.
“Convergence brings together voice,
video and data which is critical to ensure
communication among people and organi-
sations, mobility eliminates dependence on a
wired connection, while offering the user the
ability to connect from a place of their choice,
while security with convergence and mobility
is becoming more prevalent,” he says.
Sutherland believes that convergence in
the office environment is critical for business
as it offers people the flexibility to live a more
balanced life without sacrificing productivity.
“Convergence offers the critical advantage
of working from anywhere in the connected
world as if you are in the office,” he says.
Wynand Moller, regional manager, D-Link
Africa, Western Cape, states that new applications centralised, iron-clad solution, with management Richard Sutherland, Dynamic
like Wi-Fi VoIP require the ability to roam tools, policy enforcement and built-in security. Infrastructure
seamlessly and securely. “For example, They make wireless LANs as secure as their
wireless switches provide a simple, wired counterparts. With today’s technology
you can overlay WLAN switches without WiMax would have a ready market if it
compromising the integrity of the original weren’t bogged down by the ICASA
wired infrastructure,” he says. licensing process and the shortage of
Unlike traditional wireless networks, spectrum. This may improve by year end,”
Moller says that wireless switching offers a Wiggill comments.
user-based approach to administration According to Sutherland, globally WiFi
policy as opposed to policy tied to ports and Wimax are being adopted at a
and addresses. rapid pace.
“This puts the network administrator back “In emerging markets, the adoption is
in charge, with a centralised console for delayed and, in some instances, restricted by
managing and troubleshooting any contingency. regulatory policy and limited backhaul
Network administrators centrally control infrastructure. With Intel’s release of its new
chipsets that will support WiMax in the early
part of 2009, Wimax will be fast tracked in
“WiFi and Wimax are being adopted at a rapid pace. In many parts of the world,” he comments.
emerging markets, the adoption is delayed and, in some
Broadband fuelling
instances, restricted by regulatory policy and limited Are networking vendors fuelling broadband
to consumers in the home and office
backhaul infrastructure. With Intel’s release of its new environments?
chipsets that will support WiMax in the early part of According to Wiggill, bandwidth
acceleration technologies and WAN
2009, Wimax will be fast tracked in many parts of the optimisation remain extremely high priorities.
world.” – Richard Sutherland, Dynamic He says the availability and price of broad-
band to businesses and consumers alike
Infrastructure creates a compelling case for such technologies
to grow exponentially as the return on investment
is irrefutable.
Sutherland, says that network vendors,
authentication and encryption, manage telcos and ISVs are working together to
VLAN groups, enforce roaming policies and make connectivity more accessible through
maintain tight control over quality-of-service subsidisation of the components needed to
traffic. Each client is tracked by user identity, get connected.
rather than by port, device or approximate “The deregulation of markets has
location, making the environment more assisted greatly with fuelling broadband to
secure and intruders much more visible. consumers by providing access to uncon-
Policies that govern who can do what and nected areas,” he says.
where while roaming wirelessly can be easily Moller says that D-Link continues to fuel
implemented. Centralised WLAN systems broadband to consumers by developing and
follow users and know who they are, so it is marketing products that thrive on bandwidth.
much easier to locate rogues when they He says that new draft 802.11n wireless
appear on the scene,” Moller explains. technology improves bandwidth speeds
while enabling next-generation Internet
The adoption rate applications like VoIP.
Wiggill says that WiFi is continuing to “Small businesses that are considering
become more and more prevalent throughout wireless to expand network coverage, and add
the marketplace. With new WiFi standards connectivity and flexibility need to consider
such as 802.11n, he outlines that WiFi new draft 802.11n wireless equipment.
continues to improve as a technology. New draft 802.11n products enable
“Security remains a challenge facing WiFi faster performance and longer connectivity
networks in both large and small compa- range. They are perfectly suited to small
nies, and unless implemented correctly, it organisations needing a more robust
leaves them vulnerable to bandwidth theft wireless solution. Draft 802.11n wireless
and makes company resources vulnerable to solutions are much faster than traditional
Derek Wiggill, 3Com Africa unauthorised external access. 802.11g, 802.11b and 802.11a equipment.
network and software developers to team up the market with trained resources as
to ensure that their overall solutions work they did in late the ‘90s and early 2000s.
together effectively,” Sutherland comments. This is critical for the value chain and
Wiggill states that more and more movement of skills in the market,”
says Sutherland.
“Connecting mobile devices and managing
“Resellers need to focus on advanced technologies and their network access are major issues in
network management. There is a desperate
development of good quality resources that will ensure need for qualified network security
specialists in a field where technology is
service offering that customers will be addicted to.
rapidly evolving. SA will never have enough
Service is king in the era of skills shortage. Customer of them. They are in demand worldwide,”
Wiggill comments.
pays premier pricing for service and not products.” – Success in the IT industry also depends on
Richard Sutherland, Dynamic Infrastructure constant learning.
Moller says that the D-link DCE course
is designed to introduce, enhance and
applications are being embedded into the maintain valuable skill sets that are
network through programmes such as required in the IT industry. The DCE
3Com’s Open Services Network (OSN) training is a full two-day intensive training
initiatives. He explains that 3Com’s OSN course that encompasses the basics
programme allows software developers to of networking, taking the student through a
deploy their applications such as voice, series of simple modules through to some
security, bandwidth optimisation and many very advanced and interesting topics.
others directly onto a switch or router. “This
saves on the number of servers that need to The focus areas include the following:
be deployed, vastly improves performance Wireless, switches, security and surveil-
and provides a greater degree of flexibility of lance, and entails theory as well as
applications that can be deployed across practical hands-on sessions.
the network. They create a truly intelligent Providing network professionals with the
A look
into the
crystal ball
T
he fact that the year ahead will be a tough
one for the global economy has become a
cliché and companies have moved quickly
from thinking about how bad it will be to
the year is really going to be. An example of
this is the half-year revenue figures released
by IT solutions company Faritec this month
which showed a significant decline from
However, the group remains cash positive,
reporting a closing balance of R42 million.
