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READERS’ LIVES Agilitas IT Solutions’ Shaun Lynn 21

Spilling the beans Michael gives partners a first glimpse of how the new Dell-EMC will look 6

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Editorial Good times For resellers searching for clues about where Cloud rollups on board are sales director Ste- software, Sage has enlisted a the channel fits into Now is a good time to be ve Orton, who was previously trio of Hollywood actors to add the philosophy of a growing cloud managed sales director at BT Global Ser- some sparkle to its upcoming the newly christened services provider, particu- vices, and former Kelway man customer summit. , larly if you’re looking to sell Steve Fricker. Gwyneth Paltrow, Zooey De- the omens seem up and sip cocktails on the “We are certainly attracting schanel and Ashton Kutcher encouraging. beach. There’s a new kid on people from our competitors will all be sharing their wisdom The brand that will encompass Dell the block from the US that now, which was not the case on how to build a business at and EMC was introduced at EMC World is keen to snap up said firms six months ago,” said Logi- the Sage Summit in July. last week, and will come into force to create the world’s largest calis UK boss Bob Swallow, Anyone questioning once the duo’s record-breaking $67bn pure-play cloud services pro- who added that a ‘can-do’ their business credentials merger completes later this year. vider. New Signature, pow- culture is being instilled at will do well to note that Given both firms’ direct-sales ered by VC firm Columbia the integrator. Paltrow is COO of lifestyle heritage, resellers are right to approach Capital, has already bagged Rumours that Steve newsletter “Goop” the enlarged entity with a degree five US players and has now Cram and Steve Martin and that Deschanel of caution. After all, Dell and EMC turned its attentions to the are also in talks to join co-founded online still draw 60 and 40 per cent of their UK and Europe, with Dot Net the HP, IBM and Cisco community Hello respective revenues from their direct Solutions its first investment partner were uncon- Giggles. But in a sales reps – less than most of their target. Roll up, roll up! firmed as CRN went to possible sign that rivals including HP, Cisco and NetApp. press. Sage’s PR team But the signals from EMC World Logicalis (along with the rest suggest a combined Dell-EMC could BT, CDW and Dimension Sage customers of us) are at a loss as lean more heavily on the channel than Didata beware: Logicalis claims In a move by no to what he has done they did as separate firms. to have got its mojo back and is means driven by a with his life since One important clue lies in the attracting top executives from desire to distract Dude, Where’s My Car?, original reason Dell and EMC decided its rivals again, even if they do the audience from Kushton’s business to ditch direct all appear to be called Steve. the fact it makes accomplishments The signals sales in the The latest bigwigs to come boring accountancy weren’t listed. first place. from EMC Both vendors World“ suggest a were once combined Dell- one-product firms, but Bad times EMC could lean the growing more heavily on breadth Apple academic told the BBC after the channel of their What started as a bad week revealing he is “Satoshi Naka- respective for Apple turned into a right moto”, the shadowy pseudo- ” portfolios royal ‘mare for the fruity nym behind the popular cryp- meant their direct sales reps could no vendor, as its first quarterly to-currency. longer be experts in everything they drop in sales since 2003 And for anyone wanting to sold, hence the need to turn to the was followed by the avoid the limelight, voluntar- channel. Extending that logic, the birth news that US in- ily giving an interview with the of Dell Technologies will mean more vestor Carl Icahn world’s largest news organisa- help is needed from reseller partners has cut and run. tion would seem like the obvi- than ever before. Icahn, whose posi- ous step. And ’s first move after tion in tech firms is announcing the EMC acquisition was monitored closely by Ingram Micro to sell his services arm, Perot Systems Wall Street, confirmed It’s a hard-knock life being a – potentially an indication that Dell that he has sold a stake in distributor, with margins wafer Technologies doesn’t want to compete Apple worth $5bn (£3.4bn), Craig Wright thin at the best of times and a with the channel on services. citing concerns over the ven- “I wanna, I wanna, I wanna sector that changes more often As we explore in this week’s dor’s position in China. be adored.” Although most than the wind, plus the inevita- Spotlight, plans are already afoot for “In China they will come of us crave the adoration of ble fickle customers. bringing together Dell and EMC’s in and make it very diffi- our fellow man, the plaintive Ingram Micro, which is cur- channel programmes as the duo seek to cult for Apple to sell there,” entreaty of The Stone Roses’ rently in limbo over whether reassure partners they will be front and the 80-year-old investor told 1989 hit holds no truck with it is Chinese owned or not, has centre of the new Dell Technologies. CNBC. Apple’s shares fell Craig Wright, who claimed he had a disappointing first quar- As ever, please leave your feedback at three per cent on the news. just wants the quiet life after ter, due to a major restructur- ChannelWeb or Twitter @CRN_UK. Then again, it’s hard to feel outing himself as the founder ing drive in Europe, and also too sorry for a company with of Bitcoin. because it lost an unnamed Doug Woodburn is managing editor of CRN. a market cap of over $500bn “I don’t want fame. I don’t retail customer. Perhaps it re- Contact him at [email protected] and cash reserves equal to want adoration. I just want to fused to pay the compulsory 5p the GDP of South Africa. be left alone,” the Australian charge on plastic bags?

