November 2011 MicroScope Indispensable channel analysis microscope.co.uk

This month’s theme is storage We identify big channel opportunities in Big data page 5, look at data management options for SMEs page 7, identify the benefits of tape storage page 11, CONSIDER THE potential of solid-state drives page 13, and study B2B storage drive demand page 15 the month in the channel

Asda challenges rivals with Weak European economy hits aggressive laptop pricing RM boss Sweeney quits following Ingram Micro Asda has raised the stakes in the run- European economic problems and up to Christmas by cutting the price operational review weak trading in Australia prompted of some of the laptops it stocks to lev- a cut in earnings from Ingram Micro, els well below its rivals. The super- RM CEO Terry Sweeney has handed in his resignation in the wake of an despite the distributor raising its market chain has taken Amazon pric- operational review completed at the end of September. sales projections. The distributor es as its benchmark and shaved £60 RM said Sweeney had decided the time was right “to pursue his career joins a growing list of tech firms that off the price of a couple of Toshiba outside RM” and said the split came “by mutual agreement”. have cited the ongoing fragility in the laptops, and is pitching the move as Rob Sirs, who had previously decided to leave the firm after 21 years of Eurozone as one of the reasons why one designed to help cash-strapped service, has been reappointed to the board as group managing director, with growth has been impacted. It has also buyers working with tight budgets. responsibility for RM’s operating businesses. seen disruption from the transition to Meanwhile the firm has also appointed non-executive chairman Martyn a new enterprise system in Australia. UK PC market fluctuations Ratcliffe, who joined in June to oversee RM’s operational and strategic review, “bottom out” in Q3, says Gartner as executive chairman. Microsoft goes on the Although the UK PC market took an- The education specialist is in the process of cutting its headcount by a fifth offensive over VMware costs other predictable battering during the as it smarts from the impact of public sector spending cuts. According to Microsoft has claimed its Hyper-V third quarter of 2011, there may be a Reuters, RM shares have lost over 40% of their value since it announced the product is significantly cheaper than little cause for optimism, according latest round of redundancies last month. an equivalent VMware installation. to Gartner. Research director Ranjit It has also confirmed it is selling its US-based classroom products business Microsoft said its ECI Datacenter Atwal took a cautiously positive Computrac to local player Troxell Communications Inc for an estimated cash product suite cost €3,354 (£2,918) per view when the analyst firm released consideration of £3m. RM will continue to trade in the US through its 100% processor and has no additional cost its third quarter figures. “Importantly, held subsidiary RM Group US LLC, which specialises in education software for virtual machines, while VMware’s quarter-on-quarter, all vendors saw and services. cloud infrastructure suite cost more growth apart from Acer, suggesting than €1,000 extra per processor, with the fluctuations in the market may be a further €1,493 charge per virtual bottoming out,” he said. machine.

Industry welcomes HP PSG Software VARs team up in reprieve Microsoft Dynamics merger HP’s not-unexpected U-turn over Seven business software resellers, in- the future of its PSG business unit cluding Calyx Software, have teamed has been welcomed, with industry up to form a new mid-market-facing watchers praising new CEO Meg Microsoft Dynamics supplier called Whitman for reversing Leo Apothek- m-hance. The new firm is composed er’s decision to explore a potential of the integrated businesses of Calyx divestment before any lasting dam- Software; Microsoft Gold Partner Gy- age could be done to the channel. HP rosoft; Microsoft Dynamics GP VAR said a review of the business had re- Touchstone; ISV Trinity Computer vealed how deeply intertwined PSG Services, and its subsidiaries Avant- is with the rest of its business, and Garde and Sys-Care; and Calyx Soft- the massive extent to which it con- ware’s Irish business MentecPlus. tributes to HP’s “portfolio and overall brand value”. Stoke insurance firm latest to settle over unlicensed software HDD shortages and price The Business Software Alliance rises to hit distribution (BSA) has snared a Stoke-based in- The fall-out from the Thailand floods surance firm in its legal net as part will be price rises and shortages for of its ongoing drive to crack down months to come, as additional costs on organisations using unlicensed are passed on through the supply software. Autonet Insurance Services chain by OEMs, with prices likely to Kesa ends Comet saga, selling Limited has settled with the BSA rise by 5%. A Citi Group analysis of after being caught using unlicensed the consequences of the impact of the retail chain to VC Hailey for just £2 software following an audit. It paid Thai floods on the hard disk drive out £3,000 and the additional costs of market has warned that not only will Comet might be known for its bargains come the Christmas sales, but its implementing measures to ensure it there be shortages, but OEMs, which parent came up with an offer venture capital firms found difficult to refuse, stays on the right side of the law. will get stock priority, will have to selling the retail business for £2. pay higher prices. The buyer is a group of companies under the name Hailey, which has been Hybrid cloud is the current advised by OpCapita, and includes a £50m investment from Kesa, which will channel proposition Softcat boss Hellawell on retain liability for the staff final salary pension scheme and responsibility for Resellers should start selling hybrid look-out for cheap furniture services and warranties. cloud solutions, combining on-prem- Softcat managing director Martin Kesa will also benefit financially if the chain is sold on again for a sum above ise with hosted applications, as the Hellawell has secured use of a Transit £70m, and for the time being things will continue to run as usual, with the market and the technology is ready to van and volunteered to “buy eve- emphasis on turning the struggling retailer around. support that sales pitch. The expecta- rything we need in the Ikea sale” as The sale came in the same week that rival electrical retailer Best Buy Europe tion across the industry is that the the firm lines up an office move in announced plans to shut down all of its 11 UK stores in another sign of the hybrid cloud model will exist for the the near future. The fast-expanding tough trading conditions for out-of-town shopping centres. next few years as customers move reseller has burst the seams of its David Newlands, chairman of Kesa Electricals, said that it had been towards the cloud, shifting certain Marlow base and has announced the exploring strategic options to dispose of Comet since June and it wanted to applications and departments over purchase of a nearby facility, some find the best way of restoring profitability at the chain. before taking a wholesale move to the 50% larger than its current home. hosted option.

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk november 2011 | 2 community

simon quicke editor’s comment Nick Booth it in context Selling simplicity to SAP gets starry-eyed at manage complex data Sapphire Now meet

few years ago if you wanted to impress someone by talking about storage, you dropped some quotes about global data A exceeding all of the books in the British Li- brary by a factor of X and left it at that. In the days when gigabytes seemed to be enough for most people, that seemed to do the trick, but today it would be greeted by a shrug as data in even the average organisation is piling up fast. Two broad pressures have been building over the past two years: the growth of data generating appli- cations; and the need to stay on the right side of the law and protect it. Features such as voice and video, along with so- cial networks and other forms of communication, mean sensitive data can be shared and customer contacts need to be monitored and reacted to. The resulting talk about ‘big data’ and the tools to ana- Actor Gabriel Byrne addresses lyse it and provide valuable insights have had a lot of Sapphire Now delegate