Tomlinson said that while the revenue drop
was pronounced in the company’s Gauteng
making concrete plans to help them weather previous periods. and public sector operations, revenue from
the impending storm. The company attributed the somewhat the coastal operations has remained stable.
Company executives and industry analysts dismal performance to the global and local He added that hardware and software
agree that the next 12 months will be turbulent, economic downturn, which resulted in a revenues have declined by 21% and 23%
but there are certain market segments that pro- decline in revenue for the six months to 31 respectively, while the services side of the
vide more than just a glimmer of hope. December 2008. In addition, the company business declined by 6%, explaining that this
One such segment is the small and medium also reported a decline in gross profit margins. was partly due to the stability of its long-term
enterprises or businesses (SME or SMB) At the time of the results’ release, the com- service and support business.
space which has now become the darling of pany’s CEO Simon Tomlinson said revenue Spies says that from an IT distribution
many businesses because of the potential it had declined by 18% from R502 million to perspective, he foresees a year-on-year
still has to spend on technology provided that R414 million compared to the same period decline in units moved due to the current
the solutions make business sense. last year; earnings before interest, taxation, climate which will naturally put huge pressure
Pierre Spies, CEO of distribution house depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) on margins.
Tarsus Technologies, comments that 2009 is decreased to a loss of R11.6 million; and Although some analysts and industry
going to be a very tough year and says some gross profit margins decreased slightly from players have put a 12 to 18 month time
of the financial results that have been 24% to 23%, mainly as a result of significant frame on the entry point of the global
released so far are indicative of how tough pressure on hardware margins. economic recovery, Spies is confident that the
“It’s going to be tough out there so Looking at the corporate space, Gartner
companies have to watch their operating advises that CIOs must be decisive and
expenses and what they do very carefully,” resourceful in 2009. “Meeting the challenges
he notes. of 2009 requires CIOs to lead their organi-
Van der Merwe comments that with stricter sations or enterprises through decisions that
controls on revenues and expenses, there will have no simple answers. CIOs need to lead
unfortunately be some staff rationalisations in and have the foresight to look at IT in new
the sector and major reductions in IT budgets ways,” Gartner says.
across the board, but adds that companies
that do smart business will remain stable.
In light of the current economic climate,
research company Gartner has released a
number of reports predicting what industries “It’s going to be tough out there so companies have to
should expect in the near future.
Regarding the IT sector, the firm says
watch their operating expenses and what they do very
recessions tend to be turning points in an carefully.” – Gerhard van der Merwe, EMC
economy, spawning new industries. The
personal computer industry emerged from
the recession of 1979, and although the
“dotcom” recession of 2001 saw the disap-
pearance of most of the overvalued companies, They will demonstrate this leadership
we cannot ignore those that continued to through the following imperatives:
grow – Amazon and eBay, among others. Being decisive in setting priorities on
These turning points are equally effective actions that raise enterprise effectivenes
in ending prior business models, as the with a focus on improving business
financial services and automotive industries process, using business intelligence to
are discovering. The current recession started raise visibility and enhancing workforce
with the deflation of asset values in areas effectiveness.
such as housing and the stock markets. At Doing the first things faster, as changing
their height, asset values powered US economic conditions render a large
consumer spending, which in turn drove the project irrelevant. CIOs need to add
global economy. schedules to their prioritisation process
It will take years to know the full impact of and recognise that some priorities can
this recession, which makes these predictions wait. They need to place greater
even more important for effective decision- emphasis on the schedule (when) rather
making. What are the forces in play right than the priorities (why).
now, and how will they affect your industry? Being resourceful in restructuring IT to
raise its productivity and agility, because
Key Findings the business will not reduce its demand
The recession is having a highly negative for IT just because you have fewer
impact on IT budgets in government and resources.
retail. Modernise technical infrastructure, as new
”Creative destruction” is alive and well as technologies offer lower cost, use less
business models change to respond to energy, deliver better performance and
new economic and competitive realities, provide greater capacity; the business will
with automotive and K-12 including it in need all of these in the immediate future.
their predictions. With the above imperatives forming the
To show that complacency is never a basis for the CIO agenda and its focus on
strategy, the competitive landscape is making the enterprise more effective,
shifting. distributors and resellers alike can rest
New players are entering the arena to assured that although spending may
capture market share from incumbent slowdown significantly, smarter planning on
players, especially in banking and retail, their side will ensure that they benefit fromthe
whereas manufacturing is seeking to regain new opportunities that will be created by the
its power with customers. prevailing market conditions. Gerhard van der Merwe, EMC
I t’s no secret that customers are reluctant to part with their hard-earned cash during the economic downturn, but that
doesn’t mean IT sales will come to a standstill. Savvy solution providers will show that by spending a little now on the
right technologies, customers will actually save down the road and gain a competitive edge over their rivals to boot.
With that in mind, CRN has identified 10 real cost-cutting solutions that will play big in 2009. The list features
technologies that offer proven ROI with real-world examples of customers that scored huge savings. Ultimately, these
technology investments will provide the tools customers need to survive in this economy.