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MIDWICH SHAREHOLDERS IN LINE Transputec grey rumours FOR £50M IPO WINDFALL ■ VAR Transputec has confirmed to 13 years CRN that it is currently undergoing Since Apple last recorded a drop in quarterly As CRN went to press, Midwich was gearing talks with HP over “a couple of sales. Its Q2 revenues fell 13 per cent up for an initial public offering, valuing the issues”’. “Transputec has been a very as iPhone sales slipped distributor at an expected £165.3m and successful partner of HP for more netting its selling shareholders nearly £50m. than 20 years,” a representative said The Diss-based audiovisual distributor’s in a statement sent to CRN. “We are 83% shares were set to be admitted to the junior currently in dialogue Percentage of Microsoft Enterprise customers stock market on Friday for 208 pence each. with them over a who are in active pilots of Windows 10, Of the expected £75.2m gross proceeds, couple of issues, according to CEO Satya Nadella £26m is earmarked for partially paying and are confident down debt under Midwich’s existing of resolving these facilities, funding the final cash positively.” consideration relating to its acquisition of 1 million German arm Kern & Stelly and repaying Leads Datto has pledged to generate for existing shareholder loans. MSP partners by giving away its new file UK staff leave Netgear The remaining £49.2m will be for sync-and-share product for free ■ A handful of Netgear’s UK staff, the benefit of selling shareholders, the including commercial director Peter distributor said. Hannah, are leaving amid a restructure Following the admission, Midwich at the networking vendor, according $18.43m managing director Stephen to multiple sources. One source said Operating loss recorded by Ingram Micro’s Fenby and related parties will their departure could European business in Q1 hold about 27.9 per cent be linked to the of the distributor’s issued networking vendor’s ordinary share capital. recent decision to bring 10 Other directors, together its commercial Number of top Samsung Galaxy resellers senior management and consumer teams. distributor Exertis is treating to a three-night and staff will hold a trip to the Monaco Grand Prix 26.6 per cent slice. Private matter for ANS ■ Manchester VAR ANS is taking itself private after agreeing a £58m Our competitors like HP are shrinking their way to funding facility with The Royal Bank of success. Wait, you can’t shrink your way to success. Scotland and Muzinich & Co. Following “That is not even a real thing! But they’re doing it. They completion of the deal, ANS founders Scott Fletcher and Paul Sweeney are getting smaller. They are (pictured) will remain controlling separating their edge from shareholders of the business – which was previously their core with far less listed on the Plus revenue, less innovation market – owning a stake of about in R&D, less software, 66 per cent a smaller supply chain, between losing share in each them. of their businesses to Quality over price for TP2 Dell, even right now ■ IT suppliers will compete almost during this period entirely on quality, not price, on the second iteration of the Technology Michael Dell gave HP a roasting during” his Products (TP) framework, its leader keynote at last week’s EMC World. Kelvin Lee has told CRN. “If you want to play in Lots 1 to 5, you need to prove to us that you can add real value and can bring something different,” Lee said of TP2, which is due to launch in September when its predecessor expires, with an estimated purse of £4bn.

9 MAY 2016 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 5 SPOTLIGHT Stealing the limelight

Dell – the company and the man – took centre stage at last week’s EMC World event in Las Vegas. Hannah Breeze went along and found out what the future holds for the combined entity

Under normal circumstances, if the main Dell’s client solutions business will remain under the Dell brand, attraction of a company’s event is the and the enterprise offering – in which EMC will sit – will be named keynote speech of a completely different Dell-EMC, Dell said. firm’s CEO, it is unusual to say the least. But that is exactly what happened at Partner plans this year’s EMC World, with Michael The new name is not the only big change to the Dell-EMC business, Dell’s presentation the must-see event of with a new partner programme on the cards for 2017 too. the week. Last October, Dell announced In a media Q&A session, Michael Dell said both firms plans to snap up EMC in what is are channel fans, which the on track to become the biggest new partner programme tech merger of all time thanks will reflect. to its $67bn price. The plans “In both companies are progressing, with certain we have a number of countries’ regulatory people who have approval and a very significant shareholder experience in vote left to be the channel,” completed before he said. it is given the “One of the green light. interesting Since the deal things we have was announced, observed is that executives at both channel partners companies have remained have already completed tight-lipped about future plans, the integration. They’re out there meaning the Las Vegas event – which selling EMC, Dell and VMware as one attracted about 10,000 partners and solution. As you know, in the last six, seven or customers – was the first time any new eight years, the channel has become an increasingly information surfaced. large part of the Dell business. And it is an important part of During his keynote speech, Michael Dell the EMC business. We have observed that if you take the EMC channel finally unveiled what the new entity would programme and the Dell channel programme and put them side by be called, introducing Dell Technologies for side, they’re actually very similar. We are going to combine them the first time. together and have one Dell-EMC channel programme. I see the same “Our vision is to have a family of and more excitement from the channel as I do from customers and it strategically aligned businesses, bringing will be an important part of how we reach customers.” together your entire infrastructure – from Although EMC’s existing Business Partner Programme is still hardware, to software, to services – from relatively new – it came in at the start of 2015 and this January got the edge, to the core, to the cloud,” he said. a significant facelift – a new scheme combining EMC’s and Dell’s “We’re going to align our capabilities partner programme offering will come into force in as little as eight across our family of businesses where it months, in time for Dell’s new fiscal year starting 1 February 2017. makes strategic sense to deliver solutions. At the Global Partner Summit segment of EMC World, the “In thinking about what to call our new vendor’s channel chief Gregg Ambulos told partners that the new company, we really wanted to convey a programme will mark a significant step away from both firms’ direct- sense of being a family of businesses and selling heritage. aligned capabilities. As family names go, “Here’s something we have in common: we both began as direct- I am kind of attached to Dell! So in that selling companies,” he said. “Our founder coined the phrase ‘a pitbull spirit, I would like to announce that after would let go before an EMC [direct] sales rep’. And on the Dell side, the close of the transaction, our family of Michael Dell literally wrote the book on direct selling. A best seller, by businesses will officially be known as Dell the way. It’s called Direct From Dell. Technologies. “The direct model worked because we were pretty much one- “Dell Technologies will comprise the product companies and all of our sales teams were subject-matter combined technologies, companies experts. They were trained from Day One to control every aspect of and brands of Dell, EMC Information the deal. This was our model – our way of life. And it worked! Money Infrastructure, VMware, Pivotal, was flowing in. SecureWorks, RSA and .” “But the mark of true leadership is knowing that success can