Selling simplicity doesn’t mean ilm star Gabriel Byrne (The “You should have seen him in Usual Suspects) gave the Orlando,” said the woman beside taking away the complexity and performance of his life, as me. “He was speaking off-the-cuff F himself, playing the role of then and came across as a bit of a the experience of those selling to a big fan of SAP’s enterprise resource wild card.” planning (ERP) software. Perhaps someone wrote a script for SMEs – the opposite is true On a stage in front of 4,000 fans, him this time, because he was using a at the Sapphire Now/TechEd event lot of phrases that IT marketing man- in Madrid, he unveiled his passion agers might use. coverage – the good news is there appear to be some for ERP, cloud computing and “Don’t let your ‘what ifs’ become real opportunities for the channel here. And there should in-memory transactions. your ‘if onlys’,” he told us. Byrne seemed to be opening his “The present is already the past,” be, because the pressures of compliance are being felt heart to his audience of customers, he argued. “Now is the future.” even at the SME level and the challenge of getting the partners, journalists, analysts and We have to make decisions in the most out of information is a day-to-day challenge. bloggers. blink of an eye, apparently. The result is a good one for resellers, because not Who’d have thought that the star Hang on, isn’t that how we lost only do their customers need their help, but the wide of Hollywood blockbusters such as £8bn on a useless IT system for the variety of products available presents choices for the Miller’s Crossing, End of Days and NHS? By rash decisions? partner to pitch and the user to purchase. Treatment, would be so concerned Gabriel Byrne is right. The future is But key to most sales pitches is ‘simplicity’ – ven- about the future of corporate com- pretty terrifying scary. dors have been aiming to develop products and ac- puting? But clearly he was sitting in Credible. Jim Hagermann Snabe made a bit companying software suites that deliver it and users his trailer, performing his own form of data analytics and predicting the more of a credible witness. Well he are desperate for it as they grapple with reams of un- future. should, seeing as he’s co-CEO of SAP. structured data. “We have two quantum leap op- SAP’s concept of in-memory com- Keeping it simple doesn’t mean taking away the portunities ahead of us: cloud com- puting, which compresses data complexity and the experience of those selling to puting and in-memory computing,” enough to fit an entire warehouse full SMEs. In fact, the opposite is true, as those custom- said Byrne. into one giant pool of memory, is the ers demand ever greater levels of power and perfor- Like many an IT executive, he had fastest growing category of IT, mance from complex products. Where they want it a theory about what Einstein would claimed Snabe. Putting all your data to be easy is in the management of those products, say if he were on the board of an IT into memory means you can process which is where the channel can play a crucial role. company today. (“Mind you, he’d any calculation thousands of times faster. There’s no problem that can’t If you would like details of forthcoming themes have to get his hair cut.”) The great man would have rewrit- be solved. running in the MicroScope ezine, share your reaction ten the theory of relativity to include I’d like to ask the computer why to this one, or make any other contribution, e-mail in-memory computing and cloud, they didn’t put Snabe on first. ■ me at [email protected]. ■ apparently. “E equals IMC squared,” said IT in Context blog Editor’s blog: Quicke off the Mark Byrne. http://www.microscope.co.uk/ http://www.microscope.co.uk/blogs/quicke-view [PAUSE FOR LAUGHTER] blogs/it-in-context/

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk November 2011 | 3 community

Nick booth it in context Billy macinnes At the margins The march of the tablet: JUPIT ER I M AG E S iPad 2 more desirable than world peace

he onward march of the tablet and 18% were trying to sell them. is reflected in the most recent Mind you, that appears to conflict Tfigures from research firm with a survey a couple of weeks ago Context which show it accounted for into what people would get if they 12.2% of total revenues for European could have one wish granted, which tech distributors in October. found that apart from £1m, most peo- Well, tablet is a bit of an imprecise ple would like to have an iPad 2 – term, because when Context says ahead of world peace, being famous, “tablet” it really means iPad. Sales of having cosmetic surgery or owning a iPads in the third quarter were up sports car. 21.5% to 569,000 units, compared Then there’s the small matter of with 38,000 for Samsung and 34,000 Amazon’s Kindle Fire which, appar- for Asus. ently, is making people think again Context CEO Jeremy Davies said about buying an iPad in the US. An Bad things often Apple’s iPad had been “a significant online Retrevo survey found 44% of contributor to the growth in distribu- Americans would consider the tor tablet revenues”, adding that it ($199) Kindle Fire, compared with continued “to make inroads into Eu- 12% for the iPad ($499). rope’s business channels with the Of course, the question is whether come in threes third quarter of 2011, seeing a signifi- those 44% would have bought an cant year-on-year uptake in adoption iPad in the first place, or whether ou’re walking along, ‘Manage out’ indeed. How ghastly. by small and medium-sized busi- they are part of a group that has been you casually glance in a That’s got be the final stage of my nesses, as well as large enterprises”. waiting for a lower priced alternative Currys window and you horror triumvirate, surely. Quite how well the tablet/iPad cat- to come along. It will be interesting to Y see something shocking. Big corporations would argue egory is doing in distribution is dem- speculate if, in 12 months’ time, peo- That’s stage one. Stage two comes that Christmas is a great time to onstrated by the fact it now places ple would wish they could have a soon after, as you realise that the make lay-offs, because you’re giving third in terms of sales, behind desk- Kindle Fire above world peace (and gargoyle in question is actually that person the perfect excuse not tops on 18.5%, but ahead of servers an iPad 2 for that matter). your reflection. I don’t know what to buy anyone a present. on 6.6%. Top of the heap by quite My suspicion is that at that price, stage three is, but there’s always a Maybe now it’s time to go self- some way is notebooks on 61.2%. most people would be inclined to opt third, and because I know it’s com- employed or open that shop you The evidence of growing adoption for world peace, an iPad 2, being fa- ing, the suspense is agonising. always dreamed of. If so, there of the iPad in business is intriguing mous, having cosmetic surgery or Two Avaya headlines have given seem to be two options on the mar- coming, as it did, only a day after a owning a sports car rather than a me the heebie-jeebies this month. ket: Moonfruit (about whom I’ve survey for MyVoucherCodes.co.uk. $199 device. ■ First, Avaya intends to ‘cut the dead written before) and Actinic – a which revealed that a quarter of con- wood’ from its channel (I can’t help web-based service which claims to sumers use their iPads only once a At the Margins blog but sympathise with the doomed be even easier. week, 46% thought they hadn’t got http://www.microscope.co.uk/ VARs in these cases). Then came Let’s be honest, Christmas pre- their money’s worth from their iPads, blogs/margins another brutal threat, that Avaya sents are a complete waste of money was about to ‘blow the lid off the anyway. You might as well just put grey market’. the cash directly into the tax haven What have the older members of of choice for the retailer you bought the channel done to deserve this? the doomed present from anyway. At its recent partner summit in Ber- Wouldn’t it be great if you could lin, Jeremy Butt, the worldwide buy your loved one a service in- channel vice-president, promised a stead? Whether the service was a new channel order. massage, some hypnotherapy or Now, since I did my back in, I’ve just a plain old cloud legacy sys- been feeling about 94 years old and tems integration (“How romantic! I’m particularly sensitive to stories That’s just what I wanted”), at least like these. To make matters worse, you could be sure of one thing – I recently overheard an IT manager you’d be stimulating the local econ- for a big corporation tell his friend: omy. And helping the service pro- “It’s a nightmare at work. I’ve been viders to ‘add value to the channel’. told to manage out as many people And isn’t that what Christmas is as possible.” all about? ■ To ‘manage out’ people is to con- structively dismiss them. Or at least IT in Context blog persuade them to leave, without http://www.microscope.co.uk/ wanting to bring up redundancy. blogs/it-in-context/