6 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 9 MAY 2016 SPOTLIGHT

be your enemy if you any conflicts head on”. Further, “robust become complacent. incentives” to drive cross-selling will Our businesses began come into play, and a centralised global to shift and both channel structure will be put in place to companies realised that “ensure consistency worldwide”. we needed a change in EMC’s existing Business Partner selling models. We Programme was first announced at EMC couldn’t be experts World in 2013, before coming into force in everything and last year, representing an almost two- we knew that if we year period in which the new scheme was combined our strengths thought out and built. with all of yours, we The Dell-EMC deal could close any time between wouldn’t have to. We now and October, meaning a time period of between three began to transform our and 10 months could be all there is to bring in the new programme businesses. in time for the 1 February deadline. “It was tough moving EMC’s EMEA channel boss Philippe Fosse said this is not a problem from direct to channel – because of the similarities between the two. we had our bumps in the road. “I think it is going to be easier than you think,” he said. “The In the early days, we were reason is that the feedback we got from the people who are already voted – by all of you, by the way – looking at the two programmes is that they are not conceptually as the worst partnering organisation in very different. They all have thresholds, certification requirements, the industry. There was a lot of scepticism about whether or not Dell and both look to reward incremental business in new accounts. So I could change. But if there’s one thing I can honestly say, it is that we am not worried about our ability to merge the channel programmes. listen. Today, the channel is not just important, it is essential to our We think it is going to be easy. We are going to take the best out of business models.” the two programmes.” Ambulos added that along with the new programme – which at the moment has no name – Dell Technologies will work hard to ensure that no conflict arises between the two channels colliding. A separate, dedicated deal-registration programme will be launched, in which EMC’s Business Partner execs will cross-check registered deals with one another and “address Programme vs Dell Partner Direct BPP PartnerDirect Annual sales threshold for Silver Annual sales threshold for (lowest tier) $1.25m Registered (lowest tier) None Annual sales threshold for Gold Annual sales threshold for $8m Preferred $200,000 Annual sales threshold for Annual sales threshold for Platinum (top tier) $45m Premier (top tier) $1m Other considerations: training and Other considerations: number number of specialities achieved of competencies achieved Percentage of EMC’s global Percentage of Dell’s global business done through the business done through the channel 60 per cent channel 40 per cent

Our vision is to have a family of strategically aligned businesses, bringing together your entire infrastructure – from“ hardware, to software, to services – from the edge, to the core, to the cloud Michael Dell ”

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How does the grey market rank among CRN poll your biggest bugbears? @CRN_UK The issue of grey market kit hit the headlines again in recent weeks after Transputec admitted it is in “Was interviewing 28% talks about “a couple of issues” with HP, which are a candidate today 22% rumoured to be related to the activity. The long- and noticed he was standing HP partner could not give any further momentarily distracted. details about the situation but said it is confident By this one (the dog!). that it will be resolved successfully. #LoveSoftcat” Hardworking HP was also unable to comment on any specific pup Millie caused a stir on one cases but stressed that the firm takes grey-market of her recent shifts at Softcat, It’s our biggest One of the top activity very seriously. according to managing director bugbear three bugbears The issue has been a hot topic in recent months Colin Brown (@ColinBr). The – Cisco spoke out about the issue and said it takes adorable ‘cavapoo’ belongs it “very seriously”, and headset vendor Plantronics to Sean Connolly, sales team 36% revealed that it had taken steps to protect its leader from the reseller’s 14% brand and partners amid concerns surrounding London office. EU imports. Half of the respondents to our poll said grey- market activity is either their biggest bugbear or among their top three. More than a third (36 per cent) took the opposite view and said it is This issue’s notpoll: a problem at all, while 14 per cent said the it It’s in the top 10 Not an issue atXxxxxxxx? all featured in their top 10 business bugbears. Web comment www.channelweb.co.uk

Trust the maths? “For the three months ending 31 January 2016, Pure made a net loss of $44.3m”....er? Commenter VendorGirl took issue with a comment “Do dogs not get bored made by Pure Storage’s president David Hatfield at its eating the same thing, recent partner and customer summit. Hatfield hit out every single day?” at what he branded FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) Paessler’s senior sales manager peddled by rivals about his business. When urging Rupert Collier (@rupertcollier) partners to “trust the maths”, he was referring to the 66 also had canines on his mind. Fortune 500 companies Pure trades with and its total addressable market of $24bn. “Is this a thing? Hairdressers charge It absolutely astounds me how companies think Vodafone came to help out, Outsourcery’s share price kids same price as about this stuff so many years later. rocketed, but as Atherton pointed out, it returned to adults on Saturday, but 75 per The Pool Man was surprised that it has taken until normal quickly. cent cheaper on weekdays? now, 27 years after it was founded, for vendor ASUS to Thanks for penalising working correct people who have been saying its name wrong. I once recommended this business as a great buy parents!” Microsoft’s UK The vendor published a video confirming the correct back in the mid-nineties... Surface lead Pauline Yau way to pronounce its name is actually “Ay-Zeus”. ChannelWeb regular Muffin the Mule said they had (@paulineyau) spoke up after seen the value in Midwich for a long time when the feeling ripped off by her local Yep, up to 7.75p from 4p and straight back down distie announced plans to list on the Alternative hair salon. – closed at 4.62p today. When I read in The Times Investment Market this month. about their £500,000 salaries, I knew what kind of “Dinner with Bill company it was. Sadly, this is very common globally. It takes time McGloin in LDN last David Atherton pointed out changes in Outsourcery’s and patience to track down fraudsters but perhaps it night, straight after share price on the day its partner Vodafone announced is necessary to spend 30 minutes doing professional being on ‘ask the CT ‘ panel. plans to loan it an undisclosed amount. Earlier that due diligence checks right at the beginning to I was not expecting ‘what week, Outsourcery released its financials, in which eliminate the risk. day is it?’ #spatmywineout” it revealed it made a loss in 2015, and said that as Jason Koffler warned people to be vigilent after the Computacenter chief a result, it was hunting for more cash. On the day channel was hit by another fraud. technologist Paul Casey (@pfcasey) was reeling after an What do you think? Head to www.channelweb.co.uk, Twitter or LinkedIn to join the CRN community and have your say audience member lost track of the time during a recent Q&A.

9 MAY 2016 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 9 Economy meets performance

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10563RI+3(FRQRP\WRQHU / FDUWULGJHLVORZHUFRPSDUHGWR0563IRU+3oVVWDQGDUG $ FDUWULGJHFRXQWHUSDUW+3oVVWDQGDUG $ FDUWULGJHVKDYHKLJKHUSDJH\LHOGVWKDQ+3(FRQRP\WRQHUFDUWULGJHVSHU SURGXFWVSHFLILFDWLRQVSURYLGHGE\+30563DUHQRQELQGLQJUHFRPPHQGHGSULFHV$FWXDOSULFHVPD\YDU\3URGXFWVSHFVDUHPDGHDYDLODEOHE\+3 „&RS\ULJKW+3'HYHORSPHQW&RPSDQ\/37KHLQIRUPDWLRQFRQWDLQHGKHUHLQLVVXEMHFWWRFKDQJHZLWKRXWQRWLFH FEATURE Shared destiny Comstor is synonymous with Cisco in the UK, but the duo are jointly targeting new customers outside Cisco’s networking stronghold in 2016, as Doug Woodburn reports

For a company that claims Cisco is “in its DNA”, Comstor Comstor UK commercial director Richard Carpenter is under more pressure to make the right bets with the said a key challenge will be dispelling the perception networking giant than any other distributor. among end users and resellers that Cisco lacks clout in The Westcon-owned distie claims to represent more the security space. than half of Cisco’s UK business, and in turn relies on “Cisco say they have 21 per cent market share, which Cisco for 95 per cent of its own sales. makes them number one,” he said. “But I came [to And never has making the right Comstor] from a security background and Cisco was investment decisions been more important never mentioned in the security marketplace. There’s a for Comstor as Cisco charges full bore real drive from Cisco to show the market that they have into security and emerging markets some really good solutions in their portfolio, and their such as the Internet of Things (IoT), aim is to stand up and be counted.” hyperconvergence and SDN. “I think we will see growth this year, and The professionals that is partly because we’ve got that real Following the acquisition and integration of focus into areas where Cisco is seeing Cisco services firm Intact, professional services strong growth,” said Comstor UK lead is Comstor’s other key focus for the year Clive Hailstone. ahead as it strives to help resellers get up to Chief among Comstor’s big speed on newer areas of Cisco’s portfolio, bets this year is security, an such as IoT, Hailstone said. area Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins “If you look at Comstor, we’ve always recently said remains “the wanted to be at the forefront of new most critical priority” for technology; and the only way to do that is its customers. Cisco’s total to have a services organisation that security sales leapt 11 per cent can stand alongside the partners and year on year in its most recent help them move into these new areas, quarter, with advanced threat whether that be IoT or software or security up 180 per cent and web hyperconvergence or security, which is security up 40 per cent. the big focus,” he said. Hailstone said the Cirencester- “Now we have this enhanced service based distributor had responded to string to our bow, it means that we can Cisco’s call for one of its distributors really push the envelope in terms of new to get laser-focused on security. partners. If you look at the areas Cisco is “There was a bit of concern that going into – IoT is the classic one – all Cisco might go and sign a specialist of a sudden there’s a whole new partner security distributor,” he said. community that Cisco has a real interest “But we said we are absolutely able in working with. to do that and are willing to co-invest “But Cisco can be quite a complex in becoming a security distributor beast to get your head around. Cisco that happens to have security in our makes it complex and we can simplify it.” portfolio, rather than a Cisco distributor More than 95 per cent of Comstor’s that sells Cisco.” revenues come from Cisco, with the In the last six months, the distributor remainder drawn from complementary claims its partners have carried out 46 technology such as Plantronics headsets, security assessments using Cisco’s firewall APC power supplies and hyperconverged appliances, generating a pipeline of $1.4m. infrastructure from Simplivity. Comstor has also thrown its weight A short-lived and doomed partnership behind Arbor Networks, a DDoS mitigation with Cisco rival HP ProCurve (now HP vendor with which Cisco has an OEM Networking) at the turn of the last relationship. Recent Cisco acquisition decade proves that Comstor works OpenDNS, as well as Cisco-owned wireless best when all its resources are pointed vendor Meraki, will also form part of the behind Cisco, Hailstone said. ➔ distributor’s security offering.

9 MAY 2016 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 11 Where are local councils planning to invest their IT budgets this year?

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Cisco as a percentage of Comstor’s 95%+ UK sales

Comstor trades with 400 UK resellers

Comstor’s Westcon UK Cisco Group’s first- 50%+ market share Comstor is targeting half 2016 2,000 new UK revenues were $2.5bn mid-market customers in 2016