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk November 2011 | 4 data management

ou might be surprised to learn that, according to IBM, the rise in data levels Y has reached such a pitch that 90% of the data in the world Big data presents huge today has only been created in the past two years. That’s a pretty spectacular in- crease, all things considered, but channel opportunity when you factor in the proliferation of transactional data from compa- There is growing demand for data management nies, web logs, RFID, sensor net- works, social networks, internet text applications. Billy MacInnes looks at how and documents, internet search in- resellers can get involved in this lucrative area dexing, medical records, video ar- chives and photography archives, it is perhaps not quite as astonishing as it first appears. This brings us to the phenomenon known as ‘big data’ – data sets so large that existing database manage- ment tools, relational databases and desktop statistics/visualisation packages, struggle to capture, store, search, share, analyse or visualise them. How big is big data? The con- sensus appears to be “very big, but we can’t tell you just how big”, on the basis that big data sets are a con- stantly moving target. It’s not just big, it’s important. Ac- cording to a study entitled Big data: The next frontier for innovation, com- petition and productivity, published in May by McKinsey Global Institute, big data “can play a significant eco- nomic role to the benefit not only of private commerce but also of national economies and their citizens”. It sug- gested that if US healthcare could use big data creatively and effectively, the potential value from data in the sector “could be more than $300bn [£188bn] in value every year”. tive marketplace… The opportunity ners or strategists, could never do this Turning big data into actionable in- Furthermore, a retailer using big is there, ready for the taking.” before,” she says. formation is an area of potential data to the full could potentially “in- At first sight, this may appear a lit- Sean Farrington, regional vice- major difficulty for businesses, ac- crease its operating margin by more tle bit above the pay grade of many president for Northern Europe and cording to Keith Goldstein, vice-pres- than 60%”. According to the report, companies in the channel, but ven- UK managing director at QlikTech, ident for indirect channels at open Tesco has already used big data to dors active in the big data space are says there are “huge opportunities for source data management specialist capture market share from local com- keen to stress there is a role for part- the channel around supporting big Talend. This has given rise to de- petitors, and McKinsey expects “to ners to play. data applications”. He says channel mand for big data applications see value accruing to leading users of Kurt Bilafer, global vice-president, companies can shine by helping or- which, in turn, “creates a huge big data at the expense of laggards, a analytics and channel partners at ganisations of all sizes “address any amount of opportunity for channel trend for which the emerging evi- SAP, is adamant that the vendor’s issues they face when facilitating a partners to reinforce their position in dence is growing stronger”. channel partners “are an integral part big data application, such as integra- the market by providing applications More recently, Sybase published a in bringing innovative solutions to tion, master data management, data that leverage big data. By offering guide on big data analytics entitled market”, adding that the go-to-market quality and migration”. users a package that addresses big Intelligence for everyone: Transform- strategy for SAP’s In-Memory Hana Data analysis in many corporate data, the specialist relationship be- ing business analytics across the en- solution “is to enable, include and systems is complicated by the need to tween resellers and user remains in- terprise, which was designed to illus- leverage our VAR channel partners to integrate information from multiple tact,” he claims. trate that there are tools and methods help customers quickly bring about sources in multiple formats. Channel to make sense of the new, massive business benefits”. partners can help to make the process Integration expertise data sets. Suzanne Hoffman, director of efficient and manageable, transform- Judging by the responses from those channel at data discovery tool spe- ing something “very demanding that operating in the big data application Big opportunity cialist Tableau Software, says the requires detailed technical under- market, the consensus is that the “Big data is here – and it is to be em- channel “is just recognising the huge standing and tools, into a seamless op- channel’s traditional role in integrat- braced and exploited,” says Sybase opportunity big data represents” with eration that suits both customers and ing multiple technologies and plat- vice-president of database products, enterprises able to aggregate their technology providers. Channel part- forms is the one that stands it in best Brian Vink. “Organisations that are data warehouses and federated ners can stand out by offering an all- stead for playing in this space. prepared for the data explosion have sources into a single view that is vis- encompassing, balanced solution Adam Chapman, marketing a tremendous chance to achieve sig- ualised for the user. “The channel, which, when done well, can be excep- manager for ReadSoft UK, says the nificant advantages in their competi- whether it was implementation part- tional for all parties involved”. expertise required to bring together >>

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk November 2011 | 5 data management

<< multiple elements of a big data solu- tion, such as input devices, scanners, software, hardware, storage and net- work elements, is something that no single vendor can do on its own. “The channel can bring all of this together with a deep understanding of the customer’s needs, project management and a really personal touch,” he adds. Hoffman at Tableau says channel partners are no longer just a sales and distribution network, but a sig- nificant part of the technology com- munity and they need to be able to address the tactical and strategic side of their customers’ business. “In fact, the channel is more important, Bilafer: “[Partners] are an integral part in Wallis: “To deploy solutions to big data Cahill: Seeing channel opportunities for as the vendors cannot possibly be bringing innovative solutions to market” challenges, we need channel partners” supporting big data apps “every day” engaged in the larger projects with all the software and hardware com- and legacy systems that need specific existing partners need to change to rect sales teams to ensure that the ponents that need to interact. As we integration work and expertise to take on expertise beyond their stor- channel is ready and capable to de- sell software, we need to rely on the make them work. “The value from age capabilities or that NetApp will liver real business benefits that our expertise of our partners to engage the channel comes in handling those need to develop additional chan- customers have come to expect from with the customer at all levels of de- legacy, bespoke or customised sys- nels. It’s not going to be an overnight SAP and our ecosystem.” cision-making.” tems – they can’t just be forgotten phenomenon. Business analytics It appears to be working, he adds, about,” he states. “represents adjacent markets” – it is citing comments by Co-CEO Bill Daunting prospect Jeremy Wallis, systems engineering not a matter of cannibalising exist- McDermott in the company’s most All of this sounds pretty positive, but director at NetApp UK, also sees ing markets, he says. recent earnings call when he re- to fulfil that role, channel partners value in partners helping to provide Tom Cahill, EMEA vice-president vealed the Hana pipeline had in- need to be prepared to get in on the customers with an integrated solu- at Jaspersoft, says there are definite creased to over €600m since its re- big data act. But Hitachi Data Sys- tion. “To deploy solutions to big data opportunities for the channel around lease in June: “Demand for this tems’ regional UK and Ireland sales challenges, we need channel part- supporting big data applications. solution requires all of SAP, direct director, Harvey Smith, says they are ners,” he says. “We’re seeing them every day,” he and indirect to be aligned, selling not rushing to get involved. “Many Wallis adds that while it might not says, citing the example of a solution and most importantly addressing partners are wary of approaching big be very relevant to smaller partners at that combines IBM’s Hadoop-based the needs of our customers.” data applications because of the scale the moment, as big data becomes InfoSphere BigInsights product with Smith at HDS says it offers selected and resources that are required to fit more relevant to more customers “it Jaspersoft’s business intelligence (BI) resellers specialised training to equip this type of project,” he observes. “As will be more applicable to a wider suite to help partners get the most out them with the skills to work on enter- a result, the channel is missing out range of channel partners”. of big data apps. prise projects and deliver virtualisa- on a valuable opportunity to support He says the big data trend will He reveals that systems integrator tion, migration and application inte- vendors as they look to implement have “a huge impact on existing rela- (SI) partners are working with BI gration which they can apply across this type of solution.” tional database suppliers and their builders in enterprise customers to multiple verticals to position them- What do they need to do to take ad- partners”, citing the example of one build reporting and BI solutions selves as industry experts well vantage of the opportunity? Pretty bank where his contact suggested it using low-cost, highly interoperable equipped to work with vendors, un- much what they’ve always done. could be completely rid of relational open standard software technologies. derstand where their skills lie and “Partners and resellers need to create databases in five years and reliant on “These SIs co-sell or resell our BI where they need extra support. a role for themselves and act as a some kind of big data business ana- software and form our channel,” he He says this gives the channel the point in the market for different tech- lytics instead. says, although they are “highly de- opportunity to negotiate with the best nology and skill sets to meet,” Harvey “We’re starting to see volumes of pendent on our expertise, services partners and consultancies to deliver suggests. “The channel typically has data [being generated] in certain cus- and support”. projects supporting big data applica- access to unique products and solu- tomers that mean traditional relation- Goldstein at Talend says that as tions which meet customers’ expecta- tions that large vendors may not be al databases don’t scale enough, and software vendors and software-as-a- tion and enhance their own offerings. able to reach. As a result, they can we’ll probably see partners that have service (SaaS) providers incorporate Wallis at NetApp cautions that big bring together multiple technologies traditionally been selling databases embeddable big data management data “is a very generic term that en- and vendors and provide unique so- and database consultancy starting to technology into their own product compasses so much”. He says it is lutions that meet vendors’ unique look at business analytics and skill stacks, they can provide reseller part- unlikely there will be such a thing as sets of requirements.” up in those areas,” Wallis adds. ners “with the perfect tool for their a “big data reseller”, but more likely And as Chapman points out, most The shift to business analytics is customers. By focusing on their core there will be people with expertise in vendors would love to work with an likely to lead to the vendor selling to competency and leveraging other particular requirements for a particu- “easy or clean installation”, but the different kinds of partner, especially technologies, resellers can equip lar category. “We could very well see reality is very different. A lot of cus- those with expertise in business ana- themselves with the perfect big data a number of niche partners that are tomers have a complex environment lytics, he says. It may well be that package for their customers, main- small but very specialised. That’s taining their place in the channel”. what happened with our channel ini- SAP’s Bilafer says the opportuni- tially and we’ve got a much broader ties are already there for its channel partner base now.” The channel’s traditional role in partners, with the ability to partici- So how big is the opportunity for pate in sales cycles and enable their the channel in terms of supporting integrating multiple technologies stands organisations to better understand big data applications? Well, to use a and exploit the power of Hana. “In phrase that appeared at the beginning it in good stead for delivering big data fact, we are leveraging the same ena- of this article: big, very big even, but blement tools that we provide our di- we can’t tell you just how big. ■