“That was not one of our better decisions,” Hailstone said. brought under the same roof in 2014, with key account managers “Cisco is absolutely in our DNA. We won’t sell anything that now representing the trio for larger resellers. competes with Cisco – it has always got to be part of a “Previously, it was globally aligned along Comstor, Security and Cisco-centric solution.” UCC, and now it is much more territory-aligned, with [UK boss] Comstor’s UK business trades with about 400 partners in any one Tony Nevill now getting paid on the UK and Ireland number,” month, which Hailstone said reflects its emphasis on building deep Hailstone explained. partnerships with select resellers. “We get together as one team, and will continue to work more “We tend to measure how many partners buy from across the full closely together to make sure we are leveraging the back-end part of suite of Cisco products,” he said. “We’re not a broadliner, so we’re our business as effectively as possible, and having a single point of never going to be touching thousands of partners. What works for contact for that piece. us is where we’re working with partners that really want to develop “The bit we don’t want to dilute is the bit that differentiates us a Cisco business.” – that specialism, whether that’s the Comstor-Cisco piece, or the Hailstone (pictured below) revealed that Comstor is looking to security piece.” bring on board 2,000 new mid-market end users in its current fiscal In October, Comstor parent Datatec announced that a business year, which started in March. This mirrors a similar mid-market process outsourcing firm in Romania would take charge of some of quest at Cisco itself, he said. the distributor’s EMEA finance and operation functions. Some 300 “That’s where having these intimate relationships with the of Westcon Group’s 1,900 EMEA staff will be affected by the move, partners really comes to bear,” Hailstone said. “We want to hone in it said at the time. on a limited number of committed partners that can bring net-new Hailstone said the phased migration, which is set to be completed mid-market customers to the table. by mid-2017, is “progressing as it was designed”. “The ultimate aim is not to enable partners to nick business “Our focus has always been on the sales and marketing and from their neighbours; it’s really about technology piece, and that will remain,” he said. “What this does is generating net-new business for us bring together some of that operational piece as a Comstor-Westcon and Cisco, therefore [our group, but really it’s business as usual. The big focus for us is to metrics] are aimed at net-new make sure we are adding value and touchpoints from a sales and end users.” marketing and tech point of view.” Closer co-operation In its fiscal first-half ending 31 August 2015, Westcon Group between Comstor and saw global revenues rise 12 per cent year on year to $2.5bn, with its sister brands, Avaya Comstor’s Cisco business generating 45 per cent of the total. distributor Westcon UCC In the UK, Comstor enjoys the lion’s share of the Cisco market, and security VAD Westcon Hailstone claimed. Security, is also on the cards. “Our market share is 50 per cent-plus,” he said. “We always The three businesses were wanted to be, and remain, twice as large as our nearest competitor.”

Cisco is absolutely in our DNA. We won’t sell anything that competes with Cisco – it has always “got to be part of a Cisco-centric solution Clive Hailstone, Comstor ”

9 MAY 2016 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 13 SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES table bookings Contact Jessica Feldman on 020 7316 9838 or email Contact Natasha Witter on 0207 316 9176 or email [email protected] [email protected]

MEET THE CLASS OF 2016

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Champagne Interactive fi ght Social Media Prize Draw Part reception & bar Decider: Sponsor: Sponsor: Sponsors: sponsor: FEATURE ‘My mother thought this was a school project until last year’

Malwarebytes CEO Marcin Kleczynski was only 14 were booted strapped for five years, profitable from when he fell into the industry while downloading the beginning, cashflow positive from the beginning. a pirate video game which infected the family We’ve never lost a dollar. We hope to potentially be computer with malware. In his search to fix the acquired, IPO or just keep growing the business over problem, he developed a passion for cybersecurity the next few years. which led to the creation of Malwarebytes. With offices in California, Florida, Ireland and How important is the channel to Estonia, the company has around 400 employees Think App Store Malwarebytes? and revenues of $100m (£68.6m), with a 50/50 split on your iPhone; I We went from 2014 when the channel accounted for between consumer and business. “ a sixth of our business, to last year when it was about Fresh from scoring $50m in funding from Fidelity really want to do a third of our business. This quarter it has already Investments, Kleczynski spoke to CRN’s Samantha the same thing for been 36 per cent, so we are growing more and more Wright about Malwarebytes’ roots, its channel end-point security skewed towards the channel, which is great. In the ambitions, and where the industry’s future lies. UK we work with partners including Kite Distribution ” and Blue Solutions. We have added 1,000 resellers What was the genesis of Malwarebytes? over the last five months. I was downloading a pirated video game online. We had traditional anti-virus software and all What are the tricks for developing a company of a sudden pop-ups are coming up and the in the security industry in such a short time, computer is melting down. and at such a young age? My mother was ready to kill me. So I went I owe everything to our remediation strategy; just online, like any sane person would, and having something out there that is free for people Googled my symptoms. I found a security to try. If I were to start over today and try to do it forum, with about 100 to 200 volunteers without a free model to draw people in and try the who were helping people like me do a software, we could never succeed. manual removal process of the malware. I think you need to have a value proposition that I learned how to programme, and decided is free to try, let people sample it on their own time to automate some of these processes. So that and get the brand message out there. is what I did in 2004; by 2007 I had a couple of freeware applications out there that were Who would you say are your competitors? helping the community. The next-generation products such as Crowdstrike, In 2008 we launched the first version of SentinelOne and Palo Alto. I think the traditional AV the product and it went viral. We had players are starting to teeter between next-generation $10m by the end of the year. The and old-school approaches. Companies like Symantec company started by selling just to and McAfee are old school, I don’t think there is consumers. You run the product much hope there. for free, it gets you back to health, and then if you pay Where do you think Malwarebytes will be $25 you get a professional in five years’ time? lifetime licence, which I want to reinvent security. I think the way protects you for life. security is today is still wrong; I want to move We started being pulled more into being a platform. Think App into more and more Store on your iPhone; I really want to do business accounts, with the same thing for end-point security. people who used our So an IT administrator could log on products at home wanting and see all the computers in real to use them at work, time and install security software and that is where our on them from there, whether enterprise business really they are in Beijing, London or spawned from. Chicago – from their desk they can see all of that. Did you expect the business I think that is where we are to grow to the point it is heading in the next two or at now? three years, but beyond that I No way. My mother thought it was don’t know yet. If you had asked a school project all the way up until me five years ago where we would be last year. We started the company and now, I couldn’t even guess.