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk November 2011 | 6 data management storage stockbyte

Managing millions of megabytes Amro Gebreel looks at how resellers can help SMEs choose and implement storage solutions to meet their needs

mong small and medium- have plenty of advice about what an sibility and can focus their time and Secure and accessible information sized enterprises, the num- SME storage solution should look efforts with higher-value business is critical for financial services com- ber of megabytes and tera- and feel like. processes/transactions. panies or businesses that trade infor- A bytes might be lower than “With a back-up-as-a-service mation, such as online retailers, be- those racked up in the enterprise and Cloud computing cloud system, the level of data pro- cause they require all data available the technology currently being used Inevitably, one of the options the tection and amount of storage space in the event of a disaster to comply might have a slight legacy feel to it, channel is being urged to consider is purchased can be precisely scaled to with internal/external regulations but the SME sector still requires sup- to pitch cloud-based storage. It offers the value and size of each type of and ensure business continuity. port from the channel in making stor- a host of benefits, least of which is its data,” he says. “Online back-up ser- “And the problem is worse for age decisions. topicality, and for SMEs with plans to vices give companies the same level SMEs which are in periods of rapid- With every organisation, large grow quickly it seems to offer genu- of control over their data as equiva- ly-fluctuating growth and cannot af- and small, experiencing rapid data ine benefits. lent inhouse models, but with addi- ford to host new applications onsite growth, coupled with a pressure Paul Evans, managing director of tional benefits such as: no upfront or to constantly purchase new back- to get the most out of that informa- Redstor, believes cloud-based servic- capital investment on hardware, up tapes to cope with anticipated tion, there are real opportunities es save SMEs capital expenditure on software and back-up media; no data growth – only to leave them un- for resellers. the necessary array of inhouse infra- tape, tape management and off-site used when the growth doesn’t mate- But as you would expect, the structure and software. Such services storage costs; elastic capacity on de- rialise,” says Evans. options are fairly wide and those also liberate overworked inhouse IT mand and maximum data availabili- “However, this can be remedied pitching products at the channel teams which are freed of the respon- ty; and data security.” with a cloud back-up service as data >>

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk november 2011 | 7 data management

is protected in two remote, highly se- back-up,” says Pete Hill, partner cure datacentres with strong encryp- manager at C4L. Thai floods hit HDD supply tion levels and the amount of storage space can be scaled up and down in The network The fallout from the floods in Thailand is going to be component price rises lockstep with demand.” The cloud might be an option for and shortages for months to come, with the costs passed on through the Mike Worby, business develop- some, but getting more out of their supply chain by manufacturers, leading to potential rises of 5%. ment manager at ComputerLinks, networks is going to be another de- An analysis of the consequences of the impact of the Thai floods on the says traditional disc or tape-based so- mand from many looking to their hard disk drive (HDD) market from CitiGroup warns that not only will there be lutions for data storage and protec- resellers for support. shortages, but OEMs, which get stock priority, will have to pay higher prices. tion can be expensive, unreliable and Even inside an organisation Manufacturers will get stock ahead of the open channel, causing the prone to human error. there are expectations that smaller shortages to be felt most severely by distribution, warn the analysts. “When it comes to running an IT businesses will look to get more CitiGroup expects a shortage of 20-25 million drives a quarter for the next department, cost and expertise can storage capacity out of their existing six months, with a warning the impact will be greatest in distribution. be a huge issue for SMEs. Because of network. Network-attached storage “Distribution, including the white-box PC market, should experience the this, using cloud-attached storage for (NAS) and storage area networking bulk of the shortage,” it said. Citi added it was “already seeing significant back-up is a great solution as it can (SAN) are still seen by many in increases in HDD pricing in the channel”. include the benefits of using on- the channel as the bread and There is also a warning that panic buying might cause price spikes in premise devices, while also harness- butter products. distribution. ing the financial benefits of cloud “There is likely to be an increased The other impact of the floods will be to give a leg-up to those vendors that computing,” he says. channel focus on networked storage have not been too badly impacted by the natural disaster, particularly “This means organisations can for SMEs, due to the expanded use Seagate and Samsung, with Western Digital the largest victim of events. back up and restore data at network of video and steady growth in home Marcus Thompson, senior director of EMEA Sales at Drobo, says the speeds when needed, alongside uti- or remote working. At the same recent floods in Thailand have had a knock-on effect on the HDD supply lising the cloud for cost-effective off- time, more and more small business- chain, which is one of the most ubiquitous and necessary technology site data storage and disaster recov- es are moving towards IP-based net- products in the world. Industry analysts are already predicting a sharp ery. As both storage and back-up are works, meaning that data can be ac- increase in drive prices and a severe shortage in drives available. addressed under one service, it can cessed from many more locations,” “Storage choices for the next year will likely be affected, and probably also be easier for SMEs to manage in says Paul Routledge, European stor- require different selection criteria than in the past. The channel should be able terms of compliance of data and age business development manager to offer SMEs storage products that can easily accommodate old or new back-up services. In addition, by of- at D-Link. drives, drives from any or all manufacturers, and drives of all sizes and fering the solution as a managed ser- He says that currently, direct at- firmware levels. Or even storage systems that don’t require proprietary drives. vice, resellers provide skills and tached storage (DAS) is one of the More flexibility and more choices are a good thing right now.” guidance to their customers, which most common demands, “because it is the real value the channel adds,” is simple to deploy and relatively low he adds. cost, but only really offers a very Worby suggests that cloud-at- basic level of storage for local envi- But even on top of those two which it can grow,” says Catherine tached storage can be particularly ronments”. choices, things have become more Campbell, chief technology officer beneficial for data-rich industries that The danger with this option is that complicated with the introduction for HP storage, UK. offer professional services. These are islands are created in more dispersed of the iSCSI protocol which has “Another challenge many SMEs often smaller organisations where in- organisations, which can undermine made it possible for a SAN to be are facing is the move to Exchange tellectual property and the written attempts to back up data cleanly. based on an organisation’s existing 2010. While some will take the op- word are key to their businesses. In “The main choice for customers is Ethernet infrastructure. portunity to move to cloud-based these cases, it is absolutely crucial whether to adopt a NAS or SAN ap- “The channel needs to be able to messaging providers, others will that data is properly backed up. proach to network storage,” says offer both solutions as whether an choose to keep this inhouse,” she The benefits of using the cloud Routledge. “SAN implementations, SME chooses a NAS or SAN is essen- adds. are fairly compelling, but for a re- while offering the highest levels of tially a matter of resources and, more One of the positives in the storage seller the first stage on that journey performance and availability of any importantly, business needs. While market from a channel perspective is one of educating the user, so they storage medium, have traditionally networked storage is a definite goal has always been the choices resellers must ensure that when it comes to demanded dedicated costly fibre for many small businesses NAS may can offer customers. Some of the de- talking through the options, the channel technology to operate at the prove adequate to their needs. For bates have been running for years – starting conversation is a compre- required level, as well as needing others, the reduced costs and relative such as tape versus disk or NAS hensive one. specialised, skilled staff to operate simplicity mean SAN is suddenly a against SAN – but for the channel, “The channel should be making a and maintain it. By comparison, NAS more viable and attractive option for this range of options gives them more concerted effort to educate its cus- can provide cost-effective, central- them,” he says. ways to approach the user. tomers on the benefits of cloud stor- ised data access and storage that is The other phrase that the channel That is also true with the solid age. By adopting storage-as-a-service, readily available from any location is being encouraged to push is state disk (SSD) market, which is IT users can eliminate a number of on the network without such invest- ‘shared storage’, which is something gaining a buzzword position in the concerns around provisioning both ment, and so has been the preferred that Hewlett-Packard wants to talk storage world, and could be placed storage and related tasks such as option to date.” about to tap into the growth of virtu- for an expansion in the SME market. alised storage. “As SME customers implement Solid state virtualised server solutions, they en- Steve Nicholls, director at CSA Wa- The performance of SSDs is staggering counter the need for enterprise-class verley, says that although SSD stor- shared storage to support this envi- age technology has a bright future, compared with traditional rotating ronment, but often don’t have the there are two major issues – cost and budget or the skills for “traditional” long-term reliability – that need to be storage, and there are many applications fibre channel-based SAN solutions. resolved before we see wider adop- For these customers, HP would tion. that benefit from the very high therefore suggest that SMEs adopt The issue of cost can be linked to enterprise shared storage, allowing a volume economics of manufacture performance of this storage technology low-cost entry into shared storage and distribution, and no doubt in with no limits on the extent to three to five years, the cost per >>

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk november 2011 | 8 data management

gigabyte will have dropped. To im- prove the long-term reliability of

SSDs, a huge investment is being thinkstock made to address this – focusing mainly on the write ‘wear out’ issues. “Putting aside these issues, the performance of SSDs is staggering compared with traditional rotating storage, and there are many applica- tions that benefit from the very high performance of this storage technolo- gy,” he says. “A highly effective customer solu- tion could consist of a small pool of SSD storage, a moderate pool of fast disc storage, and a large pool of slow disc storage, coupled with an intelli- gent data mover to exploit these pools,” says Nicholls. “SME organisations that are mi- grating from old, unsupported ver- sions of Exchange are realising that a SAN-based ‘mailbox’ can cost four times more than a ‘mailbox’ provi- sioned on direct attached storage. This is forcing organisations to exam- ine solutions that can drive cost out of the company mail infrastructure,” he adds. There are also challenges posed by the rapid growth in unstructured data, otherwise known as digital landfill, which has led many organisations to use large numbers while or has been perceived as fitting might not be a word that ties in with SMEs know that they need a robust of discrete network-attached storage a particular market. Things could the ‘big data’ explosion, but the at- data management strategy that in- appliances. well have moved on, which can re- tempt to deliver clarity is one that is a cludes enterprise-class storage and “However, this presents the inher- sult in fresh opportunities emerging serious proposition for the channel. that this can be achieved on a tight or ent challenges of data movement and for resellers. Kevin Collins, go to market direc- constrained budget. management. These issues can be “The channel needs to be pushing tor for Magirus in EMEA, sums the “There are alternatives to the SME best addressed by creating an archi- storage devices that are really going challenge up nicely: “The hurdle for customer spending tens of thousands tecture that employs a single name to make a practical difference to their SMEs to overcome with storage has of pounds on a tier-one brand storage space/file system, across multiple customers,” says Tim Wright, techni- been the ‘complexity tax’, i.e. the cost supplier,” he adds. nodes,” says Nicholls. cal support manager at Toshiba Stor- to consider in relation to administer- Whatever way the reseller starts “Much work has been done in ad- age Device Division. ing complex storage solutions. You the storage conversation, with the dressing virtualisation of servers and “Rack mount and blade servers are need to take into account the total user – cloud, hardware or manage- storage, and the natural progression some of the largest power consumers cost of a solution, including consul- ment software – the main result of ex- of this is client virtualisation. By in the office IT infrastructure, but by tancy for implementation as well as ploring this side of the market should using less hardware, with a longer re- migrating from 3.5in HDDs to 2.5in maintenance and administration dur- be to reveal there are plenty of op- fresh cycle, this storage method can HDDs, SMEs can dramatically reduce ing the storage lifecycle.” tions for the channel. reduce deployment costs by 90%, their energy costs. The 2.5in form fac- But he adds that the vendor Customers continue to face the maintenance costs by 60% and help tor is a sleeker; more energy-efficient community and channel have challenges of ever-growing storage, desk calls by 40%, leading to very design that reduces costs as well as listened and are now delivering the challenges of dealing with that significant reductions in the total cost server storage space,” he says. simpler solutions. and then getting information from of ownership,” he says. “While small form factor drives it, and will no doubt have more “Care must be taken, however, to have not historically been used in the Management questions about cloud options. architect an end-to-end solution that enterprise because of their typically It starts with helping a customer Those best placed to guide SMEs can handle the peaks in I/O that have lower capacities, in recent years there understand what the storage strategy through that maze are, as usual, well- naturally moved from the desktop, have been leaps and bounds in areal should be, and then the focus turns to informed resellers. ■ back into the corporate infrastruc- density development. This means the quest for simplicity. ture,” adds Nicholls. that small form factor drives can now “We are finding that more custom- Many in the industry believe the compete with 3.5in HDD capacity ers than ever are open to building the impact of the Thailand floods on the and RPM speed. Fast speeds and correct data lifecycle management more online HDD market could hand some initia- higher capacities enable businesses strategy for their company around tive to SDD sellers, but that is cur- to access mission-critical data at a primary storage – archiving – and › NetApp leans on partners for rently being played out and no con- moment’s notice, placing the control data protection, than just purchasing renewed SME push clusions can be drawn yet. firmly back in the hands of the busi- more storage with no real plan ness,” adds Wright. around management,” says Kevin › VMworld Europe 2011: All the Small capacity drives But the hardware is just one side of Green, core infrastructure practice news from the VMware show One of the challenges for the channel the equation, and these days the lead for Trustmarque. is to keep all the options open and users are often more interested in Simon Marrion, EMEA channel › SMB clouds worth £660m to not to overlook technology that has finding out about the management development manager at Scale Com- UK channel perhaps not been considered for a side of the equation. Simplicity puting, says the channel needs to let

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk november 2011 | 9

opinion storage ata storage requirements

continue to grow at an in- thi n k s tock credible pace for nearly all Utilising tape storage to D businesses. Keeping infor- mation safe and ensuring it is proper- ly protected is therefore essential for most organisations to run smoothly. But with so many options available improve profitability for storing data offsite, keeping it for the long term and recovering it later The need to keep or incorporate down the line, which options are tape is becoming increasingly kindest to the IT budget? Benjamin S. Woo, programme vice- apparent, writes Peri Grover president, worldwide storage sys- tems, at IDC, says the best solution available is tape storage. “The cost-ef- fectiveness of tape for long-term, of- fline storage still outweighs that of disk, particularly in light of technolo- gies such as LTO-5, which has dou- bled the speed and capacity of tape, especially as tape storage requires less power and management than disk. Over time, the total cost of own- ership of tape remains more favoura- ble than disk,” he says. There are several standout benefits mentioned here, and these deserve further attention. Tape is a technolo- gy that has come on leaps and bounds in the past 10 years. Below are its top five characteristics that can Tape storage, however, is designed often for extended periods of time. Tape libraries can also divide a help businesses maximise their stor- to last for decades. Through making This requirement is either driven by single library into smaller ‘virtual’ li- age spend. use of ‘age acceleration’ tests, which regulatory compliance or the general braries. This enables multi-tasking simulate the impact of time, tape value of the information. A SATA within the same library and allows Tape is: cost-efficient manufacturers estimate the shelf life disk that could accommodate the ca- businesses to configure a single li- Many years ago, when tape was in of a single tape cartridge to be around pacity required would likely be very brary to interface with different its infancy, management and perfor- 30 years; 10 times that of a disk drive. expensive, and the data on it would back-up servers, regardless of oper- mance costs posed many difficulties. As LTO also represents the standard still need to be stored offsite, which ating system or their connectivity Now, with the standardisation of lin- media format to which the entire highlights another problem: disks type. While offering increased effi- ear tape open (LTO) technology, eve- industry conforms, this also ensures aren’t designed to be moved around. ciency, this also provides superior rything about tape is different. LTO that tape offers the best long-term With tape, you have data cartridges investment protection. has given tape almost unbeatable investment protection of any storage that are designed to take a beating. capacity and speed, while providing platform on the market. With minimal effort and cost, they Practical and reliable storage energy-efficiency and effortless data can be shipped all over the world for These five characteristics of today’s management as a by-product. But Tape is: fast offsite storage or data sharing. Some automated tape storage reveal an for all of these enhancements, tape Around 10 years ago, the average automated tape library solutions also ideal solution for supporting busi- remains the cheapest option. tape drive transferred data at just feature removable cartridge maga- ness operations and offering a practi- The Clipper Group, a storage-based 6MB/second, and only held 40GB zines, which provide simplified cal, reliable way to house long-term research firm, finds that “over a five- of data on a single cartridge. Com- media handling, and enable data to data storage. Tape is also the only year study period, the cost of energy parisons with today’s LTO-5 technol- be easily moved and stored at offsite viable solution for archive-tier data, for disk is about 290 times more than ogy, which delivers up to 3TB per locations for increased data protec- as it offers businesses a unique blend tape”. Comparing the initial invest- cartridge and transfers data at up to tion and disaster recovery. of infinite capacity, energy-efficiency ment price and the ongoing manage- 1TB/hr, are therefore night and day. and portability, without the prohibi- ment costs of both disk and tape solu- To achieve the same performance Tape is: adaptable tive upfront costs of disk. tions, it also found that “the total cost in terms of throughput, businesses To accommodate the unique IT in- Going forward, most businesses of serial advanced technology attach- would need to stripe as many as five frastructures and varying needs of will require an IT environment that ment (SATA) disk solutions is 23 hard disks. most businesses, it is important that blends a range of storage platforms times more expensive than tape solu- To manage the tasks of back-up storage solutions are flexible enough and media – from disk-based to tape- tions for archiving”. and data storage, tape also offers busi- to integrate into any given environ- based storage to cloud storage – to en- nesses the advantage of automation, ment, while also being simple to sure that their short-term and long- Tape is: reliable meaning companies can allocate re- manage and able to accommodate term storage goals are met in the most Among tape’s most notable benefits sources dynamically without creat- evolving storage needs. The latest cost-effective, seamless manner pos- is its long-term reliability. Disk drives ing additional management layers. tape solutions allow the number of sible. For these reasons, and with are constantly spinning, meaning the This improves the reliability of the drives and media slots to be scaled data growth and retention require- chances of a mechanical failure will entire process and eliminates admin- independently, which allows IT ad- ments ever increasing, the need to only increase as the years go by. Disk- istrative overheads. ministrators to alter storage capacity keep or incorporate tape is becoming based technologies also suffer from a and performance in accordance with more and more apparent. ■ number of reliability issues, includ- Tape is: portable their ever-changing environments. ing bugs and viruses, and typically Businesses are required to keep huge This can be done without any disrup- Peri Grover is director of product marketing have a shelf life of two to three years. amounts of archived data available, tion or downtime. at Overland Storage

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk November 2011 | 11 CIT Vendor Finance. Lending and Leasing Expertise.

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© 2011 CIT Group Inc. CIT and the CIT logo are registered service marks of CIT Group Inc. opinion storage Will hard disk drive shortage spur adoption of solid-state memory? Dave Stevinson considers whether low supplies of HDDs due to the Thailand floods will give rise to wider use of SSDs

ith the flooding in Thailand greatly reduc- ing output of hard disk W drives (HDDs) by Sea- gate Technology and Western Digital and with the rapid transition to 20nm-class process technologies by NAND flash makers causing prices to drop, solid-state drives (SSDs) may start to look more attractive to PC makers. But will we see widespread adoption of the technology? Prices for hard disk drives are in- creasing dramatically because of the recent tragic flooding in Thailand. The floods, which are the worst that Thailand has seen in over 50 years, are resulting in a shortage of HDD sup- plies this quarter and are expected to impact the first quarter of 2012 as well. About 25% of the world’s hard drive production facilities are located in Thailand. Western Digital produc- es roughly 60% of its hard drives there, and 50% of Toshiba’s hard drive production is also in Thailand. However, the biggest impact from the floods could be on Nidec, a com- pany which produces about 70% of As component makers attempt to resume operations in Thailand, OEMs might consider SSD as a temporary replacement for HDD the world’s hard drive motors in Thailand, including motors used by Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi mised for performance and data reli- rockets, SSD is now just over three bar on performance, increasing write GST, Toshiba and Samsung. ability. Other SSDs feature multilevel times more expensive, presenting a speeds across the board on com- Amid panic-buying of remaining cell (MLC) technology, in which four compelling proposition to PC manu- pressed and non-compressed files. HDD stock, spiking prices and uncer- bits of data occupy one cell of the facturers which should be seriously The Patriot Pyro SE 120GB features tainty as to when production will Flash memory for greater capacity. considering the adoption of SSD as a the SF-2281 second-generation Sand- commence again, is now a good time With the continual technology mi- temporary replacement for HDD. Force controller and MLC NAND to look at SSDs? gration to 20nm-class processes, The research department of Trend- Flash for stellar performance, is able which are adding increased perfor- Force is predicting increased interest to deliver read/write speeds at a blis- SSD adoption mance and reliability characteristics in SSD in light of the Thailand flood- tering 550/520mbps respectively. SSDs have been traditionally divided to MLC-based SSDs, NAND flash ing, with SSD adoption mostly occur- Also, as the ongoing demand for into two primary categories, depend- contract price is expected to decrease ring in the high-end corporate mar- data continues to surge, there is a ing on the technology of the Flash in November and December thus ket; specifically, models that were great opportunity to make use of memory on which they are built. making solid-state drives cheaper. designed to support both HDD and SSD in conjunction with cloud- Some SSDs feature single-level cell Before the floods, a gigabyte of SSD SSD. However, it predicts that if the based storage across notebooks and (SLC) memory technology, in which was more than 10 times more expen- HDD inventory shortage continues netbooks. This will offer the best one bit of data occupies one cell of sive than a gigabyte of HDD, however into the first quarter of 2012, the pro- blend of performance and capacity the flash memory, making it opti- as the price per gigabyte of HDD sky- portion of SSD-equipped models for the mobile customer. may increase. The longer the delay of key com- ponent makers resuming operations Not all about price in Thailand, the more likely PC It is predicted that if the HDD inventory Solid-state storage solutions offer OEMs will consider SSD as a tempo- a number of other advantages over rary replacement for HDD, and shortage continues into the first their HDD counterparts. while it is unlikely to trigger wide- Coming from an already notable spread adoption. it will increase the quarter of 2012, the proportion of SSD- lineage, the Patriot Pyro SE 120GB growth of this category. ■ SSD distributed by VIP Computers equipped models may increase adds synchronous NAND to its Dave Stevinson is sales director at VIP award-winning design to raise the Computers

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ith a climate of volatil- ity this year, it’s surpris- ing to see that the trend W in the IT market is fairly predictable. In the first nine months of 2011 we have observed growth in storage, software, web books and headsets. However, for those same nine months peripherals, networking de- vices and the crucial notebook and desktop categories have seen sways in decline, which are particularly vis- ible when looking at the latest Janu- ary-September period. With less expenditure on these core, and perhaps older, product categories, it could be all doom and gloom for IT. However, like most difficult times, innovation proves to be a significant driver for sales, and this is exactly what the likes of net- work attached storage (NAS) devic- es, media gateways and web books provide. This, coupled with increased de- mands of businesses and consumers trying to extend the use and effective- ness of existing IT equipment, the IT environment has been surviving the global pressures.

Driving efficiency Taking software as a key example, as businesses have kept costs down by slowing their renewal of hardware and software, segments such as se- Storage, software, web book and headset sales grew during the first nine months of 2011 curity suites and anti-virus have in- creased. Security suites grew by 14% in September 2011 against last year, Storage growth value by 74% year on year. At the sustain itself and has a good basis and anti-virus grew by 84% over the In the business-to-business market, same time, the average selling from which to grow as we move same time inference. innovation from the storage mar- price of these devices grew by away from volatility towards stability Together with this, the ‘tools and ket has been key to the category’s 6%, indicating a strong desire and growth. ■ drivers segment of the market, which growth, increasing by 13% in vol- among businesses to buy this type provides businesses with the ability ume and 12% in value, comparing of drive. Greg Allen is senior account manager, to manage licences and software the year-to-date 2011 and the same This newer kind of storage over- IT, at GfK. Contact him at: greg.allen@gfk. across their operation, has shot up period last year. comes many of the disadvantages com; 0870 603 8121; www.gfkrt.com/uk this year, providing further evidence One of the drivers within this of more traditional magnetic disk of more focus on efficiency and cost- product category was solid-state drives because SSDs don’t use effectiveness. drives (SSD), which increased in moving parts. more online It seems likely that this growth will continue because SSDs are › Hard disk market set for slump after used with web books and some Thai flood carnage Innovation from the storage premium netbooks, allowing for quicker and more reliable access to › Netgear on the look out for storage market has been key to growth in the information – advantages invaluable and security specialists to businesses. business-to-business sector With these developments, it is like- › In-depth: What’s in store for our data? ly that the IT market will continue to

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk november 2011 | 15 community readers’ letters contacts The email inbox is the new DVR MicroScope Chris Marriott, vice-president of agency Marble Arch Tower services, StrongMail 55 Bryanston Street DVRs are one of my favourite in- London W1H 7AA ventions of all time. The ability to time-shift my programme viewing Web and at the same time fast-forward www.microscope.co.uk through the commercials has greatly General enquiries increased both my viewing satisfac- Office Manager Lauren Fallace tion as well as the number of hours I th i n k st o c 020 7868 4282 spend watching television. TV networks that initially fought Editorial back against the idea of time-shifted Manage cloud migration carefully Editor Simon Quicke viewing – we want you to watch the 020 7868 4262 [email protected] shows when we air them! – finally Haseet Sanghrajka, managing director, ST Consulting Senior reporter Alex Scroxton saw the futility in fighting and began With Microsoft’s marketing budget now pointed clearly towards cloud 020 7868 4261 [email protected] to offer many of their hottest shows computing and online services, there can be little doubt remaining where Production editor Claire Cormack software provision is heading. Yet, as businesses embrace the model, revelling in an on-demand format. This, more 020 7868 4264 [email protected] than anything else, will be their best in the faster uptime and lower cost of ownership, they must be careful not to Senior-sub editor Jason Foster weapon against the DVR. throw out everything they know about successful project delivery. 020 7868 4263 [email protected] But I digress. The reason I’m talking There is something about the instant gratification of buying enterprise about DVRs today is because I’ve software online that seems to make otherwise vigilant IT decision-makers Advertising come to see several parallels between lose their heads. The promise of free trials or petty cash-sized monthly Sales director Brent Boswell how we use our DVRs and how many subscriptions and the chance to gain immediate access to the hottest new 07584 311889 [email protected] people today treat their email inboxes. functionality appears to trigger irrational behaviour. Account manager Paul Chester Believe it or not, there was a time In their haste to get started, companies risk casting aside key steps that 07799 096424 [email protected] when if you didn’t hear the words guarantee a successful project – including the importance of scoping and “you’ve got mail” when you logged planning an optimised implementation, as well as data migration and Events into AOL, you were actually disap- role-based user training. Events manager Chris Hepple pointed. You eagerly read each email None of this is to undermine the business case for cloud solutions. A 07826 511161 [email protected] as it showed up in your inbox. Those pay-monthly subscription and the chance to make upgrades and support days are but a distant memory. Now someone else’s problem carry potentially significant cost-of-ownership MicroScope is produced monthly by when we log on, we’re greeted with a benefits, while appealing to accountants by avoiding capital spending. TechTarget, Marble Arch Tower, 55 Bryanston Street, London W1H 7AA, crowded mailbox of email vying for The disclaimer, rather, is to ensure that such calculations are made only UK. No part of this publication may our attention. once consultancy, project planning, customised implementation and training be reproduced, stored in any form of If, as a marketer, one of your emails have been provided for. The chances are, the investment needed can be retrieval system or transmitted in any form is there, one of several things could controlled by using packaged rapid implementation methodologies. by any means mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise happen. Best-case scenario is that your There’s no denying the cloud speeds up implementation time when without the prior written consent of the email gets opened right away. Worst- compared with traditional on-premise software; use that wisely to plan your copyright holder. All rights reserved, case scenario is that it gets deleted implementation and the results will be rewarding, as will the ROI. including translation into other languages. without being opened. But there is another possible fate for your email. Just because you want someone to open and read your email on your while that is a broad generalisation, it such as text and display. Or perhaps go training at far lower costs and the abil- schedule doesn’t mean the subscriber does have a real impact on their one step further and send a direct mail ity to offer warranties. The benefits for is going to comply with those wishes. engagement with emails. piece letting the recipient know an manufacturers are equally clear: a Like that television user recording a I am not going to take a right turn important email is on the way. much higher level of customer satis- show to watch at a later time, your here and launch into an “email is Excuse me now – I have some epi- faction and loyalty. email subscriber might note your dead” speech. It’s not. And young sodes of Modern Family to catch up However, such training pro- email in his inbox but choose to open people won’t kill it, as email-friendly on. grammes cannot just consist of a one- it later. This, depending on the con- smartphones combined with young day seminar. Ongoing, industry certi- tents of your email message, might or folks’ entrance into the workforce Why invest in business partners? fied training is key, as is the ability of might not be a good thing. Of course, have together reinforced the value of Craig Tindle, managing director of channel customers to verify certification of if you’re announcing a 24-hour sale, email communications to the sales for EMEA, CommScope the personnel stepping foot on their maybe you should have thought about younger generation. But just as televi- Have business partner programmes property. Ideally, this should also be sending a text alert in the first place. sion viewing habits evolve over time, become one of the casualties of post- linked to customer feedback, so that This phenomenon is more exten- so do email behaviours. recession cost-cutting? In the current business partners are tied to perfor- sive than just something we see in Make your subject line so compel- economic environment it certainly mance ratings that can be easily marketing emails. Transactional con- ling that your recipient can’t wait to seems that many IT infrastructure found online. By surveying custom- firmation emails might end up in a open the email and act upon it imme- manufacturers are not putting ers for feedback, manufacturers can separate folder, unopened unless or diately – or make the content of the enough emphasis on training. ensure that business partners are until the product doesn’t arrive as last email opened so relevant that the A robust business partner pro- always driven to excel. expected, or the trip is imminent and recipient eagerly anticipates your gramme and comprehensive, ongoing With such clear benefits, shouldn’t details must be remembered. This next email. Both of these tactics are training is beneficial for all concerned. all manufacturers be prioritising their can be weeks or even months down on the short list of best practices in Customers see higher-quality installa- training programmes? After all, in the road from when you sent the orig- email marketing. tion work, expert onsite advice and tough economic times, customer sat- inal email. This tendency is more However, some of your emails are rock-solid accountability. Meanwhile, isfaction and loyalty should become pronounced among younger people. still going to be “time shifted” by your business partners benefit from broader more valuable than ever. ■ From their perspective, if you want recipients. So if your message has a industry knowledge and skills that immediate attention, you text them. short shelf life, you might want to com- differentiate them in the marketplace. Send your letters and comments to If it can wait, you email them. And bine your email with other channels They also have access to high-quality [email protected]

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk November 2011 | 16

Resources from DataCore Software Corporation

VDI: Benchmarking Paper

DataCore Software: IDC on Removing Storage - Related Barriers to Virtualization

ESG: Market Landscape Report: Storage Tiering

About DataCore Software Corporation

DataCore Software Corporation develops the storage virtualization software required by virtual and physical IT environments to get the highest availability, fastest performance and maximum utilization from their online disks. We provide the critical 3rd dimension on which the success of server and desktop virtualization projects hinge, regardless of the models and brands of storage devices used. Our comprehensive, yet hardware-independent solutions fundamentally change the economics of provisioning, replicating and protecting storage for large enterprises and small to midsize businesses.

backchat five-minute interview What is the best/worst advice you Describe yourself in one sentence have received and from whom? Good looking, determined, charismatic, Best advice: “If you think you’re good a sales leader – but carrying too much enough, go for it.” That was from Terry beef. Stew, an old sales colleague at ICL when I was considering my first real Why are you good at your job? career move from ICL to Amdahl – a I learn everything about my company really big move at the time. I’ve never and its products and understand how really looked back since. they can benefit a customer. I can’t sell Worst Advice: “Join HDS, it’s a great unless I understand how it can help company.” That was from Michael a customer be successful. I like to be Vagh, HDS EMEA chief. The worst move in the trenches with my sales people. I ever made – lasted four weeks. Never lose sight of what is required to make a successful sale. What is the best book you have ever read? If you were shipwrecked, who would Sea Wolf by Jack London. An absolute you like to have with you and why? classic tale of man against adversity. I My wife Johanna and my two children, thoroughly recommend it. I first listened Sophia and Francesca. The loves of to it as a BBC serial on the radio many my life. They drive me nuts most of the years ago, and then just had to go out time, but that makes life interesting and and get the book. I couldn’t bear to be away from them for long periods. Tell us something most people do not know about you Name three items (smaller than a I used to sing vocals in a heavy rock fridge) that you would like to have with band. I never quite had the bottle to you if you were shipwrecked take it that seriously, but it was a great My iPod, Amazon Kindle, and my experience. Music is one of my real Blackberry. Techno geek you ask? passions. Guilty as charged!

What temptation can you not resist? If you could be any animal for a day, Bacon sandwiches. It’s the smell – kills what would you be? me and I weaken every time. I’m always impressed by my dog and his outlook on life – so a Fox What is your most elusive goal? Terrier. Others may compare me to Losing weight. Inside this body is a rhino because I just charge right in a slim person dying to break out. Rod Evans, SGI sometimes. Unfortunately, there is always one more pie to eat and pint of beer to be drunk. MicroScope puts its questions to Rod Evans, If a grizzly bear and a silverback gorilla vice-president EMEA at SGI decided to have a no holds barred Where is the one place you would like fight, which would you put your money to visit before you die? on and why? Indianapolis 500 – the world’s greatest The bear. Bears don’t know when to automobile race. One of the three what your background is – it’s all down two work mentors and friends who have stop – they just go for it. The gorilla is great motorsport experiences, but the to you to make it happen. I hate people helped along the way. much more intelligent and as a result only real ordinary person’s event. The who have this chip on their shoulder would think things through too much. Monaco Grand Prix is too posy, Le Mans about their upbringing or education. What was your first car and how does Sometimes you’ve go to be a bear and is too long. The brickyard is somewhere Just believe in yourself and don’t let it compare with what you drive now? just go for it. every motor sport fan has to visit, people put you down. No one will make Austin Mini Metro. White, W Reg with especially if you are a true petrol head. it happen unless you believe in yourself 34,000 miles on the clock. I bought it Do you prefer cities or the and grasp opportunities when they for £1,500 from a guy at ICL just after I countryside? Explain why What do you just have to do before you come to you. passed my test. Small and fun to drive. I live in the Cotswolds countryside and die – and why? We did 20,000 happy miles together in love it, but I’m a city boy at heart. “I Get over my fear of heights. It has Which bit of technology would you 12 months. Now I drive a fat boy BMW wanna wake up in a city that doesn’t always held me back. I always avoid the want with you if you were stranded on 535d Touring. Mind you, I was four sleep.” London or New York – I love the window seat on planes and struggle a desert island? stone lighter back then. vibrancy and buzz. with tall buildings. I’ve tried lots of ways My iPod – I would be lost without it. I have to break it by going up mountains and almost 30,000 songs on my iPod. People Do you have any pets? If so, what are Describe your perfect night out tall buildings, but to no avail. The CN ask me why I need so many songs, but they and what are their names? In the pub celebrating a Welsh rugby Tower in Toronto is probably my least you never know what you might want to A four-year-old Wire Haired Fox Terrier win over England. Nothing sweeter… favourite place. Glass elevators on the listen to. You can never have too much called “Alfie”. He’s a real character. outside of the building and glass panels music with you. My tastes are very varied What would be your perfect holiday? showing ground below your feet when too, from Rumer to Metallica. If you could be someone else for a day, Sitting on a beach in the Caribbean. you get to the revolving restaurant at the who would you be and why? summit. Terrifying. Maybe I should try Who helped you get to where you Warren Gatland, coach of the Welsh Sum up the IT channel in one sentence parachuting or a bungee jump? are today? rugby team. Especially when Wales play Critical to SGI for growing our business. ■ More than anyone else, my wife England at Cardiff. Rugby is the only What do you believe in most? Johanna. She is my inspiration and sport where Wales can compete at the You are in charge of your own destiny. pushes me more than anyone else. top levels. I am a failed sportsman as Read more five-minute interviews at It doesn’t matter where you’re from or Other than that, there have been one or well as a failed musician. www.microscope.co.uk

Daily channel news at MicroScope.co.uk November 2011 | 18

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