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Although the spectre of the EU referendum is casting a shadow the outcome will have a short-term impact on confidence. over the UK economy, channel bosses are upbeat about the “Pushing business through the early part of the summer is industry’s ability to outpace GDP growth. going to be challenging. But the biggest worry for us is the GDP This is mainly because the channel has already been through per capita,” he said. We are the fifth-largest economy in the the pain of several recessions, with the transformation to a world, but we ranked 27th on the list for GDP per capita. That services-led model cushioning many players from the general is not very good.” decline in the UK economy. But he agreed that the channel is in a strong position, and According to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) should be driving growth. figures, GDP increased by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of “From our point of view, we are not seeing a similar slowdown 2016, a decline when compared with the 0.6 per cent rise in Q4 in growth and our industry is a sector that is performing strongly 2015. On a more positive note, GDP was 2.1 per cent higher from a services perspective,” he said. “We are the industry that in Q1 (January to March) 2016 compared with the same quarter should be providing solutions for how the economy can grow. a year ago. If we continue to invest in these solutions, there is no reason However, the services sector, which accounts for over three why we cannot continue to drive the economy. A weakening quarters of GDP, compensated for output drops in the three other economic climate is no excuse to underperform.” economic staples: production, construction, and agriculture. Martin Hellawell, CEO of Softcat, said minute fluxes in the Services grew by 0.6 per cent in the first quarter, while economy don’t make a difference to his firm. construction fell by 0.9 per cent, agriculture by 0.1 per cent and “We are talking about pitiful levels of growth. It doesn’t make production by 0.4 per cent. that much difference as even in the recession we were growing Firms have also been hit with the rise in the minimum wage, at higher levels than that. There are a lot of businesses that are and pensions auto-enrolment, but the channel is well placed to spending money on IT, and while economic growth would be the stay ahead of the curve. icing on the cake, it doesn’t mean we all hide under the table Mark Evans, commercial director at VAR Imerja, said the when growth isn’t as high as expected,” he said. channel was more resilient than some industries because many “Overall, growth levels are positive for the UK in the second had made the move to services early. half of the year, but of course the elephant in the room is Brexit. “A slow in GDP growth is never good news, but companies If Britain voted to leave the EU, I think the second half of the that have implemented sensible long-term strategies will be less year would be unclear, but if there is a ‘stay’ result, there will be affected by this in the short term. Those in the channel, like general relief in the economy. ourselves, that have moved away from simply reselling products “Of course, there are pockets of the economy not doing so well and towards a focus on really adding value, through the likes of and you have the likes of BHS and Austin Reed [going under], but managed services and innovative IT solutions, are more resilient they were non-performing brands, so it’s no surprise. to fluctuations in GDP growth rates thanks to more reliable “So overall, does it matter that much? It is helpful if there revenue streams and long-term contracts.” is GDP growth, but does it really affect us? No, it doesn’t. Our Justin Harling, managing director of CAE, added that the growth is going to come EU referendum could from taking market cause difficulty over share and doing a the summer as better job than our uncertainty about competitors. And there is plenty of opportunity there. “In slightly harder times you get polarisation in the market, with the stronger performers on one side and the weaker on the other, and there is some of that going on in our market. But I would rather be in the UK economy than any other. It is still a pretty good place to be,” he concluded.

9 MAY 2016 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 17 2nd June 2016 America Square, London 08:30 – 14:30

Finding your place in the cloud marketplace

To be able to survive and thrive in this highly REGISTER FREE* competitive environment and reap the events.channelweb.co.uk/cloud *Only Senior Executives from VAR organisations qualify for free benefi ts, resellers need to know exactly how admission. Please note free admissions are strictly limited and are issued on fi rst come fi rst served basis. they fi t into the market, where they should be concentrating their investments/resources, SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES and how to help their customers get full value For details on sponsoring this event contact from their cloud investments. Naomi Cregan on: E: [email protected] Join us for this half day event to: T: 020 7316 9259 • Learn how to grab the opportunities that the cloud market holds • Hear real-life case studies from your peers JOIN THE DISCUSSION • Meet with leading industry vendors to fi nd out about the latest FOLLOW @CRN_EVENTS FOR ALL OF THE trends and novelties in technologies LATEST UPDATES #CHANNELCONFERENCE CHANNELNOMICS EUROPE Performance enhancing After a year of investment, Damovo is setting its sights high in 2016, its CEO tells Sam Trendall

“I am trying to create a high-performance simplification. There has been a 100-plus increase in headcount business.” since the Oakley cash injection, with staff numbers now standing That is the mission statement of at 375. The company, which previously had individual country Glen Williams, who was appointed businesses running more or less independently of each other, has also CEO of Damovo shortly after the restructured into three business units: Central (covering DACH and integrator was acquired in January Poland); Benelux; and Damovo Global Services and Ireland. 2015 by private equity shop Other initiatives undertaken during FY16 include the Oakley Capital, which invested implementation of a new SAP business intelligence platform. The alongside Daisy founder new financial year has brought further investment in the business, Matt Riley. Williams was including the opening last month of an around-the-clock, multilingual brought in to lead a planned support and network operations centre in Poland. expansion drive, with the “We have been able to simplify things and take out some cost,” intention of growing both explained Williams. “Having consolidated into three businesses, we organically and via M&A. are able to purchase a bit better and to get better rebates than we The goal was, over the course would have before. €92m of several years, to transform an “The headcount is still growing, and we have invested in lots of sales Damovo’s FY16 turnover, €80m player into a €200m one. and pre-sales people. We have also invested in SAP and all the core an increase of 12 per cent What is more, the incoming chief was applications we run the business on, and that is something we want to given a remit to turn a business with leverage. We also put in place a laptop refresh programme, and other 24 per cent “well-publicised issues” into a lean such things to make life easier [for staff].” YoY growth of EBITDA in and lithe operation that could grow Three months into FY17, Damovo intends to increase growth profitably. levels this year to take group turnover comfortably past the €100m FY16, coming in at €7.1m More than a year into the project, mark. In FY16 the VAR saw the biggest volume increase in turnover 375 Williams asserts that much progress in Germany, while Belgium saw the highest sales growth in has been made. Preliminary unaudited percentage terms. During the year the firm set up shop in Austria, Employees across eight financial figures for the year to 31 and acquired its way into Luxembourg, with the August 2015 buyout European countries, an January 2016 – the firm’s first annual of the voice and UC operations of Centre de Télécommunications et increase of more than numbers since the buyout – show Téléinformatiques Luxembourgeois (CTTL), part of Luxembourg-based 100 since being acquired turnover rising 12 per cent year on year Wagner Group. to €92m. Profit increased even more The deal marked the first move in Damovo’s buy-and-build strategy, January 2015 rapidly, with EBITDA expanding by 24 with more M&A planned for FY17 in the company’s target territories Date of acquisition by per cent to €7.1m. of DACH and Benelux. Williams believes there is an opportunity in a Oakley Capital and Organic growth was the key to central and western European market that has a comparative lack of Matt Riley sales success, as Damovo generated acquisitive players. He explained that Damovo remains on the lookout an additional €8.5m in revenue – for wholesale acquisitions, as well as potential spin-outs of a larger equating to an annual rise of more business – in the manner of the CTTL swoop. than 10 per cent. Some €103m in new “All the consolidation in the UK market – that Daisy has been business contracts was won during part of – that has not really happened in Europe. There are a lot of the year, with the pipeline swelling to owner-led, -managed, and -run, businesses out there,” he said. “M&A a worth in excess of €200m by year- discussions are ongoing. Matt [Riley] and Oakley are supportive of the end – more than double its size at the strategy, and offer insight and support.” close of the prior year. The plan for the year ahead will be to pursue M&A activity while The CEO claims that the maintaining, if not improving the rate of organic growth. All the improvements to the company go while, Williams intends to perpetuate the new ethos of the business beyond just the top and bottom line. by disseminating the “high-performance” values down from the “We’re winning more customers, boardroom to middle management. and are now seen in a different and Thankfully for Williams and his team, more positive light by our vendors,” said the recipe for this performance-enhancing Williams. “We have zero debt, we pay people programme is a simple and wholesome on time, and we can now talk about trying to grow one: “It takes lots of energy and drive.” our business, rather than just keeping the lights on.” ■ Visit www.channelnomics.eu to get daily news Damovo’s new-found positivity follows a year and analysis on the IT channel across Europe of investment and restructuring in the name of

Having consolidated into three businesses, we are able to purchase a bit better and get better rebates than we would have before... We have “also invested in SAP and all the core applications we run the business on, and that is something we want to leverage Glen Williams, Damovo ” 9 MAY 2016 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 19

READERS’ LIVES

What a knockout It sounds as if Agilitas IT Solutions’ Shaun Lynn probably regrets Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX taking part in a company-wide event Tel: (020) 7316 9000

Editorial What was your first job, support and skills are required Editorial director Sara Yirrell (020) 7316 9421 and how did you get to remain competitive in [email protected] into IT? today’s global market. Managing editor Doug Woodburn 9517 I was hired as a graduate [email protected] by IBM. I was one of the Do you have a favourite Content editor Sam Trendall 9813 first hires onto the C&W [email protected] motivational quote? Social media editor and chief reporter global outsource account, “Why are we still talking Hannah Breeze 9510 working in the commercial about it?” [email protected] department focusing Reporter Josh Budd 9154 on budgeting and cost What should the [email protected] modelling of the account; government be doing to Reporter Samantha Wright 9199 the largest outsource in [email protected] help UK businesses grow? Europe at the time. Tax incentives to retain and Production editor Amy Micklewright train talent within a business. Production executive Hyrie Mehmet 9779 Are you a cat person or Group production editor Dan Parker a dog person? What would you like to Advertising sales I’m definitely a dog person. have as your epitaph? Commercial director Matt Dalton 9796 Dogs are more loyal and “He brought inventory to the [email protected] CAREER CV Major client manager Sara Humphries 9708 obedient than felines. masses.” [email protected] Shaun Lynn CEO, Agilitas IT Major client manager Nina Patel 9943 What were you like Solutions Sweet or savoury? [email protected] at school? ● 2010-2013 Enterprise solutions Both – pistachio ice cream! Client manager Naomi Cregan 9259 Annoying. Apparently, director, Acal Supply Chain [email protected] nothing has changed! ● 2006-2010 Head of multi-vendor Your closest near-death Business development manager Jessica Feldman 9838 services and partner management, experience? [email protected] What is the most Oracle (Sun Microsystems) The Agilitas “It’s a Knockout” important trend to ● 1999-2005 Senior Supplier Olympics where I picked up Incisive Media London follow in 2016? Manager, IBM Global Services more injuries than Darren Group publishing director Alan Loader Inventory-as-a-service, as (Strategic Outsourcing) Anderton (for all those who Managing director, Incisive Business businesses look to reduce remember ‘sicknote’) – all Jonathon Whiteley Circulation, back issues & licensing their capex on IT spares and inflicted by members of the Address changes, circulation, subscriptions move to a more opex model that can scale up Agilitas team, I hasten to add! and back issues 0845 1551846, email or down with customer demand. [email protected] How do you cheer yourself up when To subscribe to CRN visit: www.wdis.co.uk/crn What is your biggest regret in business? you’re feeling down? Does it work? CRN is available for international licensing. Contact I have no regrets, just learning experiences and Havana Club 7 rum and a Cohiba. It works [email protected] CRN is published fortnightly by Incisive Business Media character-building exercises! every time! Limited, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4RX. What was the first record you bought? The Final Countdown, Europe. © 2016 Incisive Business Media (IP) Ltd Printed by Headley Brothers Ltd. Mailed by Headley Brothers Ltd. ISSN 1744-3156. What is your most overused word? Printed on paper from Absolutely. sustainable sources in Scandinavia. Why do you think there is a skills shortage? And what can be done For custom editorial reprints contact Wrights Reprints about it? at +1 877 652 5295 (international Technology has been moving at a rapid toll-free) Email: [email protected] pace over the past couple of years and BPA audited July-December 2010 IT firms have not been investing enough Average qualified circulation: 13,045 time and resource in upskilling their CRN is distributed free to individuals who meet the technical teams. In order to fill the skills publisher’s terms. Paid subscriptions UK £120, Europe gap, both businesses and the government $150, Rest of World £280 need to work together in understanding All images are from www.istockphoto.com, unless stated technology advancements and where

9 MAY 2016 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 21 DAVE THE DEALER

Rest assured The government is spying on us but we’re all too busy sleeping or self-abusing to care. Dave despairs

I was a little nauseated to learn this week that Well, that or just get his computer fitted with headset vendor Jabra has inked a partnership Angry Birds or Football Manager – the days with MetroNaps – which is only the “premier would’ve fairly flown by. provider of workplace rest facilities”. If you’re as long in the tooth as I am, Game of groans you might have grown up with the idea Aficionados of nipples and mythical creatures that “workplace rest” should be a deeply were bursting with excitement last month at oxymoronic concept. But the hip young the return of Game of Thrones. gunslingers at MetroNaps have designed their Indeed, such was the hotness of the EnergyPod contraption to provide businesses anticipation levels that the screening of the with “a space uniquely designed to enable first episode of the sixth series saw millions napping in the workplace”. of people across the world stop whatever they And the product, which resembles the lovechild were doing to sit down and watch. Even if what of a helicopter and a dentist’s chair, can now they were doing was, erm, themselves. come fitted with Jabra Evolve 80 headphones, According to stats from popular online smut offering workplace snoozers the ultimate in repository Pornhub, the site saw a noticeable “active noise cancellation and superior sound drop-off in its usual Sunday-night traffic for quality”, the comms vendor claims. the hour the show was on. As the site has 60 MetroNaps CEO Christopher Lindholst million visitors a day, the four per cent decline comments: “Research shows that napping is in traffic it experienced equates to a couple of beneficial for cognitive function, alertness, million onanists suspending their self-love sesh. productivity and overall wellbeing.” What’s more, either side of the TV show’s Good point, Chris. Any Dodgi staffers who season premiere, Pornhub noted a massive want to grab 40 winks only need to ask, and I’ll 370 per cent spike in the number of visitors be more than happy to let them sleep as long as searching for Game of Thrones-related material, they like. Right after they pick up their P45. including clips of its numerous steamy scenes. If you haven’t seen it before, Game of Thrones Bored meeting is a fantasy epic noted for its graphic swordplay In further evidence that the world is going to scenes. It also features hand-to-hand combat. hell in a handcart, I heard this week that a 44- year-old Frenchman is suing his ex-employer for Disstopia £280,000 over claims his job was “too boring”. The UK Investigatory Powers Bill – widely Parisian Frederic Desnard has launched referred to as the Snoopers’ Charter – has a lawsuit claiming that the four years he attracted its fair share of criticism. But the law’s spent working for French perfume company authors might be comforted to know that many Interparfums represented “a slow descent UK citizens have compared it to some of the into hell”. Monsieur Desnard was reportedly 20th century’s greatest works of literature. appointed as a manager at the company Sadly, the books in question are dystopia- but soon found himself stripped of various lit classics Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New responsibilities and left doubting his worth to World. Indeed, a study by unsubtly named VPN the extent that he “would often break down in specialist HideMyAss finds that most Brits can’t tears” upon arriving at the office. distinguish lines in the bill from unsettling “But no one noticed because no one really passages of the aforementioned novels, as well cared whether I was there or not,” he mused. “I as more recent books and movies including The Dave Diamond-Geezer, director of Digital Online was left depressed and ashamed of being paid Hunger Games, The Matrix, and Enemy of the State. Deals and Global Integration (Dodgi) of Dagenham for doing nothing.” “The Snoopers’ Charter has little regard for Ltd, is now on Twitter @davethedealer. To which lawyers acting on behalf of the our privacy, and is therefore unsurprisingly If you have any gossip to share, contact him at perfume firm responded by asking “if he difficult to distinguish from dystopian fiction,” [email protected] actually had nothing to do over all these years, said HideMyAss COO Danvers Baillieu, in an why didn’t he mention it?’”. email to his wife.

22 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 9 MAY 2016 The new CRN Live app for iOS and Android users gives you complete access to premium channel news, analysis, research and in-depth features that are regularly updated on www.channelweb.co.uk at a time that suits you through a new convenient channel.

,i>`Vœ˜Ìi˜Ìœvyˆ˜i]LœœŽ“>ÀŽ>˜`à >ÀiޜÕÀv>ۜÕÀˆÌi>À̈ViÃ] }i̘œÌˆwV>̈œ˜Ãœ˜Ì i>ÌiÃ̈˜`ÕÃÌÀÞ“œÛi“i˜Ì>˜`ÀiViˆÛi , ½Ã>ÌiÃÌ stories on the go. Read CRN your own way. Commute and Read News.

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17 NOVEMBER 2016 BATTERSEA PARK EVENTS ARENA, LONDON

We are pleased to announce that entries for the 23rd CRN Channel Awards are now open! With 25 categories, fi ve of them brand new, the emphasis is very much on excellence and innovation this year. We are looking for passion, NEW honesty, humour and a desire to win. Company size does not matter. CATEGORIES These are independent awards and we are very proud of that fact. ADDED FOR Best of luck with your entries and we look forward to reading them. 2016!

ENTRY CLOSING DATE: 15 JULY 2016, 5PM View the full criteria and submit your entry online at events.channelweb.co.uk/awards ENTRIES ARE FREE

ENTRY ENQUIRIES SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES TABLE BOOKINGS Contact Katie Burridge on: Contact Matt Dalton on: Contact Natasha Witter on: E: [email protected] E: [email protected] E: [email protected] T: 0207 316 9438 T: 0207 316 9796 T: 0207 316 9176

Category Social Sponsor: Media: