May 2008

p14>>

Inside This Issue

HP reveals growth plans
for EMEA p18>>
Huber Suhner wants a slice
of the SA market p20>>
Siemens launches partner
programme p22>>
Roundtable discussion –
Winning with customer
service, support p26>>
 EDITOR’S: NOTE

State of the IT market survey

T
his year CRN SA participated in the Global State of the IT Market Survey conducted
by the institute for Partner Education and Development (IPED), a division of CMP
Media, the owners of the CRN brand.
This year’s Global State of the IT Market survey saw solution providers from
different regions across the globe, namely the US, Canada, Brazil, China, India,
Germany, the UK, Russia and South Africa participate in this important study,
which generated a total of 7 409 responses.
Unlike last year’s survey, which was conducted in partnership with local research
firm Markinor, this year we decided to participate on a global scale to learn what’s
happening in other markets and compare their businesses and IT trends to the
local channel market.
I must point out that we are delighted at the fact that we participated in this
survey as the results have not only shown that partners across the globe are
poised for growth, but also revealed that expected growth in the Europe Middle
East and Africa (EMEA) region is not far from that expected in the areas of hyper
products and technologies, moderate growth through targeting new markets and
lifestyle products in other regions such as North America, Latin America and the
Asia Pacific region.
A key trend that emerged in terms of how partners go to market is that
resellers remain a dominant force to be reckoned with in less mature and
emerging IT geographies, where as solution providers and IT consultants are a
major force in mature and advanced markets like North America and Western Europe.
In SA, out of the 125 solution providers that participated, those that described their main business activity as reseller accounted
for 30 per cent followed by 10 per cent for IT consultants. When you compare this to similar emerging markets like Brazil, China,
India and Russia, you soon pick up a parallel trend as the countries are also dominated by resellers as the main route to market.
In China, for example, 57 per cent of partners classified their main business activity as reseller with Russia accounting for 26 per
cent, while India and Brazil each had 27 per cent of their respondents describing their main business activity as reseller.
Although most of the results across the emerging markets in the areas of customer messaging, sales messaging, which services
are profitable, the role services play, particularly in implementation, break-fix and after-sales consulting were similar, the same can-
not be said about the investment partners are willing to make in marketing. The survey revealed that 50 per cent of all partners
expect to increase their marketing expenditures for all areas outside of EMEA.
This does not bode well for partners in EMEA. While there can be many reasons for this, channel partners need to do more
and invest in marketing campaigns and marketing their companies beyond the vendor products they represent.
Doing so will not only help them to build themselves as brands, but will ensure that they pitch their companies as brands first
before enticing customers with the vendor solutions they sell.
In the pages that follow, CRN highlights the business highs and lows of the 2008 global market.
Let me know how the market is affecting you solution provider business. I can be reached at mandab@systems.co.za

Manda Banda – publisher

 Contents
News & Analysis

4 – What’s News

6 – Comings and goings

10 – Hi Five

12 – Demand Generator takes a look at how BSS and ABSA are

turning ATMs on. By Dominic Khuzwayo
08
14 – CRN takes a look at what products are expected to earn
CRN Contacts: resellers huge revenues in 2008. By Manda Banda, Dudu Shaba and Stanley
Publisher: Chishala
Manda Banda
mandab@systems.co.za 18 – HP taunts its new channel initiatives. By Manda Banda

20 – Huber Suhner sees great potential in South Africa and wants a slice
Online editor: of the pie. By Kaunda Chama
Kaunda Chama
kaundac@systems.co.za 24 – Galdon Datamakes plans to become the “go-to” company in
the industry. By Dudu Shaba 19
Journalist:
34 – Lenovo roundtable.
Portia Shaba
By Manda Banda, Dudu Shaba and Dominic Khuzwayo
portias@systems.co.za

Intern:
Dominic Khuzwayo
Features
dominick@systems.co.za
50 – Printers: Printers are still the machines of choice and the
demand increases daily. As these devices have improved in quality
Brand executive: and performance, many jobs which used to be done by professional
Hellen Murahwa print shops are now being done by users on local printers. By Dudu 25
Shaba
hellenm@systems.co.za

54 – Presentation Solutions: Presentations are crucial to any

Sub-editor: business’ marketing strategy, and getting your message across in an
Jenny Bastomsky effective way can be the difference between success and failure. By
jennybee@telkomsa.net.co.za Dudu Shaba

57 – Software Piracy: When one considers software piracy, they

Designer:
rarely think of it as being theft; similar to taking another person’s car,
Spencer van Graan purse or any other personal belongings. It is strictly illegal and infringes
spencerg@systems.co.za on other people’s intellectual property rights. By Kaunda Chama
36
Database and subscriptions:
Daisy Mulenga Product and technology
daisym@systems.co.za
62 – LG R700, Epson Stylus CX 4300, HTC
Touch Dual
copyright notice
CRN Southern Africa is published monthly by
Systems Publishers (Pty) Ltd. The copyright of all
material in this publication is reserved by the proprietors,
except where expressly stated. The publisher, however,
will consider reasonable requests for the use of material
by others on condition that the source and author Parting shots
of the report are clearly attributed. Due to the nature
of the newspaper print process, Systems Publishers
cannot be held responsible for colour variations
in printed advertising. Printed by Ultra Litho. 64 – Snapshot: Howard Valentine, Axis Communications 62
CRN Southern Africa is a licensee of CMP Media LLC.

Private Bag X12, Rivonia, 2128

Tel: (011) 234 7008
Fax: (011) 234 7025
64 – Dilbert Scans in this publication have been reproduced
Registered with the Audit on the EPSON PERFECTiON 2450 photo
Bureau of Circulation

2 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008

WHAT’S NEWS
Columbus aims at private sector
Columbus Technologies is expanding its channel
presence to increase its footprint in the private sector.
“Columbus initially followed a dual approach to the
South African market, selling directly and through a
number of partners,” says Ferdinand Mabalane,
channel manager, Columbus Technologies. “We
found this was inappropriate as the attention of all
parties involved was not fully focused and we could
not ensure optimal customer service in support of
our product.”
“Columbus therefore decided to adopt a channel-
only sales strategy and to focus its energies on assist-
ing partners with training and technical support,”
concludes Mabalane.
New Toshiba notebook
Drive Control Corporation (DCC) has announced the
launch of the new Toshiba U300-153 laptop in the
local market. This sleek little laptop comes with a
13.3-inch widescreen display, which incorporates
WXGA TruBrite TFT, Intel Centrino Duo (1.73 GHz)
processing and a 200GB hard drive. It also features
Dolby Sound Room for listening to music or watching
movies; an integrated DVD super-multi drive; and
built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam for face-to-face video
calling. Dirk Booysen, Toshiba notebook specialist,
DCC says: “Toshiba’s U300-153 is the ideal compan-
ion for the upwardly mobile user who requires strong
functionality packed in a small, funky-looking laptop.
Epson releases Stylus CX 4300
Epson has released the Stylus CX4300 printer, which
is ideal for small offices and home users. Hans
Dummer, regional
manager, Epson SA says
a busy home or home
office, will find the
Stylus CX4300 an ideal
cost-effective solution
that doesn’t compro-
mise on quality. He explains that the printer
features Epson’s DURABrite Ultra Ink which
provides laser-like text and glossy photos, and is
resistant to water, smudging and fading, while four
individual ink cartridges, priced at R129.99 each,
make it cost-effective.
D-Link gets NetDefend certification
Networking solutions provider D-Link has announced
the certification of its NetDefend Firewall series for
IPSec 1.2 . Karien Wood, marketing manager, D-Link
Africa says the firewall provides comprehensive secu-
rity features suitable for deployment within dedicat-
ed integrated platforms such as NetDefendOS, which
integrates virtual private network (VPN). Wood says
the ICSA Labs Firewall and IPSec > p6
4 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
&
COMINGS
Axis appoints new channel manager
Axis, one of the global leaders in the network video market,
has appointed Howard Valentine as new channel manager.
Valentine previously worked at some leading brands in the
local channel like Comztek as the local distributor’s channel
manager. He has a degree in information systems which he
Howard Valentine attained at Rhodes University
Sasha to shine for Axis
Sasha Davidson has join Axis as an account manager.
Davidson previously worked at Korbitec Solutions as an
G
O
account manager. Sasha has a BA corporate communica-
tions and psychology from UNISA. Her keys to success are
being highly ambitious, motivated, a positive attitude and
hard work.
I
Sasha Davidson
Quadrem appoints Mocke
Quadrem International, one of the world’s largest supplier
networks, announced the appointment of Deon Mocke
as regional vice president of Quadrem Africa. Mocke,
who was a general manager of Anglo Platinum’s Supply
N
Sasha Davidson
Chain, recently co-founded and served as CEO of Ess
Cubed Procurement.
“Deon’s deep expertise in procurement and his leadership within key
G
S
African companies such as Anglo Platinum makes him a strong selection to
head Quadrem’s Africa business,” says, Charles Jackson, CEO of Quadrem
International. “He will be able to deliver the highest level of service to our
customers in Africa and also support our growth initiatives in the region,”
concludes Jackson.
Engelbrecht product manager for SalesLogix
Johann Engelbrecht has been appointed product manager for SalesLogix at
Softline Enterprise. “SalesLogix’s powerful customisation and configuration
capability allows it to be easily tailored to meet the needs of a business
more rapidly than any other CRM product,” says Engelbrecht. He adds that
SalesLogix is the customer relationship management solution that enables
small- to medium-sized businesses, and divisions of large corporate organi-
sations to acquire, retain and develop profitable customer relationships.
Gradwell moves back to Annex
Annex Distribution suppliers of mobile, wireless solutions
and PC technologies has announced the interim
appointment of Bill Gradwell to head its Midrand-based
operations. This follows the departure of Wayne Britz,
director at Annex Distribution. In an interview with CRN,
Bill Gradwell
Gary Naidoo deputy MD at Sahara said: “Bill used to head
Annex and based on his experience and involvement in building develop-
ment growth in other regions we think he is the right person to fill the
position for now.” “He has a full understanding of our business, customers
and vendors” added Naidoo.
WHAT’S NEWS
>> p4 certifications are recognised worldwide as the bench-
mark in the network security industry. The achievement of the latest
ICSA Labs IPSec 1.2 Enhanced certification demonstrates D-Link’s
ongoing commitment to network security.
Polycom announces SMB telephony solution
Polycom, providers of unified collaborative communications solutions,
has announced availability of the SpectraLink 8002 Wireless Telephone.
It is the latest addition to its portfolio of standards-based enterprise VoIP
endpoints targeted at small and medium-sized businesses.
Dan Engel, regional sales manager at Polycom says that SMB owners
and their employees will now have the freedom to move about the
workplace without ever missing an important call, thereby improving
accessibility, productivity and responsiveness. He says that the
SpectraLink 8002 is an entry-level Wi-Fi handset that allows businesses
to benefit from enterprise-grade voice-over-wireless LAN (VoWLAN)
without requiring significant investments in network infrastructure.
Loophold introduces web controllers
Loophold Security Distribution has announced the availability of
Barracuda Networks’ application gateway, NC500 AG. NC500 AG,
which is designed to be an enterprise-class Web application controller
which is set to secure Web applications. Martin Tassev, Loophold MD
says: “With the Barracuda Application Gateway NC 500 AG companies
can rest assured that they are protecting their valuable information
assets against the most severe Web application threats. “While PCI certi-
fication is not yet mandatory in SA, the gateway essentially offers a
competitively priced plug-and-play solution to future compliance chal-
lenges,” adds Tassev.
Microsoft adds to mobile computing
Microsoft has launched software that lets
enterprises manage mobile devices easily. It also
unveiled a new mobile version of Internet Explorer
that allows smartphones to display full-screen
Web pages and multimedia. At CTIA Wireless
2008 in Las Vegas, Microsoft appeared hell-bent
on showing the industry that Windows Mobile-
powered smartphones not only have as much Web
functionality as Apple’s much-vaunted iPhone, but
also take advantage of backend enterprise features
that Apple lacks. Cellular networks are an increas-
ingly important part of Microsoft’s software+services strategy.
Microsoft’s plan is to get its software onto devices that are applicable to
both work and play.
VMware VDI available locally
The VMware division at Workgroup has announced the availability of
VMware’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).
This desktop manager allows users to connect to their virtual
desktops securely. Angeline de Castro, business unit manager at
Workgroup says: “Virtual Desktop Manager 2 enables users to access
their virtual desktops using either a PC or thin client.
“The product’s user-friendly interface allows administrators
to manage thousands of desktops at once and reduces the time
it takes to provision a new desktop from hours to minutes,” De
Castro adds.
6 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
New boards from Intel
Technology vendor Intel has launched three new
motherboards: The Intel Desktop Board
DX48BT2 Extreme Series, DG35EC Classic Series
and D945GCLF Essential Series. These boards
are aimed at the extreme gamer, the
mainstream multimedia user and the entry-level
PC user respectively.
Tom Rampone, Intel’s Sales and Marketing
Tom Rampone
Group VP, and Channel Platforms Group GM
says, “From ultimate gaming bliss, to crisp high
definition, to the most-affordable Internet-centric desktop, Intel contin-
ues to push the boundaries of world-class desktop offerings.
“As the demand for desktops across the board moves from
strength to strength, we are also quickly moving towards more
feature differentiation and innovation down our product roadmap,”
concludes Rampone.
SecureData launches new Partner Programme
SecureData Security, a division of SecureData Holdings, is introducing a
new channel partner incentive programme called the Enterprise Security
Partner Programme (ESP). “The programme aims to reward large spe-
cialist security firms and systems integrators with strong security prac-
tices for their performance across the SecureData product portfolio and
to give them incentives to buy higher product volumes,” says Phil
Allcock, channel director, SecureData Security.
“We already have strong support for this programme from our top-
tier enterprise security partners. Some of these partners will be enrolling
on the programme during our last quarter, but we are plan-
ning to roll it out more extensively during our next fiscal
year,” adds Allcock.
XDSL opens channel opportunity
XDSL is allowing its resellers to offer ISP services to their
clients, backed by XDSL’s technical expertise, support and
billing services. This move is aimed at overcoming an increas-
ingly competitive South African IT marketplace, where
resellers are scrambling to differentiate themselves and are
endeavouring to provide products and services that won’t
disappear into a maze of ‘more-of-the-same’ offerings.
“Resellers are faced with shrinking margins and an
increasingly competitive environment. This is driving them to
seek out new revenue streams and opportunities that will augment their
turnover,” says Danie Fourie, managing director, XDSL.
Axis releases new network cameras
Axis Communications, one of the global leaders in the network video
market, has introduced new AXIS P3301network cameras. These new
network cameras are designed to offer outstanding image processing
performance with multiple H.264 streams and superior image quality.
“This together with discreet appearance, easy installation and intelligent
video capabilities make the AXIS P3301 network cameras one of the
best of their kind in the market,” says Anders Laurin, executive vice pres-
ident, Axis. In addition, the AXIS P3301 network cameras are fixed
domes specifically adapted for unobtrusive video surveillance in exposed
indoor environments, such as retail, banking, government buildings,
schools, universities and airports. > p8
WHAT’S NEWS

>> p6
Dell unveils global channel
programme
Dell is formalising and
expanding its partner rela-
tionships to provide cus-
EMC to acquire Iomega tomers with increased choices
EMC and Iomega have extended their partnership. This follows an agreement in which EMC in terms of where they can
acquired Iomega in a cash tender offer of $3.85 per outstanding share, or approximately US buy Dell products. The plan is
$213 million. part of a new global strategy,
“Iomega will play a key role in EMC’s strategy to expand our information storage and manage- Stewart van Graan, Dell
which comes after the PC
ment capabilities deeper into the high-growth consumer and small business markets,” says Joe maker announced in 2007
Tucci, EMC chairman, president and CEO. “Iomega and EMC represent a powerful combination that it will start working with channel partners. To
that ultimately will benefit customers through the protection, security and simplified management this end, the company will be working far more
of their rapidly growing information,” adds Tucci. Jonathan Huberman, Iomega CEO says: “This closely with the channel than it has done previously.
begins an exciting new future for Iomega and its customers.” Stewart van Graan, MD of Dell South Africa says
the company is executing a global strategy
Ingram Micro adds Samsung to its portfolio designed to increase customer choice. “Dell’s evolv-
Ingram Micro SA has added the Samsung IT product range to the component portfolio it pro- ing business strategy combines its direct customer
vides to local system builders and the OEM channel. The deal includes Samsung’s optical and model with new distribution channels to reach
hard disk drives. According to John David, head of product marketing, Ingram Micro SA, the additional consumers and small businesses through
new products complement the existing offerings in its stable. “As the Samsung appointment retail partners and value-added resellers,” he says.
shows, we are attracting the top brands in the market. Samsung is synonymous with quality and
value for money. As such, it has become one of the preferred brands in the market when it HP evolves Preferred Partner
comes to LCDs, DVD drives and hard disks,” he says. David says going with Ingram Micro SA Programme
was a logical choice for Samsung. “For Samsung to get its component business into Ingram Hewlett-Packard is to launch a new Gold specialisa-
Micro is a great win. With the Ingram Micro name and its excellent go-to market strategy on our tion for partners on the HP Preferred Partner
side, we are confident about our prospects in the country,” he concludes. Programme, effective 1 November 2009. The new
Gold Specialisation is being mapped and readied
Dell appoints first local disti for the 2009 financial year and is part of the com-
Dell has made its first move into the local channel and appointed Drive Control Corporation pany’s broad initiative to selectively upgrade the
(DCC) as its first distributor. Stewart van Graan, local MD comments that the move includes an number of partners on the Gold specialisation and
indirect sales model in its go-to-market strategy and is a way of extending its products’ reach expand the number of partners in the transactional
and better serves its customers. “We have actually been using the indirect model in all emerging business space. The company also says the number
markets with the exception of SA,” notes Van Graan. Dell’s plan is to extend its reach beyond the of transactional and Gold partners will differ from
corporate market that only represents 20% of the total PC market and will now offer solutions for country by country. The specialisation programme
both the SME and consumer markets through DCC. will be released in the EMEA region and partners
have until 10 September 2008 to familiarise them-
Silver Lining hands Africa to Intelleca selves with the stringent criteria, get trained and
Silver Lining Solutions, one of the world’s leading developers of skills management software, has certified as Gold partners.
appointed Intelleca as its distributor for Africa. The agreement allows Intelleca to offer its cus-
tomers innovative workforce optimisation solutions centred on Skills Manager, Silver Lining’s pre- HP launches virtualisation
mier offering. “Intelleca has become one of the world’s leading companies in the speech tech- specialisation
nology and call centre spaces,” says Michael Renzon, CEO of Intelleca. “We will now build on HP has unveiled new virtualisation specialisation
this success and become a market leader in workforce and contact centre optimisation solu- bringing to 13 the number of specialisations the
tions,” he adds. vendor is offering its preferred partners.The virtuali-
sation specialisation comes at a time when the
ChannelWare gets LG’s rights vendor has been expanding its alliance with virtual-
ICT distributor ChannelWare has been awarded the agency for the full range of LG Electronics isation software vendors, namely VMware,
IT products in SA. Although ChannelWare has access to the entire LG Electronics product offer- Microsoft and Citrix. In addition, the new speciali-
ing, Damian Nelson, LG product manager says that a strategy is in place to capitalise on the sation has been launched at a time when solution
brand and grow it in the market. providers are turning to server virtualisation. Sean
“We will focus on rolling out optical CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives and the professional Gallagher, director SPO, HP in the EMEA region,
range of LCD screens in the 17- to 22-inch categories,” says Nelson. “Firstly, the MB says the new specialisation is part of HP’s broader
Technologies distributor?wants to start smaller to guarantee success for the brand. Secondly, it? channel plan to continue evolving the Preferred
plans creating maximum awareness for LG products and ChannelWare by getting the necessary Partner Programme and is designed to help part-
support infrastructure in place before distributing the other products,” he concludes. ners drive more profitable business.

8 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008

HIGH FIVE: NORTEL
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Nortel predicts interconnectivity vision

Addressing tomorrow’s communication.

BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO
In this month’s high five, Nortel country manager, Magda
Engelbrecht take us through Nortel’s communication vision. Since
its founding in 1995, as Nortel. Nortel has grown to become a
global leader in delivering communications capabilities, and
securing and protecting the world’s most critical information.

CRN: What challenges is the communication industry facing?

ME: The communications industry is at an historic turning point rep-
resented by the intersection of three mega-trends: hyperconnectivity,
communications-enabled applications and true broadband. By 2010,
Nortel estimates there will be 10 devices connected to the network for
every person using them and the network will need to support five bil-
lion connection points. Customer and consumer demand for seamless
“connectedness” at all times, and anywhere on any device is driving
these trends. They also present challenges and an opportunity similar
to those of the 1990s fibre, Internet and wireless revolutions, and with
“By 2010, Nortel estimates there will be
the 1980s’ digital transformation of communications.
Of these trends, hyperconnectivity is the catalyst that is laying the 10 devices connected to the network for every
foundation for change and a new era in the communications world. person using them and the network will need to
Hyperconnectivity is the trend in which anything that can be con-
support five billion connection points.”
nected to the network will be connected - encompassing person-to-
person, person-to-machine and machine-to-machine communication. – Magda Engelbrecht, Nortel.

CRN: How will this affect or improve the communication industry?

ME: Nortel believes the second mega-trend (communications-
enabled applications), which is the creation of a much richer com-
munications experience and a more productive enterprise, will create
significant opportunities. With the third mega-trend (true broad-
band) anywhere, anytime and on-any-device communication will
become essential, for example, for people to be able to do on their
mobile devices what they now do on their PCs, including the capa-
bility to view video. This requires instant, always-available, high-
speed access to the Internet from everywhere.
CRN: What makes you think this will happen?
ME: Hyperconnectivity is fuelling huge increases in bandwidth
demand because of the complexity, diversity and integration of new
applications and devices using the network. The complexity created
by this explosion of devices and machine-to-machine traffic on the
network is a challenge that businesses will have to face and solve.
We are moving towards an era where anything that can be connect-
ed and would benefit from being connected will be connected. And
with the exponential growth of information and applications cross-
ing the network, the network itself will need to be upgraded to sup-
port these new high-bandwidth requirements.
CRN: Can businesses expect benefit from this?
ME: Hyperconnectivity will place enormous stress on operators
and enterprises to ensure their networks are deployed, managed
and evolved to support the increased capacity and complexity –
and to do so while containing costs. Businesses are moving outside
their traditional four walls and we are about to see a dramatic
increase in virtualisation across all fronts, tomorrow’s business will
be a virtual enterprise.
CRN: What role will Nortel play?
ME: Nortel is partnering with companies like Microsoft, IBM and
SAP to bring together the richness of their applications with the
power of the telecom world. We are transforming the enterprise
with unified communications that bring together IP telephony, real-
time multimedia, mobile and fixed desktops, and business process
integration to eliminate delays that impact personal, workgroup and
enterprise productivity. Our strategic direction across our business –
R&D, marketing, customer service, choice of strategic partners, and
mergers and acquisitions – is focused on making it simple and prof-
itable for our customers to capitalise on this turning point and make
these connections.

10 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008

DEMAND GENERATOR: NOVARTIS SA
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
BSS & ABSA turn ATM’s on
Implementing solutions for ATMs.
BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO
B
ytes Specialised Solutions (BSS), one of the
official representatives of NCR solutions in
South Africa has join hands with a giant
bank ABSA, to develop an uninterrupted
power unit supply to ATMs. This follows
the power shortages and outages that is
significantly impacting corporate South
Africa, as they struggle to provide their cus-
tomers with the required service levels dur-
ing these dark times.
“Bytes SS does not simply sell and install ATMs but we also aim to
provide additional value add to our clients both strategically and
operationally and this initiative with our partner Absa is a prime
example of such an initiative.” – Derrick Deyzel, BSS.
And as the ATM industry also ‘feeling the
cold’, Absa were seeking solutions to stop
electricity blackouts from blocking-off busi-
ness growth. Allen Mahadeo, Absa general
manager: self service channel and distribution
says, “We are very excited about this initia-
tive. I hope that this is an example of how,
through innovation and smart partnerships,
we can overcome some of our challenges.”
“Our number one priority is our cus-
tomers and our promise to them is accessi-
bility and convenience. This commitment
remains even during power outages,” adds
Mahadeo. And now, an initial roll-out of
approximately 1,900 units to Absa’s ATM
installed base throughout South Africa has
already commenced.
In July 2007 Bytes SS made an agree-
ment with Absa to replace all its existing
Diebold ATM machines with the latest
devices from NCR and partners. And ATMs
are BSS core business, maintaining over
75% of the ATM market in South Africa
and have now over 7000 ATMs installed.
Derick Deyzel divisional executive retail
ATM division, BSS says, “Bytes SS does not
simply sell and install ATMs but we also aim
to provide additional value add to our
clients both strategically and operationally
Derrick Deyzel, BSS and this initiative with our partner Absa is a
12 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
prime example of such an initiative.”
“The Intellipower range of Intelligent
Uninterruptible Power Supply Systems was
designed originally for domestic environ-
ments. However Bytes Technology together
with Tedelex designed a device specifically
aimed to provide a solution to the ATM
environment. Then a system for ATM’s was
developed to transfer from direct current to
battery power when power is lost or power
supply is unreliable,” he explains.
According to Deyzel, the power unit was
designed to transfer from direct power to
battery power within milliseconds to ensure
that the operational status of the ATM is
not affected in any way due to time delays
between power supply transfers .This was
designed to ensure that the ATM remains
in a state of constant operations even when
power supply is not constant.
“In simplistic terms the ATM will convert
almost immediately to battery power when
direct power is unavailable .The ATM is
powered through the power unit into the
direct power source .Therefore, when direct
power is unavailable the ATM will convert to
battery power and this process is reversed at
the same speed once direct power is activat-
ed again .While the battery unit is not oper-
ational it will re-charge immediately to the
required capacity,” he says.
In addition, Derick explains that, “this
solution was pioneered with Absa but we
are currently piloting with various of the
other financial institutions as well .The solu-
tion will also be marketed to other indus-
tries and not merely to the financial sector.
And Bytes technology are selling and mar-
keting the products through our estab-
lished national infrastructure.”
“There are a host of extremely exciting
innovative solutions planned for the market
but we are not at liberty to disclose at this
stage,” concludes Derick.
Do you have demand generator stories
to share with us?
Please e-mail Dominic Khuzwayo at
dominick@systems.co.za
COVER STORY: STATE OF IT CHANNEL
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

State of the

What products are expected to earn resellers huge revenues in 2008?

BY MANDA BANDA, DUDU SHABA & STANLEY CHISALA

W hat products and vendor solutions will help

drive your sales and profits in 2008? This
year’s annual CRN State of the Market
the market, the State of the Global IT
Channel, is brought to you in partnership
with the US-based Institute for Partner
Education & Development (IPED), a sub-
sidiary of United Business Media LLC, the
“The reason for printers being rated a highly preferred technology owners of the CRN brand.
Unlike like last year ?when we conducted
is because customers are getting more value for their money than the first Business Barometer survey, which
ever before with less expensive products and more functionality, focused on the local market, this year we
particularly in the multifunctional printing devices space.” – Deyan found it prudent to partner with IPED,
which has formalised relationships with
Stojcevski, Bytes Document Solutions. channel brands around the globe.
The study drew reseller participation
from nine countries across the globe where
channel survey has expanded as the South CRN is published and well over 7 400
African channel participated in the global responses were received.
study, which drew participation from solu- In SA, a total of 125 reseller companies
tion providers in Brazil, Canada, the US, the participated. Of these, some were also
UK, Germany, Russia, India and China. nominated for the CRN Reseller 100 list by
The origins of the CRN annual focus on local vendors and distributors as solution
provider companies showing high sales
growth and revenue turnovers over the
Expected Top Revenue Earners in 2008 past 12 months.
Printers 11.3%
PCs/entry servers 9.3% Business activity
Custom-built systems 8.2% From the solution provider companies that
Displays 6.9% participated in the South African analysis of
Hubs, switches and routers 6.7% the channel market, 33.7 per cent
Basic security 5.8% described their current business model as
Wireless LANs 5.3% solution providers, 30.3 per cent as
Processors 4.7% resellers, 10.1 per cent as IT consultants,
Backup and recovery solutions 4.5% 7.9 per cent as managed-services providers,
VoIP 4.4% 6.7 per cent as system integrators, > p16
COVER STORY: STATE OF IT CHANNEL
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

>> p14 6.7 per cent as custom-system in this regard.

builders and 4.5 per cent as ISVs.
In addition to the current business mod-
els for South African channel partners,
there were similarities in terms of reseller
domination in less mature IT geographies
with the Chinese channel market leading
the charge with 57 per cent of that market
comprising resellers.
“As more and more printer vendors have continued to bring out
resilient technologies in the printing space, resellers are reaping the
The North American and Western
European channel markets are dominated
by solution providers and IT consultants. In
the North American region, solution
providers account for 32 per cent of the
channel market while IT consultants
account for 25 per cent.
In Western Europe, the split is even
between solution providers and resellers as
each business model accounts for 23 per
cent of the channel business activity in this
region.

benefits of these enhancements.” – Monica van Tonder, Bromide 2007 Revenues

Technologies Respondents ranked product-centric solu-
tions as one area where they earned higher
revenues with these solutions accounting for
The Indian and Brazilian channel markets 48.8 per cent of revenues in calendar year
are less dominated by resellers as the two 2007. This was followed by consulting-cen-
emerging markets each polled 27 per cent tric solutions, which accounted for 17.9 per
cent of revenues earned last year. Managed
services-centric revenues contributed a total
Top Managed Services Offerings of 16.9 per cent with project-centric rev-
Network infrastructure management services 59.5% enues coming in at number four with a 16.4
Desktop application management services 57.1% per cent revenue contribution.
Printer management 52.4% A big shift in this year’s key findings has
Peripherals management services 40.5% been in the area of managed services.
Customer relationship management services 38.1% Unlike last year when most respondents in
Help desk/call centre management 38.1% 2007 Business Barometer study felt that
managed services was still in its infancy in
SA, a different picture has emerged
18months down the line.
2007 Services Revenue This year, 43.9 per cent of the solution
Services during transaction: (installation, integration, implementation, etc.) 46.0% providers polled revealed that they were
Services after transaction: (training, break/fix, etc.) 24.9% providing managed services to clients of
Services before transaction: (design, consulting, assessment, etc.) 21.2% different sizes across a section of vertical
Services after transaction: (measurement, change management) 7.9% markets. A further 31.6 per cent of solution
providers say they plan to start offering
some form of managed services leaving
24.6 per cent of respondents indicating
Factors Driving Investment and Expansion in Managed that they are not considering entry into the
Services managed services game in the next 12 to
Consumer demand 83.3% 18 months.
Sales options/revenue potential 71.4%
Scalability/flexibility 35.7% Top revenue earners in 2008
Last year it was notebooks and one would
 COVER STORY: STATE OF IT CHANNEL
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

have expected this trend to continue, espe- Reseller Growth Priority Areas
cially in SA, given the energy crisis that has Target new markets 59.3%
gripped the country and the need by most Expand product offerings/solutions 55.6%
businesses to remain connected. Expand regionally/nationally 29.6%
As with any survey, there are certain find- Acquire another business 13.0%
ings that tend to surprise. Resellers polled Expand internationally 9.3%
expect a lot of revenue to be made from Merge with another business 5.6%
printers in 2008. Identify successor in order to reduce involvement or phase out of business 5.6%
Deyan Stojcevski, channel manager, Sell the business 1.9%
Office Printing Business at Bytes Document
Solutions, says the reason for printers being
rated a highly preferred technology is Vertical Markets Focus in 2008 in South African Channel
because customers are getting more value Retail 48.1%
for their money than ever before with less Education 44.4%
expensive products and more functionality, Accounting 40.7%
particularly in the multifunctional printing Communications 35.2%
devices space. Health care/medical/dental 35.2%
Monica van Tonder, vendor relations Wholesale/distribution 35.2%
manager at Johannesburg-based IT solution
provider company, Bromide Technologies
agrees and says as more and more printer
vendors have continued to bring out Vendors Currently Represented and Recommended in SA
resilient technologies, resellers are reaping Microsoft 92.6%
the benefits of these enhancements. HP 77.8%
Van Tonder says the printing and imaging Intel 74.1%
space is a huge focus for Bromide this year IBM 25.9%
and, as an HP Preferred Partner with a spe- Seagate 64.8%
cialisation in Office Printing Solutions, the Samsung 64.8%
company will be taking full advantage of Lenovo 24.1%
the opportunities arising from improved AMD 38.9%
printing solutions. Symantec 37.0%
The top five technologies are printers Cisco 18.5%
coming in at 11.3 per cent followed by
PCs/entry servers at 9.3 per cent while cus-
tom-built systems came in third at 8.2 per
cent. IT Vendors resellers plan to focus on for growth in 2008
Displays and hubs/switches/routers came Microsoft 57.7%
in at fourth and fifth after polling 6.9 and HP 48.1%
6.7 per cent respectively. Intel 42.3%
With most solution providers expressing IBM 19.2%
confidence in the overall global IT outlook Seagate 30.8%
for 2008, companies that will cash in on Samsung 32.7%
the products that will bring in huge Lenovo 27.7%
revenues this year are those that have the AMD 23.1%
right value proposition for their clients, sell Symantec 21.2%
services on top of products and are able to Cisco 19.2%
provide IT consulting services.
ANALYSIS: HP
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
HP touts new
channel initiatives
Vendor reveals growth plans for EMEA.
BY MANDA BANDA
H P recently unveiled plans to upgrade and
expand the HP Preferred Partner
Programme with new initiatives focused on
driving growth and market leadership for
its top resellers in Europe, the Middle East
and Africa (EMEA).
The move to increase support of its
partner ecosystem includes the addition
of two specialisations, namely the Gold
and Virtualisation specialisations, to its
existing programmes.
To this end, effective 1 November, HP will
be investing in additional channel sales
resources for its Preferred Partner
Programme, while including the Gold and
Virtualisation specialisations.
“Our partners have for a long time been telling us about how
they can’t differentiate themselves and this programme has been
designed with this in mind.” – Sean Gallagher, HP
Gold specialisation
The new Gold, which is part of the compa-
ny’s broad initiative to selectively upgrade
the number of partners on the Gold spe-
cialisation and expand their participation in
the transactional business space specialisa-
tion, has been mapped and is being read-
ied for the financial year 2009. The vendor
also says the number of transactional and
Gold partners will differ from country to
country, but is expecting the majority of its
1 200 partners that have specialised in the
EMEA region to upgrade to the Gold status
within the five-month window from 5 May
to 1 November 2008.
Sean Gallagher, director Solutions Partner
18 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
Organisation (SPO) at HP in EMEA says the
introduction of the HP Preferred Partner
Gold Specialisation follows months of rigor-
ous planning based on partner feedback.
The Gold programme is open to both
specialists and non-specialist partners
although those with a specialisation will
receive more benefits.
Gallagher says the programme will not
only segment partners but also increase
partner coverage in the various market seg-
ments. “Our partners have for a long time
been telling us about how they can’t differ-
entiate themselves and this programme has
been designed with this in mind,” he says.
According to the vendor, partners wanti-
ng to upgrade to Gold status will have to
meet the set country revenue thresholds
and get certified. Specialised partners will
enjoy further benefits that include the use
of the Gold logo and exclusive access to a
dedicated partner portal.
Monica van Tonder, vendor relations
manager at Bromide Technologies, a
Johannesburg-based HP Preferred Partner,
says as a partner on the HP Preferred Partner
Programme, the company is delighted that
HP has unveiled these programmes.
Van Tonder says Bromide Technologies has
three specialisations in Office Printing
Solutions, Storage Works and HP Data Centre.
“We will definitely be applying for the Gold
and Virtualisation specialisations,” she says.
“Hopefully, we should be on the programme
next quarter as we will have received all the
information and details by then.”
With a limited set of criteria, the Gold
level programme is designed for partners
seeking a simpler engagement with HP,
while taking advantage of the programme’s
 ANALYSIS: HP
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

compelling benefits package, including

direct HP account management, world-class
training, use of the Preferred Partner logo
and preferential pricing.
With the addition of a Gold Preferred
Partner level, HP is also upgrading the pro-
gramme for partners who want to specialise
or invest substantially with HP. Gold
Preferred Partners will benefit from greater
differentiation, and a higher level of com-
pensation and marketing funding. In addi-
tion to exclusive access to certain HP pro-
grammes, they will also gain use of the HP
Gold logo.
The Preferred Partner Programme enhance-
ments come after HP chairman and CEO
Mark Hurd’s pledge to provide increased
opportunities for partners driving the most
growth, during his keynote presentation at
this year’s HP Preferred Partner Conference,
which was held recently in San Francisco.
Mark Perry, country manager, SPO at HP
in SA, says HP believes in its partner strategy
now more than ever. “Our channel commit-
ment is defined by business results, and Mark Perry, HP
we’re investing heavily in partners who share
that vision, while making it simpler and Enterprise Storage Solutions (ESS) and Bromide’s Van Tonder says HP has continued
more rewarding to work with us,” he says. Personal Systems Group (PSG) solutions to to strengthen the overall HP Partner
market more benefits in terms of sales and Programme based on partner feedback and
Virtualisation specialisation demand-generation activities, training and that’s what makes this programme unique.
After launching its virtualisation specialisa- certification, and increased compensation. Since the Preferred Partner Programme’s
tion, which has come at a time when solu- “This new specialisation adds to an already launch in late 2005, HP has continued to
strengthen its marketing investment in this
select group of top resellers. Among HP’s
“We will definitely be applying for the Gold and Virtualisation Preferred Partners, who contribute an
specialisations.” – Monica van Tonder, Bromide Technologies impressive 77 per cent of its total EMEA
indirect revenues, more than 1 000 hold
specialisations across HP’s comprehensive
technology portfolio. Globally, HP has over
tion providers are turning server virtualisa- strong portfolio of specialisations currently 250 000 channel and retail partners in over
tion, one of the fastest-growing segments on offer,” he says. “The benefits and oppor- 100 countries.
in the IT market, into their own gravy train, tunities will be massive for partners that In addition to the two specialisations, the
HP has been quick to emphasise that the specialise.” vendor has launched a key new component to
new initiative has been developed to assist According to industry analyst firm IDC, its long-term channel alliance with Microsoft.
qualified resellers to capitalise on this the virtualisation services market is expected As part of the ongoing HP and Microsoft
important market opportunity. to reach US $11.7 billion by 2011. Frontline Partner Programme, the two compa-
Gallagher says the new specialisation is To help qualified resellers capitalise on nies are providing top channel partners with
part of HP’s broader channel plan to contin- this important market opportunity, Preferred new sales and marketing benefits.
ue evolving the Preferred Partner Partners can gain entry to the specialisation Under this initiative, specialist partners
Programme and is designed to help part- from either relevant HP business group – from both companies will be jointly branded
ners to drive even more profitable business. PSG or ESG. This first cross-business group and endorsed as HP and Microsoft Frontline
Gallagher outlines that the Virtualisation specialisation reflects HP’s focus on simplify- Partners and will receive increased training,
specialisation will give partners that take ing business operations for partners. sales rebate, and new business support.

CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 19

ANALYSIS: HUBER SUHNER
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
Huber Suhner
a slice of South Africa
Electrical and optical connectivity specialist sees potential in SA.
BY KAUNDA CHAMA
E lectrical and optical connectivity specialist
Huber Suhner has set its eyes on the
African continent and has officially
announced that it is looking for channel
partners to distribute and resell its wireless
connectivity solutions.
The company recently employed the skills
of UB88, a Germany-based company to
come to SA to meet with some of the
country’s top networking distributors and
resellers to introduce the company’s chan-
nel strategy and programme to them.
Paul Holger Brée, associate partner at
UB88 says the response from the local
market has been quite impressive, but
comments that it still needs to mature
some more for there to be a major uptake
of the solution.
“We will have a three-tier partner strategy
but all of our resellers will get training on
the technology and will also be given assis-
tance when developing applications for the
technology,” he explains.
The company’s broad range of connectivity products includes
solutions that help GPSes to communicate with cellphones and oth-
ers that help passengers on high-speed trains to access the Internet.
Huber Suhner has initially targeted the
local market with its Sencity Link product,
which is a wireless Ethernet bridge
designed to work as a point-to-point data
link in the 60GHz unlicensed band.
The solution supports a variety of short-
range wireless connectivity applications up
to 800m. The signal absorption by oxygen
and the narrow beam width of the high
gain planar antenna allows for high spatial
20 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
wants
reuse and security levels.
Brée explains that the product is compar-
atively easy to set up and takes about two
hours to get up and running from scratch.
“The concept of the Sencity Link allows the
end-user to install it as easily as any other
network component. The single cable solu-
tion reduces the complexity of installation.
“The radio unit is connected to the net-
work and supplied with power through a
single outdoor-rated Cat5e Ethernet cable,”
he explains.
The visual alignment tool allows the user
to install the link easily and enjoy immedi-
ate operation without the need for addi-
tional configuration.
The company claims that users are guar-
anteed full duplex 100Mbps along the
complete range, unlike typical wireless local
area network (WLAN) equipment the user
can transmit a full 100Mbps over the link.
On the administration side, users can
monitor the status and traffic by accessing
the link statistics either via the HTML user
interface or by integrating it into a network
management tool via SNMP.
“The proprietary radio interface doesn’t
allow any other system to access the
60GHz transmitted data. A high level of
data security is inherent in the product via
signal absorption by atmospheric oxygen
and the use of high gain/narrow beam
width antennas,” claims Brée.
Huber Suhner says the system has been
approved for operation by the FCC and
Industry Canada authorities.
The company’s broad range of connec-
tivity products includes solutions that help
GPSes to communicate with cellphones and
others that help passengers on high-speed
trains to access the Internet.

Components engineered and manufac-
tured by Huber Suhner help transmit both
energy and signals in widespread applica-
tions in industry, aerospace and shipping as
well as in the exploitation of renewable
energy and mobile broadcasting.
The Swiss company says its partner
model has been developed with the
specific requirements of the network
components market in mind, particularly
those that are selling innovative networking
components to end-users as well as
designing sophisticated networks that are
secure yet cost-effective.
The company promises partners a lucra-
tive partner program that will open doors
to a new and fast-growing market.
The programme
Huber Suhner says that its partner pro-
gramme is built on three pillars which are
terms and conditions that are designed to
conquer the market; marketing and sales
support as well as training and support.
The vendor says the programme was
designed to produce measurable success
and profit because it believes success comes
through joint ventures.
As partners, companies will enjoy
attractive terms and conditions, technical
pre- and post-sales support, latest products
as well access to the company’s roadmap,
professional training, both technical and
commercial, as well as multi-faceted
sales support.
There are three levels of partnership with
different prerequisites:
 Reseller: This is the entry level that
companies can use as a stepping stone
towards building a continuously deepen-
ing partnership with the vendor. To qual-
ify for this, a company does not need to
meet preconditions on either a technical
or sales level.
SOLUTION
 Authorised Reseller: To qualify,
resellers need to have basic technical
expertise as well as proven sales compe-
tencies with the company’s technology.
The vendor expects the reseller to have
part of its activities focused on its net-
working solutions and also provide a
dedicated sales team.
 Certified Partner: To qualify as a
certified partner, a company should be
in command of deeper technical know
how and offer the required market
orientation of relevance. In this case,
the company’s focus will be on larger
As partners, companies will enjoy attractive terms and conditions,
technical pre- and post-sales support, latest products as well access
to the company’s roadmap, professional training, both technical
and commercial, as well as multi-faceted sales support.
networks of greater technical complexity
and its market orientation will lie
with larger organisational entities.
These companies will probably have an
array of solutions and consulting services
on offer.
Marketing, training and sales
support
The company says that besides products, its
partners will have access to numerous sup-
port measures as a way of assisting them to
succeed in the networking business. The
marketing tools that Huber Suhner will
make available include: product flyers, expe-
rience workshops, boiler-plate mailers, pre-
sentation materials, sales guides, partner
logos, boiler-plate proposals and adverts,
sales tool kits, corporate guidance, graphic
materials, Web banners, videos, give-away
articles, newsletters, and mock-up and
demonstrator installations.
ANALYSIS: HUBER SUHNER
PROVIDERS
To get a partner properly launched,
Huber Suhner will provide extra help and
support the company’s initial marketing
activities pro rata in kind or even financially.
This it says is a way of helping partners
with initial lead generation as well as
giving its products a good start in new
markets. Sales leads generated at events or
by way of the Huber Suhner website will be
passed on to its partners as a way of
improving their business.
The company’s training is the centre-
piece of its partner programme. The
training modules address both technical
and commercial topics and are designed to
prepare a partner company for the entire
sales cycle.
The topics covered include everything
from an introduction to the company’s
technology all the way to troubleshooting
and network structures.
On the technical support side, Huber
Suhner, via its distribution network, will pro-
vide adequate technical support, including
an online helpdesk and ad hoc back-up
support by its product managers on a case-
by-case basis.
The company’s consultant partners
have visited the country and are happy
with the response and potential in SA as
well as the rest of the continent. With the
Sencity Link solution being suitable for
many applications, including office parks,
educational institutions and hospitals, it will
be interesting to see what type of uptake its
business gets.
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 21
ANALYSIS: SIEMENS
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Siemens launches Global

Channel Partner Programme
Negative economic factors eroding reseller margins.

BY DUDU SHABA

S iemens Enterprise Communications has

“The key part of the programme is to help partners to strengthen
their expertise with new training and certification programmes.” –
Fred Maurus, Siemens Enterprise Communications
Fred Maurus, Siemens Enterprise
Communications
launched its new global channel partner
programme, Go Forward!
Fred Maurus, divisional manager, tech-
nology management and marketing,
Siemens Enterprise Communications says
the company aims to establish new part-
ners while simultaneously improving co-
operation with its current partners with a
globally consistent programme.
Maurus says the key part of the pro-
gramme is to help partners strengthen their
expertise with new training and certification
programmes tailored to their needs and
those of the market.
“By building expertise, Siemens can also
improve its partner levels, which also signif-
icantly influences pricing terms. The new
partner programme was developed to
reflect the wishes of Siemens partners
around the world,” he says.
The Go Forward! channel partner pro-
gramme is divided into three partner levels:
Select, Plus and Premier, which are calculat-
ed using an easily understandable and
clearly structured points system.
Besides sales, Maurus says that various
measures, such as attending training cours-
es and achieving certifications, or the num-
ber of salespeople who specialise in
Siemens products, influence the partner’s
status and the privileges they enjoy.
According to Maurus, the new channel
programme means that sales partners can
actively control their desired level without
any major financial burden.
“To enable this, a customised business
plan that clearly defines the individual tar-
gets for achieving the level in question is
created together with a Siemens partner
manager,” he says.
All accredited partners can use the
‘Siemens Approved Partner’ logo to prove
their expertise and assure customers that
they comply with the programme’s require-
ments. In addition, the partner programme
allows them to gain specialised certification
and advertise this alongside the partner
logo. As a result, customers can identify the
partner best suited to their needs.
According to Maurus, the new pro-
gramme will make it easier for Go Forward!
partners to sell Siemens’ market-leading
Open Communications products.
“They will have access to a tried-and-
tested partner portal, technical support,
and sales and marketing tools. In addition,
Web-based training and Siemens experts
will help them to optimise sales. Depending
on their status, sales partners will receive
marketing grants,” he says.
Maurus adds that the sales relationship
between international partners and
Siemens Enterprise Communications will be
regulated worldwide, with globally consis-
tent contracts and standardised price lists.
The partner programme is linked to the
Open Communications Channel
Certification Programme for sales, consult-
ing and service staff. “Certification at
Siemens focuses on the four fields of tech-
nology, strategy, business segments and
products,” says Maurus.

22 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008


Partners’ employees can also specialise in
solutions such as Open Communications
systems for small and medium-sized as
well as large enterprises, mobility solutions,
unified communications and business
process integration, as well as customer
contact solutions.
Maurus explains that the new Open
Communications Channel Certification
Programme offers three expertise levels for
sales, service and consulting:
 Siemens Open Communications
Associate, entry level (SOCA)
 Siemens Open Communications
Professional, specialisation (SOCP)
 Siemens Open Communications Expert,
top level (SOCE)
“All the certification is highly business-ori-
ented and proves the holder’s expertise in
technology, strategy and the Open
Solutions portfolio.
Siemens offers a flexible training pro-
gramme for acquiring all the certificates. At
ANALYSIS: SIEMENS
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
SOCA level, pre-certification, a Web-based
training tool, helps partners to get into
shape for the exam and doing business.
There are also study guides for preparing
for certification at all levels. Local courses
round out the training,” he explains.
Open Communications systems for small and medium-sized as well
as large enterprises, mobility solutions, unified communications and
business process integration, as well as customer contact solutions.
“By launching Go Forward! and the
Open Communications Channel
Certification Programme, we are embarking
on an interesting growth phase. We have
the right employees and strategy to secure
our partners’ success and the right concept
to ensure, with the aid of our partners, that
end customers achieve success in a market
where competitive pressure is constantly
increasing,” he concludes.
ANALYSIS: GALDON DATA
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Galdon Data
builds up its name
Bringing new products to the market.

BY DUDU SHABA

G aldon Data, a company that offers a range

of products, including RightFax, Call
Express, Message Mate, Teleform, Microsoft
SharePoint, Microsoft OCS, GFX, Decade,
Validator, Custom Applications and Unified
Communication Solutions
is implementing its strategy of becoming
“We are aiming for large growth in the industry by creating a unified
communications environment and linking communication solutions
with business solutions.” – Gary Ackerman, Galdon Data.
Gary Ackerman, Galdon Data
the “go to” company in the industry by
releasing new versions of its existing
product range.
Gary Ackerman his title? says the new
product, which will make a big name for
the company in the market is GFX3,
which is actually a link between RightFax
and SharePoint.
Ackerman says the GFX 3 with RightFax
has enabled it to bridge the technological
gap by enabling customers to kill two birds
with one stone.
He explains that RightFax on its own,
allows customers to store faxes but not for
extended periods, by linking it to
SharePoint with GFX3, the faxes can
be moved and stored which allows for
record management, archiving and
regulatory compliance.
He adds that the GFX3 also enables tele-
com billing which allows customers to cal-
culate the cost of each fax accurately.
Ackerman says the company has plans to
market the product through its existing
business partner channel where it has
strong long-term relationships. The compa-
ny’s business partners include Dimension
Data, Siemens, T-Systems, BCX, Datacentrix
and Abnoba.
“We find that there are a number of
organisations that would like to offer these
type of solutions but do not know where to
find the right partner. We are very open to
welcoming these organisations as partners.
“We will try to stay away from print in
terms of advertising as our products and
services require a great deal of explanation.
For this reason, we try to market on a more
personal level via methods > p33

24 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008

Eyeing
the SMB
market
Inside
Why Virtualize? >>p2

Services: Why virtualization

offers huge revenue

opportunities >>p3

The VMware partner

ecosystems >>p4

Eyeing the SMB market
Channel partners to aid VMware
market reach in EMEA.
By Manda Banda
If you are a solution provider exploring or wanting to
venture into the lucrative virtualization space, you
need look no further than a partnership with VMware,
the pioneer of server and desktop virtualization.
With solution providers turning server virtualization
into one of the fastest-growing segments in the IT
market, VMware has been at the forefront of pioneering
the virtualization of x86 servers and its product
offerings have been tailored to its customer requirements
from interaction and experience in the global market.
This has led to outstanding market success, with
VMware recently passing a billion dollars in sales
and its first quarter 2008 revenues growing by 74%
outside of its native US market.
“We have recently launched partner programme
enhancements that are intended to accelerate our partners’
businesses with a view to driving the relevance and
accessibility of virtualization into the SMB customer base.”
– Lewis Gee, VMware
Not surprisingly, solution providers do not want to
be left out of the virtualization game and they are
turning server and desktop virtualization solutions,
one of the fastest-growing segments of the IT market,
into their very own gravy train.
According to two recent exclusive CRN.COM
Channel surveys in the USA, solution providers say
server virtualization is becoming a larger part of
solution providers’ businesses and also quickly
becoming the catalyst for a wide range of other service
offerings, including disaster recovery and data centre
consolidation, hosting, training and professional services.
The 2008 state-of-the-market study found that nearly
one in five solution providers surveyed are selling or
recommending virtualization products of some sort,
including server and or storage virtualization.
Lewis Gee, VMware’s VP northern region in
Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) says VMware
offerings have evolved off the company’s mature
hypervisor technology and have started to deliver on
customers’ requirements for management and
VMWARE: EMEA FOCUS
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
Lewis Gee,
VMware
ultimately automation of the data centre. He believes
some of the hottest solutions delivered by VMware are
in the areas of disaster recovery, desktop virtualization
and software lifecycle management.
As well as a wide portfolio, there are lots of
engagement models and Gee states that in addition
to the installation and configuration services offered
by the company’s Enterprise and Professional partners
there are a significant number of VMware service
engagements are channel partner led through
certified and trained Authorised Consultants.
As a result of this, says Gee, the company is well
aware of the potential the SMB market and Africa as
a region holds. “Africa is a vast continent and our
engagement model is based on the visible market
opportunity evident through partner investment at
both a reseller and distribution level as well as
customer activity,” he says. “We support 33 countries
in southern and eastern Africa from SA.”
Gee points out that VMware has a channel
programme designed around the SMB market and
has actively created bundles aimed specifically at
channel partners and customers in this bracket. “We
have recently launched partner programme enhance-
ments that are intended to accelerate our partners’
businesses with a view to driving the relevance and
accessibility of virtualization into the SMB customer
base.” he says.
Remarking on the challenges VMware faces on the
African continent, Gee says: “Simply put, distance,
credit availability, in-country skill levels, economic
challenges and political stability are some of the
hurdles the company with its ecosystem of channel
partners will have to overcome.”
However, Gee says “VMware is committed to the
region and excited about the opportunity it sees
across the entire African continent. We are addressing
the IT skills challenges together with our channel
partners by rapidly building course capacity through
the VMware Authorised Training Centres (VATC) in
SA, which includes Torque-IT, Dell, IBM and HP.” 
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 27
 VMWARE: VIRTUALIZATION FOCUS
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
Why virtualise?
The rush to virtualize pushes the technology into
the mainstream.
By Manda Banda
The benefits of virtualization are well-documented:
consolidation of real estate, lower cooling costs that
equal power saving and disaster recovery that works
and can be tested in practice. Crucially, virtualization
also provides great opportunities for savvy solution
providers and VARs to consult, install and provide
ongoing maintenance in clients’ environments.
As the rush to virtualize continues to push the
technology into the mainstream, solution providers
need to be sure they’re taking the same approach
they would with any emerging technology by identifying
and containing security risks.
“In spite of the rush to adopt virtualization for
server consolidation efforts, many security issues and
best practices shouldn’t be overlooked.” says Chris
Norton, country manager at VMware South Africa.
Norton says there is no denying that virtualization
presents both solution providers and the end-user
client with an opportunity to cut costs. “The main dri-
vers from the end-user client’s side compelling them
to virtualize their server, storage or data centre envi-
ronments is consolidation. “Consolidation both
reduces the number of physical servers reducing capi-
tal expenditure and it lowers operational cooling costs
by saving power,”
Norton explains that while server consolidation may
reduce lower margin hardware replacements, virtual-
ization should not just be looked at from the perspec-
tive of 10 servers now running the same workload on
two servers. Rather those virtual environments running
on higher specification hardware can immediately
create 10 services opportunities for solution providers
to manage and maintain.
Aside from consolidation in server, storage or net-
work environments, solution providers can earn recur-
ring revenues by selling services around virtual envi-
ronments. This, says Norton, could vary from the pro-
vision of solutions around business continuity, disaster
recovery and life-cycle automation tools to training
and consultancy opportunities.
Norton believes the availability of VMware
Lifecycle Manager, a recently released product, pro-
vides control over the entire virtual environment,
showing who owns a virtual machine, when it was
requested, who approved it, where it is deployed,
how long it has been in operation and when it is
scheduled to be decommissioned.
He says VMware Lifecycle Manager also gives IT
managers the ability to measure and chargeback the use
of virtual machines to individual department owners.
28 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
Chris Norton,
VMware
“The automation and control of the entire virtual
machine’s lifecycle eliminates manual and repetitive
tasks that often introduce errors, and it also enables
the business to comply with IT policies and stan-
dards,” he says.
For its part, VMware has been urging solution
providers to jump onto the virtualization bandwagon
as analyst statistics show that most organisations are
actively looking for server, storage and network con-
solidation. With the virtualized environment often
becoming the de facto standard, the opportunities for
solution providers to sell virtualization solutions and
services into the SMB market are huge.
Norton acknowledges that, at the moment, most
solution providers are embracing server virtualization
rapidly because the enterprise environment is pushing
for this. “It is vital for solution providers to look
beyond enterprise server virtualization as the rush to
virtualise is pushing the technology into the main-
stream and onto the desktop,” he notes.
He sees the biggest challenge that solution
providers face when selling virtualization solutions is
that demanding clients are sceptical and require
proof of concepts before even piloting the project. “A
lot of clients suffer from what I would call healthy
scepticism, even in the face of the large volume of
customer endorsements which VMware has made
publicly available” adding that “this can be a chal-
lenge for a solution provider.”
Norton points out that VMware has been quick to
assist solution providers with proof of concepts and
even scoping a client’s environment for piloting pur-
poses. He indicates that in SA, a lot of solution
providers in the channel are making headway in sell-
ing virtualization solutions to clients in various vertical
industries largely due to the pure Return On
Investment justification. “Companies would rather
avoid costs related to managing their server and data
centre environments,” he says. This, believes Norton,
is an environment where solution providers can thrive
providing they can show virtual solutions to suit the
client’s needs and environment. 

Winning with services
By Manda Banda
For far too long, solution providers have been
bemoaning the declining margins on hardware and
software sales. Although the commoditisation of most
hardware products has led to erosion of profit, most
software sales still give resellers decent margins.
However, the services opportunities that arise from
a hardware or software implementation are significant
for solution providers that have the right skills and
expertise to deliver high quality IT services. For solu-
tion providers using virtualization technologies, the
opportunities to win by building and packaging ser-
vices on top of the virtualization layeer are massive.
Not only do solution providers stand to benefit
from the opportunities presented by server and stor-
age consolidation, networking technologies and desk-
top virtualization but also the services opportunities
created virtualization are huge.
“With the VSPP, hosting providers can easily develop their
own customized virtual infrastructure offerings that deliver
VMware virtual machine capacity to end customers on a
service basis.” – Chris Norton, VMware
Chris Norton, country manager at VMware South
Africa, says solution providers stand to benefit and
maximise their profits with VMware Professional
Services. He says solution providers that offer services
around business continuity, disaster recovery and
hosted virtual services not only create a win-win situa-
tion for themselves but are also able to build stronger
ties as trusted business advisers to their customers.
Norton says that through VMware Professional
Services, accredited partners are able to provide
proven best practices and guidance through virtual-
ization experts who assess, plan, design, build and
optimise customers’ virtual infrastructure environ-
ments, thereby maximising investment throughout the
deployment lifecycle.
In addition, he believes that VMware’s hosted com-
puting services initiative, which was launched in June
2007 through the VMware Service Provider Program
(VSPP), offers solution providers another opportunity to
win and earn recurring revenues from the technology.
Norton explains that the VSPP allows service
providers, such as Web-hosting companies, telcos
and outsourcing businesses to bring new virtual infra-
structure as service offerings to market. “Virtualization
is not just about running applications that were previ-
ously on ten physical servers on two,” he notes. “For
every virtual machine out there, there is a service
VMWARE: SERVICES FOCUS
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
opportunity for solution providers.”
He says the VSPP incorporates a new licensing
model that makes the VMware Infrastructure suite avail-
able to hosting providers on a per-virtual machine, per-
month basis. “With the VSPP, hosting providers can
easily develop their own customised ‘virtual infrastruc-
ture as a service’ offerings that effectively ‘rent’ VMware
virtual machine capacity to end customers”
.With the VSPP, hosting providers can enable end
customers to benefit from hosted virtual infrastructure
that is more highly available and robust than tradi-
tional hosted services.
Norton adds that hosting providers benefit from
the ability to differentiate themselves through innova-
tive new offerings and better service level agreements
while increasing resource use and internal efficiency.
VMware has been working with a select group of
leading hosting providers over the past two years and
is still in the process of finalising a select number of
partners it will work with in SA.
Norton points out that hosting providers can
choose to license either VMware Infrastructure
Enterprise or Starter editions, enabling them to pro-
vide a broad range of utility computing packages for
various customer needs, from high-end managed ser-
vices to individual website hosting.
Additional benefits of the VSPP include:
High availability: In addition to hosting fully isolat-
ed virtual machines, VMware Infrastructure includes
VMware High Availability (HA), which automatically
restarts a virtual machine affected by hardware failure
on a different physical server, ensuring minimal down-
time for end-users.
Resource optimization: VMware Distributed
Resource Scheduler (DRS), another component of
VMware Infrastructure, load-balances virtual
machines across the pool of physical servers in order
to accommodate increased customer demand while
ensuring the stability of physical hardware.
Scalability: VMware Infrastructure enables capacity
to be easily added and removed based on fluctuating
customer needs. This is useful for customers that have
seasonal increases in computing demand, such as
during holiday or tax seasons, because they can
increase computing resources without the time and
expense required to provide new hardware.
Serviceability: VMware VMotion technology
enables non-disruptive migrations of virtual machines
from one physical server to another, ensuring that
hardware can be serviced without any interruptions.
Cost savings: Virtualization enables significant
increases in resource use while preserving customisa-
tion for the customer. This allows hosting providers to
avoid hardware costs, enabling them to provide high-
er value to their customers. 
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 29
 VMWARE: PARTNER PROGRAM FOCUS
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

A program to meet
VMware partner ecosystem.

By Manda Banda

Choosing the right partner program can mean the dif-

ference between success and failure in the IT solutions
selling game. Most solution providers find themselves
having to explore a range of options before deciding
on partner programs. In a channel market that has so
many different partner programs, it is vital for solution
providers to select those programs that not only
enhance and facilitate relationships with vendors, but
also take their businesses to new profit heights.
Virtualization leader VMware says it has developed
a partner program that meets the needs of every
reseller that engages with it because it emphasises cer-
tification and training both on both a sales and techni-
cal level. In order for a partner to progress through the
program, they must meet the criteria of a tier’s and
then maintain a minimum number of required skills.
Partner, VMware Authorised Consultant (VAC) and
VMware Academic Program.
Norton says each program has been designed to
suit the needs of each partner and covers entry-level
“VMware owes much of its success with the global partners to top-end, enterprise-focused solution
providers. He explains that the TAP program offers
VMware partner programs to its partners because they are
several levels of membership for large and small part-
the primary route to market.” – Chris Norton, ners who want to engage with VMware on everything
from hardware certification to virtual appliances.
VMware
Details of each membership package are as follows:

Chris Norton, country manager at VMware, South
Africa, says the company is committed to offering world-
class partner programs to meet the needs of every
member of its partner ecosystem, regardless of where
they operate from. Norton says one of the main reasons
the company adopted this stance when designing its
partner programs was to make it easy to do business
and become more profitable by incorporating proven
virtualization solutions into their business models.
Partner ecosystem
Norton adds that VMware owes much of its success
with the global VMware partner programs to its part-
ners because they are the primary route to market.
The company has made it easy for partners to do
business with it and to realise their full business
potential. To this end, VMware has split its VMware
Partner Program into four sub-tiers, namely VMware
Technology Alliance Partner (TAP), VMware VIP
Access Partners
This entry-level program is designed for companies
looking to establish a basic technology partnership
with VMware. Norton says examples of Access-level
partners include vendors who want to validate their
product on the VMware platform, and organisations
that simply want access to one of the other sub-offer-
ings within the TAP program.
Select Partners
VMware has designed this program for companies
looking to establish a closer relationship. Norton says
TAP members with Select status receive software for
testing or creating a lab and standard technical support
as well as additional technical support for technology
integration. In addition, VMware also provides a host
of marketing tools and benefits to help TAP Select part-
ners to promote their solutions to the market.
Premier Partners
The Premier level has been designed for companies

30 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008

your needs
who are market leaders and/or rely specifically on
VMware infrastructure for a large part of their revenue
stream. Norton points out that generally, these are
well-established companies in the virtualization mar-
ket who are looking to establish a closer relationship
with VMware. He says Premier partners receive
extended technical and marketing support with
named technical support contacts, along with support
for developing specific go-to-market plans, along
with an increased number of VMware software
licences for testing and integration.
Global Partners
This level is for global market leaders who use the
VMware product line strategically as part of their
overall product offering to customers. These compa-
nies are authorised to ship VMware products with
their hardware or software directly to the customer.
They build specific go-to-market plans with VMware
and require a deep level of technical support to grow
and maintain their business with VMware.
VMware VIP Program
As the virtualization leader , VMware offers a tremen-
dous opportunity for resellers to increase profitability
with its award-winning portfolio and reap additional
benefits through the VIP Partner Program.
Comprehensive, supportive and global,, the VMware
VIP Partner Program provides resellers with industry-
leading benefits and resources suited to their individ-
ual business requirements. Norton believes that being
part of the program will help partners to generate
revenue and increase customer acquisition.
Some of the key benefits include:
 A strong financial incentive program
 A complete training and certification curriculum
 Access to technical support services
 The opportunity to leverage the VMware brand
 Best-in-class marketing, selling, skills enablement
and technical support
VAC Program
VMware’s VAC Program provides tools, methodolo-
gies and knowledge for channel partners who want to
offer best-in-class virtualization services. This three-
tiered program delivers specific, measurable benefits
to partners with varied skills and business needs,
enabling them to adopt and offer virtualization ser-
vices and VMware technology quickly.
As members of the VAC Program, partners have
access to proven virtualization methodology and con-
sulting materials that enable them to do the following:
 Gain the skills and expertise demanded by
virtualization customers
 Access an extensive market of existing and new
customers and partners
 Become a recognised leader in the virtualization
market
 Increase opportunities via access to tools,
methodology and expert knowledge
 Build and support their customer base with
prepackaged content and materials
 Become the single source for well-designed and
deployed virtualization solutions
VMware Academic Program
The VMware Academic Program is a comprehensive,
membership-based program designed specifically for
the academic community. The program enables qual-
ifying academic institutions worldwide to gain easy
access to cutting-edge virtualization technology and
resources at no charge.
The VMware Academic Program accelerates instruc-
tion and research in the rapidly expanding area of vir-
tualised infrastructure by providing faculties and stu-
dents with access to the virtualization technologies most
widely used in commercial production environments.
In SA, Torque IT is VMWare’s authorised training
provider partner offering all the certification programs
to channel partners. 
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 31

>> p24 such as e-mail, directly calling
and informing our existing customer base,
personal marketing and demonstrations,”
says Ackerman.
He goes on to say that the company’s
larger target markets are the midmarket
and larger enterprises.
“We always try to look at the whole pic-
ture when creating a solution for a client
and make it work for them. We differentiate
ourselves by fully understanding the cus-
tomer’s pain and building solutions to suit
their specific environment,” he says
The company does not have a formal
channel programme, as each business
partner is unique and requires a different
type of relationship. Ackerman says it
tailors its business partner agreements for
each partner.
“This way we are not limiting the rela-
tionship. We have a dedicated customer
relationship manager who deals with our
partners on a regular basis. Our manage-
ment team is also always available to work
side by side with our partners. We also offer
ANALYSIS: GALDON DATA
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
training on each product that we develop
and, once again, it is tailored to suit specific
requirements,” he says.
“RightFax on its own allows customers to store faxes. By linking it
to SharePoint with GFX3, the faxes can be moved and stored
which allows for record management, archiving and regulatory
compliance.” – Gary Ackerman, Galdon Data.
What the company finds pressing in
the channel is the difficulty finding a part-
ner that can add value on a continuous
basis while maintaining dynamic flexible
solutions to enhance relationships and not
threaten them.
Nevertheless, Galdon Data will continue
striving for leadership.
“We aim to be the leader in fax processes
by offering value-add technologies, and
allowing customers to take advantage of
the power of SharePoint to bring their fax
processes alive,” he concludes.
ROUNDTABLE: LENOVO
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Attendees: Rashid Wally; Lenovo SA, Arnold Sharp; First Technology Group, Nico Meintjes; GijimaAst, &
Gary de Menezes; Lenovo SA

Winning with customer

service, support
Leveraging vendor partnerships to the max.

BY MANDA BANDA, DUDU SHABA, DOMINIC KHUZWAYO

H ow do you create and sustain a win-win

relationship in customer service and
support?
With vendors putting more emphasis on
getting their reseller partners to become
their extended sales arms, providing service
“Issues of trust, open, transparent and regular communication
are vital if we are to succeed in creating stronger ties with our
channel partners (distributors and resellers).” – Gary de
Menezes, Lenovo SA
support, the reselling game is no longer
just about dropping a box or installing soft-
ware at a client.
IT reselling has changed and continues
to do so, and has become a game of
adding value to products and services offer-
ings around solutions that are sold and
installed. With declining margins on hard-
ware and software sales, survival in the
channel is about solution providers who
can add value, implement and support a
solution, and sell services around the prod-
uct and solutions they sell and implement.
Recently, CRN chaired a Lenovo-spon-
sored roundtable at which the PC power-
house urged its channel > p36

34 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008

ROUNDTABLE: LENOVO
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
>> p34 ecosystem (distributors and
resellers) to rally behind it in SA in its quest
to deliver win-win relationships in service
and after-sales support to end-user clients.
Win-win relationships
With so many vendor and distributor part-
ner programmes on offer for solution
providers, deciding which programmes are
worth joining can be the distinguishing fac-
tor in whether a reseller will benefit from
such a relationship.
“To survive and later on succeed in the reselling space, solution
providers need to embrace solutions selling and services that are
tailored at value adding.” – Rashid Wally, Lenovo SA
Gary de Menezes, channel manager at
Lenovo SA says as the channel landscape
has changed from one that focused square-
ly on box dropping to one in favour of
solutions selling and services, it is important
Rashid Wally,
Lenovo SA
36 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
that solution providers choose vendor
brands and programmes that put these
two facets of reselling in the forefront.
De Menezes says partners should not
belong to a vendor or distributor partner
programme if it does not benefit them in
creating a win-win relationship between
the vendor or distributor on the one hand,
and the end-user client on the other.
“Issues of trust, open, transparent and reg-
ular communication are vital if we are to
succeed in creating stronger ties with our
channel partners (distributors and
resellers),” he says.
De Menezes says in addition to trust
and communication, there is a need for
partners, especially those that still play in
the volume space which has been largely
commoditised, to always look for the
right products and solutions which are
correctly priced and offer value to the
end-user client.
Rashid Wally, country GM at Lenovo SA,
agrees and says, as a multinational PC
vendor, Lenovo is aware that for it to be
successful in the channel in the long term,
it must embrace the channel as its pre-
ferred route to market.
Having said that, Wally adds that it is
vital that the company manages its after-
sales services and support in the same man-
ner it does when it is providing support to
channel partners when they are tendering
or going after new business. “Clearly, the
model of box dropping is long gone and if
there are still resellers surviving in this space
they will be squeezed out of the market,”
he says. “To survive and l succeed in the
reselling space, solution providers need to
embrace solutions selling and services that
are tailored to value adding.”
Arnold Sharp, CEO at First Technology
Holdings, a Johannesburg-based solution
provider company and a Lenovo
PartnerNetwork member, says win-win
relationships are always desirable in the IT
solution selling game.
Sharp argues that it is vital for any solu-
tion provider company to understand its
own business model before deciding on
which brands to represent. He says closely
related to this is the issue of understanding
your clients’ needs. “Whether you are
going to specialise in multinational brands
or non-branded machines, it is always vital
 ROUNDTABLE: LENOVO
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

to understand your clients’needs,” he says.

Nico Meintjes, business unit executive:
products at GijimaAst, a Pretoria-based
LenovoNetwork partner, concurs and says in
addition to understanding the end-user
clients’ needs, it is vital for solution
providers to ensure that they do not over
or under deliver to them. Meintjes says
meeting the client’s expectations and the
ability to deliver on what you promised
them not only drives your solution provider
business to new heights and success but
also helps to build customer confidence in
your offerings.
He says delivering service excellence and
products as well as meeting customer
demand will not only ensure that SLAs are
complied with but will open up avenues
where both the reseller and the client start
building a win-win situation. “It is vital for
resellers to go beyond just scoping and
implementing an IT solution for the client.
They need to win the confidence from
Gary de
clients as trusted business advisers,” he says.
Menezes, Lenovo SA

The changing role of resellers

With the rapid commoditisation of IT prod-
ucts and the emergence of the retail market
as a force to be reckoned with, the role of
resellers in the traditional channel has had
to change drastically. Most resellers have
had to embrace services and solutions sell-
ing to compensate for the declining mar-
gins on hardware and software. This has
been compounded by the fact that with
commoditisation of most IT products,
resellers have had to sell most hardware at
cost price leaving them with little room to
make margin if they are not selling or play-
ing in the services market.
Lenovo’s Wally agrees and says that
resellers need to jump onto the services
bandwagon if they are to survive and keep
their businesses afloat. “The days of making
double-digit margins on commoditised
products such as PCs and other peripherals
are long gone,” he says.
Sharp adds that the role of resellers has
definitely changed and now it is all about
offering the customer the right product, at
the right time and with the right service.
“The IT boom experienced pre Y2K will not
occur again,” he notes.
Having said that, Sharp is well aware that
it is vital for resellers to remain consistent as
they try to adjust and reinvent themselves in
a market that has not only become highly
competitive but the pace at which technol-
ogy is being churned out is also proving to
be a challenge for some.
“Value-add reselling should be about being available and creating
mutualism between your reseller company and the client.” – Nico
Meintjes; GijimaAst
Sharp is a firm believer in a simple rule in
business and that, of course, is sticking to
basics and what works.
Meintjes concurs and is quick to point
out that at the top end of the market,
where the big solution providers, system
integrators and VARs play, there is a lot
of maturity and changes taking place but
the same cannot be said about the SME
sector, which is where a lot of vendors
need to assist their partners. He believes
that value adding is about standards and
sticking to them.

CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 37

ANALYSIS: CISCO
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
Value add reselling
According to Meintjes, value-added
reselling should be about being available
and creating mutualism between your
reseller company and the client.
“This is a win-win situation and it all has
to happen at the top and lower end of the
market,” he says.
Wally believes that to become a good
service provider, you need to have good
skills so that you are able to keep your
partners for longer.
“In April this year, we revamped our
Arnold Sharp, First partner programme. Resellers will be
Technology Group trained on products so that it will be easy
for them to educate their customers. It is
vital that the reseller base is educated
because by doing that, you are adding
value and giving resellers the tools to
enable them to operate on their own.
Skills in the local channel
Skills and training enable resellers to close
more deals, build stronger customer rela-
“Resellers have to define their businesses and be capable of
deciding as to what their training needs are and who they will be
servicing.” – Arnold Sharp, First Technology Group
Nico Meintjes;
GijimaAst
38 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
tionships and allow them to achieve real
business results.
According to Sharp, resellers are faced
with the challenge of making sure that they
skill themselves up if they want to see their
businesses succeeding.
“To be able to sell, you need to have the
skill so that you are able to grow your busi-
ness easily,” he says.
“As long as you tell a customer what to
expect, there is a clear understanding,”
says Wally.
“Resellers have to define their businesses
and be capable of deciding what their
training needs are and who they will be
servicing,” says Sharp.
Vendor-reseller partnership
management
Vendor-reseller partnership management
enables both parties to measure their
issues directly, especially those related to a
product or service.
De Menezes says that Lenovo recognises
that the channel is a key strategy for main-
taining good relationships worldwide.
“We maintain our good relationships by
being consistent in communication,
product training and product availability.
Also, we are executing a strategy that is
based on trust by listening to what our
partners want. Vendors and resellers
should have a mechanism whereby they
can engage each other in a better way,”
says De Menezes.
“A large number of our customers have
become channel centric. We have contin-
ued to listen to our customers’ input and in
South Africa we have become 100 per cent
channel centric. We have experienced part-
ner growth in the past eight quarters, we
are not yet in the consumer segment, but
we have got a lot of it right in the commer-
cial segment,” Wally adds.
Mentijes says that maintaining good
vendor relationships is a good thing but
resellers also need to learn to be indepen-
dent and start looking after themselves.
Sharp agrees.” Companies have to start
understanding their businesses and know
exactly what they want to achieve without
depending on their vendors. Our business
has matured and we have taken ownership
of what should rightfully belong to our
business,” he concludes.
 BACK
EPORT CRN: STATE OF IT CHANNEL
R
Printers top in 2008
Enable solution providers to earn their biggest revenue.
BY DUDU SHABA
P
rinters have been voted by solution
providers in the channel as the pre-
ferred technology that customers
spend their money on. This is based on
global research conducted by CRN to
determine which technology solution
providers believe they can make money
from. About 11.5 per cent of resellers
believed that printers are the best tech-
nology as they enable them to earn their
biggest revenue.
Deyan Stojcevski, channel manager,
Office Printing Business at Bytes
Document Solutions, says the reason for
printers being rated a highly preferred
technology is because customers are get-
ting more value for their money from
printers than ever before with less expen-
sive products and more functionality, par- Esna-May Hattingh, Dcc
ticularly in multifunctional devices.
To maintain an unbroken supply of printers and to keep them as
highly rated technologies, Esna-May Hattingh, HP printer product spe-
cialist at DCC says that it has been a DCC and HP initiative to identify
customers that specialise in specific product ranges and to focus on
those ranges and drive sales in order to grow their business.
“HP and DCC always ensure that stock is available and that resellers sites that extend the latest market intelligence from Xerox and Bytes
and their customers’ needs are met. This is done by identifying the
best options for them and making sure they are available,” says
Hattingh.
“Customers are getting more value for
money from printers than ever before
with less expensive products and more
functionality, particularly in multifunc-
tional devices.” – Deyan Stojcevski,
Bytes Document Solutions.
“We have a range of initiatives from rebate programmes to prod-
uct incentives, general sales incentives and training programmes for
our resellers and concessionaires,” says Stojcevski.
Stojcevski says the company is playing an enormous role in offering
training programmes on printers that are mandatory for its resellers
40 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
SURVEY
>>>
and business partners. In addition, it backs its prod-
ucts with extensive warranties that include technical
assistance and advice.
“Our Premium partners are also privy to the latest
information from our local operation and global
principals. We are the distributor and have a dedi-
cated partner programme with two restricted web-
“HP and DCC always ensure
that stock is available and
that resellers’ and their
customers’ needs are met.
This is done by identifying
the best options for them
and making sure they are
available.” – Esna-May
Hattingh, DCC.
Document Solutions to our Premium partners throughout Africa. We
supply partners with the latest sales collateral and training on new
technologies. They can also access, through the websites, any techni-
cal information they may require and sales tools such as product com-
parisons and techniques,” says Stojcevski.
Hattingh says that DCC assists its resellers with the design of solu-
tions for their end-user customers based on their specific requirements
and environments. The company also assists with the sales process of
HP’s Enterprise printer offering as well as technical specifications on
printers.
“DCC believes in providing its customers with the correct tools to
sell HP’s printers. We host breakfast sessions for our resellers in all our
regions and train them on the new products and technologies in the
market.
The Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) team at HP also makes avail-
able data sheets covering all its products to its in-house sales force,
assisting them to provide resellers with information pertaining to
specifications, features and highlights of HP’s printers. This ensures
resellers make the correct choices for their end-user customers when
purchasing our printers,” concludes Hattingh.
 BACK
EPORT CRN: STATE OF IT CHANNEL
R
PCs come out second
Emerging markets with Internet access demand more PCs.
BY DUDU SHABA
P
Cs have taken the second position
from the votes cast by solution
providers in the channel. This month,
CRN conducted research investigating which
technology solution providers in the channel
prefer to spend their money on. About 9.3
per cent of resellers believe that PCs should
occupy the second position as they enable
them to earn the highest revenue.
Graham Braum, country manager, Acer
SA defines a PC as a computer designed for
use by one person at a time and can be
either a desktop or a notebook.
“Within both the desktop and notebook
road ahead, the situation looks healthy for
Gary de Menezes, Lenovo
the Acer group, and hence for resellers in
the channel. The Acer Group, with its multibrand strategy, continues
to re-engineer itself to fortify its ability to innovate, and is completely
committed to creating a new wave of “Empowering Technology”
while integrating hardware, software and services,” says Braum.
According to Gary de Menezes, channel manager, Lenovo, SA, in the
emerging market with Internet access becoming more ubiquitous and
affordable, there is a healthy demand for notebooks and desktops.
“Business user requirements differ from consumer requirements.
Lenovo has traditionally played in the business market with its ‘Think’
range of notebooks and desktops. This has changed with the intro-
duction of the consumer-focused ‘Idea’ range.
Users are driving PC technology, demanding a feature rich, always
connected computing experience, with integrated features such as
“There will be increased demand from
new Internet users as well as the edu-
cation sector. This is excellent news for
the channel from a volume and mar-
gin perspective.” – Gary de Menezes,
Lenovo.
3G/HSDPA and face recognition. This translates into demand in the
channel, where I believe the PC is no longer just a commodity, with
vendors like Lenovo catering for niche computing environments such
as design, gaming, portability and business,” he says.
The 2010 World Cup will have a major impact on hardware require-
42 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
SURVEY
>>>
ments for IT systems directly linked to the World Cup.
“Associated investments will also be a large opportuni-
ty within the infrastructure, construction and transport
industries. Local analysts are also promoting opportuni-
ties in the security, and law and order industries in
2008. This means that the drivers will be there, but they
will need to be investigated and farmed by resellers in
order for them to take advantage of them,” Braum
comments.
He adds that space and power saving are two areas
that will drive desktop notebook?sales, if the right tech-
nology is available.
“Acer’s Veriton 1000 PC, an ultra-compact desktop
PC designed for the corporate market, is one example.
This features Intel vPro technology and an external
power supply, which contributes to a reduced cost of
ownership while simplifying maintenance and management,” he adds
Braum says PCs remain strong with a number of new productivity
designs, but notebook growth will continue to outgrow desktops as
consumers strive for more flexibility and instant-on communication.
“Low-cost PCs will be a new wave to hit the IT market on a global
scale. Since most people use their computer for e-mail, Internet chat-
ting and browsing, and some occasional word processing, technolo-
gy is definitely shifting to becoming smaller, lighter and more conve-
nient,” says Braum.
The other factor that contributed to putting the technology at the
forefront is the company’s engagement with partners.
De Meneze says it provides its Lenovo Partner Network (LPN) with
benefits and higher rewards across SA. “Lenovo’s business model is
built on innovation, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction,
and we will continue to deliver feature rich and energy efficient busi-
ness and consumer PCs to the South African market,” he comments.
De Meneze says that PCS will continue to maintain a dominant
position in the market.
“We see the demand for notebooks and desktops targeting both
the business and consumer markets to increase over the coming years.
There will be increased demand from new Internet users as well as the
education sector. This is excellent news for the channel from a volume
and margin perspective,” he says.
“Acer has been a leader in the IT industry for more than 30 years
and understands the market’s demand for more advanced technolo-
gy by constantly providing innovative and unique solutions that suit
consumers’ individual needs. Tapping into various market segments
within SA and offering affordable solutions that meet the needs of
these different market segments will be the focus for 2008,”
Braum concludes.
 REP
ORT
>>> BAC
CRN: STATE OF IT CHANNEL SURVEY K

Displays due for an upgrade

As prices drop demand increases.

BY KAUNDA CHAMA

C
RN recently took part in a global potential for these going forward,” Fraser says.
survey on what technology Werner Kuhn, Sony display product manager at
resellers see as major revenue distribution giant Rectron agrees with Fraser saying
spinners this year. that the potential for displays is huge and continues
This intense procedure involved all to grow.
aspects of IT incorporating both hard-
ware and software solutions, and pro-
duced some interesting results as to
what is going to increase earnings for “With digital signage
local and global resellers.
Even though CRT displays/screens are
becoming such a huge
becoming quite niche and the battle market for display units, this
seems to be between plasma and LCD,
year will surely see an
there seems to be a general perception,
especially among consumers, that LCD is increase in sales of both
better than plasma. LCD as well as plasma
Sarah Fraser channel manager at
InchBrook DS, an official distributor of
screens,” – Werner Kuhn,
NEC visual display products, says the Werner Kuhn, Rectron Rectron
past six months have seen an increase in
the number of display panels purchased.
“There has definitely been a notable increase in the demand for
multi-sync units,” she comments.
Fraser adds that from an NEC point of view, the demand for LCD
units has taken off in a big way, adding that plasma units are lag- “On the PC side, the price of LCD screens has come down quite
ging a bit behind due to the misconception that they are not as considerably and this has resulted in good demand for the technolo-
good as the LCD alternatives. gy,” he says.
Kuhn further says that the CRT space is fast becoming a niche
space and consumers and corporates are beginning to move in the
LCD direction because the price difference is becoming negligible.
Even though CRT displays/screens are “A 15.4-inch wide screen is almost the same price as a CRT screen

becoming quite niche and the battle
seems to be between plasma and
LCD, there seems to be a general per-
ception, especially among consumers,
that LCD is better than plasma.
She points out that besides the needs of individual users on the
desktop and corporates on their workstations, a lot of demand is
also coming from the new era of digital signage at corporate
premises and in public areas such as shopping malls.
“Although stadium displays have not yet taken off there is a lot of
of the same size and even on the higher spec models, the prices are
coming down to the extent that they are becoming preferred mod-
els for users,” he says.
He adds that even end-users are opting for flat-panel screens as
opposed to conventional televisions. “We have seen that consumers
are even purchasing display units that do not come with built-in TV
tuners. This is for two reasons: the first is that they come at a much
lower price; and one can use a DSTV decoder as an alternative to a
TV tuner,” says Kuhn.
With plasma screens taking second place, he explains that LCD
screens that are 32 inches or higher have seen quarter-on-quarter
growth in sales of between 15 and 20 per cent.
“With digital signage becoming such a huge market for display
units, this year will surely see an increase in sales of both LCD as well
as plasma screens,” he concludes.

CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 43

 BACK
EPORT CRN: STATE OF IT CHANNEL SURVEY
>>>
R

Custom-built
gain momentum
Customers still looking for quality.

BY DUDU SHABA

C
RN conducted a sur-
vey both globally and
in SA aimed at finding “Because of more competition from
out where resellers find their
biggest revenue from tech-
the multinationals that always have
nology. Interviews were con- good products to offer, the demand
ducted with150 resellers. for custom-built systems will drop, but
According to the research
results, custom-built systems
there will always be a place for both,
were rated as the third pre- where multinationals will gain more
ferred technology by the 8.2
per cent of resellers who
market share.”– Bill Gradwell, Annex.
responded.
Gary Naidoo, MD, Sahara
Computers says the reason for “There are customers that still prefer to go for multinational com-
Bill Gradwell, Annex
this technology occupying the fort because they have support structures,” he says.
third position is because resellers work closely with their customers Nevertheless, he adds that customers will still go for custom-built
and are in tune with their needs. systems because of the flexibility and are happy to have their com-
“Custom-built systems are very much based on customer needs. puters configured to suit their needs.
South Africans are early adopters of technology but are also sensitive “If you build up very well for customers, you can be more profitable
to quality, price and availability. They are looking for greater comput- and get more customers, but if you don’t do it well, much of your
ing power and higher storage capacities to facilitate growing multi- money will be spent working on the losing side. Our company will
media applications,” he says. continue to assess what our customers require from their applications
Although custom-built systems are based on customers needs, Bill and guide them to avoid overspending,” he says.
Gradwell, director, Annex, comments that there are still people who Naidoo says that Sahara
are sceptical about the lack of service and prefer to go for branded has always strived to supply
and known units. Gary Naidoo, quality technology, and make
Sahara Computers.
it affordable for all.
“We will continue doing that
“South Africans are early adopters of and being first to market with
new technologies,” he adds
technology but are also sensitive to “Because of more competi-
quality, price and availability. They are tion from the multinationals
that always have good prod-
looking for greater computing power
ucts to offer, the demand for
and higher storage capacities to facili- custom-built systems will drop,
tate growing multimedia applications.” but there will always be a place
for both, where multinationals
– Gary Naidoo, Sahara Computers. will gain more market share,”
Gradwell concludes.

44 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008

 BACK
EPORT CRN: STATE OF IT CHANNEL
R
Switches, routers
and maybe hubs
Networking remains a growth area.
BY KAUNDA CHAMA
R
ecent global research carried out by
CRN involving a large number of
resellers revealed that switches,
routers and hubs are an area of networking
where they see reasonable revenue genera-
tion in 2008.
Besides the fact that some may feel that
hubs are in their last days, switches and routers
are considered definite money earners.
Johan Krugell, D-Link channel manager at
distribution house Comztek says that
particularly in the company’s product range,
a lot of small and medium businesses are
looking at networking hardware that is
more energy efficient, especially with the
Lorna Hardie, HP
country’s energy crisis.
“Not only will the end-user be able to reduce power consumption,
but the range of SME-targeted routers and switches also provide
reasonable revenue opportunities for the reseller,” he says.
At the end of the day, the network as
a whole has become such an integral
part of the IT infrastructure that it will
remain, for a long time, one of the
major money earners for resellers
globally.
According to Krugell, from a corporate point of view, more and
more companies are investing in routers and switches which are
becoming more popular, while hubs are slowly being phased out.
“This is also evident in the number of companies that have their
46 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
SURVEY
>>>
employees using 3G cards to access their corporate net-
works remotely or wirelessly,” says Krugell.
Another reason that he sees that will help to move
more units in networking solutions is that a lot of ven-
dors and distributors are bundling security solutions
with their networking offerings.
“The potential for reseller revenues is huge because
end-users and corporates are getting more involved in
the technology they purchase and are therefore
demanding more from the reseller,” he explains.
He sees potential coming from both companies
upgrading their networks as well as Greenfield opera-
tions, adding that with the home-targeted products
there are a lot of sales generated purely on word-of-
mouth referrals.
Lorna Hardie head of HP’s Procurve business in SA
agrees that there is definitely a wide area of scope for growth and
profit in networking solutions and services.
“There is a lot of growth in demand from end-users for solution
and consulting skills, and resellers have a huge opportunity here to
earn some good revenue,” she comments.
She says that beyond just moving the hardware in the form of
switches, routers and hubs, there is a lot of scope for added revenues
through consulting, services and support where a reseller becomes
more of a business partner.
According to Hardie, purely on the hardware side, switches provide
the highest growth potential, with routers following close behind.
She, however, agrees with Krugell’s statement that hubs are definite-
ly on their way out.
“Hubs are no longer a viable technology because they come with
operational and security concerns that are done away with if a com-
pany opts to go with a switch and router solution,” comments Hardie.
She adds that another reason users are demanding more from
resellers is that networks are becoming dynamic, and that the need for
implementation, maintenance and support is increasing.
At the end of the day, the network as a whole has become such an
integral part of the IT infrastructure that it will remain, for a long time,
one of the major money earners for resellers globally.

>>>
CRN: STATE
Basic security makes top six
As trends evolve, so do needs.
BY KAUNDA CHAMA
A
s expected, when asked what
technologies resellers expect to
make money from this year,
security made it into the top 10.
Although it was not top of the list, as
most would expect, it did get a high
percentage of votes.
The need for security continues to
grow because as vendors develop more
solutions, malicious individuals find
ways to break barriers and infiltrate
even what would be considered secure
IT environments.
Sacha O’Reilly channel manager at
security vendor McAfee’s local office says
there will be plenty of need for security,
especially in the data protection space.
“Data protection has become a neces-
sity for all corporates because attacks are Sacha O’Reilly, McAfee
becoming more specialised and on top of
“Data protection has become a neces-
sity for all corporates because attacks
are becoming more specialised and
on top of that the trend has moved
from not only monitoring the informa-
tion that is coming into the company
but to also understanding the data
that is leaving its parameters,” –
Sacha O’Reilly, McAfee
that the trend has moved from not only monitoring the information
that is coming into the company but to also understanding the data
that is leaving its parameters,” she explains.
Recognising the need for data protection early, McAfee recently
acquired Safeboot, a company with expertise in this space.
REP
ORT
BAC
OF IT CHANNEL SURVEY K
“Keeping confidential information safe has
become even more important in the competitive
business environment,” she comments.
O’Reilly adds that this, in turn, provides another
revenue stream for resellers because as security needs
evolve the end-user will need support and services
from the reseller.
Intrusion prevention solutions also need to be
developed with a collaborative approach so that they
can maximise the ability of old and new solutions.
“As you can see, security has many areas that can
help resellers to increase their revenues streams but
they have to take into account that security now is
more than just about anti-virus software, it has taken
on a more holistic approach,” explains O’Reilly.
She adds that all of the company’s consumer
products now come standard with built-in technology
that prevents threats like identity theft.
She says, essentially, there will always be good
revenue potential for resellers in the security space
because it is like physical security in homes; there is no one who can
claim they are happy without it.
Riaan Otto GM at security distribution company 10Net also says
that content security is becoming as necessary as anti-virus became in
recent years, and that resellers have also recognised it as a way of
increasing their revenue.
“Spam is also becoming a big problem and companies are
seeing the need to put in place content filtering solutions to prevent
unwanted or unsolicited mail from ending up in their employees’
inboxes,” he explains.
He adds that large corporations are exposed to both internal and
external threats on a daily basis and it is important for them to
stay protected from both if they want to maintain some sort of
competitive edge.
“Legislation and the need for compliance with international
business practices is also playing a major role in ensuring companies
keep up to date with security trends,” he says.
“Because spammers are working overtime we are seeing more
companies investing in content filtering, at the same time they are
working hard to prevent sensitive information from leaving their
companies,” adds Otto.
He says the need for better security solutions will continue to
grow at a rate of 20 per cent year on year and stresses that compa-
nies need to employ tools to help them to manage employee access
on their networks.
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 47
 BACK
EPORT CRN: STATE OF IT CHANNEL SURVEY
>>>
R

No wires necessary
Wireless networks in need.
BY KAUNDA CHAMA

I
t’s no secret that totally wired networks
are no longer the order of the day as
people continue to demand more mobility.
Mobility brings with it a certain level
of freedom and convenience that eases
the stress of today’s fast-paced business
environment.
Chantel Davy, 3Com product manager at
distribution house Comztek says that the
days of wires are numbered and wireless is
the way to go and hence why resellers see a
lot of potential in the technology.
“Basically, wireless is the trend now and it
is also the way forward, and the direction in
which the market is going,” she says. Andy Robb Duxbury Networking
Davy adds that the mobile worker has
“There has been and will be for a
while a lot of demand for voice over
wireless LANs because of the
performance that is available from
this technology now,” – Andy Robb,
Duxbury Networking
become common place with the proliferation of broadband and wire-
less devices, which is increasing the demand for wireless networks
both on the local and wide area side.
“Recent examples are the price of petrol and the problem of load
shedding: these two elements are causing people to work remotely
without having to travel to their offices. The best way for them to do just implementations, resellers can make additional revenue because
this is through connecting to their corporate networks through wire-
less networks,” she explains.
Load shedding and petrol price have also had quite a
significant impact on SOHOs and small businesses, and
wireless networks in this space are bound to see signif-
icant adoption
From a reseller point of view, Davy says that besides
the sale of hardware, resellers will earn increased rev-
enues from the post-sales services and support that
come with implementations.
She adds that even though initially there were secu-
rity concerns with wireless networks, especially on the
local area network side, vendors are now building
encryption into their solutions that protect them from
intrusion and hacking.
“The way forward is wireless. In the end, wires will
only be found at the core of the network but connectiv-
ity to it will all be done in a wireless manner,” says Davy.
Andy Robb CTO Duxbury Networking says that wireless LANS are
dues for some good uptake because issues such as security and
bandwidth have been done away with and these networks are able to
handle everyday business applications.
According to him, the days of the wireless LAN being an overlay to
the wired one are over because it now matches on performance
and security.
“Security issues have been taken care of as long as the network is
properly set up from the onset,” he comments.
Robb states that coming of 803.11n has added much more
capacity to wireless LANs making them suitable to be installed as first
tier networks for running day to day business applications.
“There has been and will be for a while a lot of demand for voice
over wireless LANs because of the performance that is available from
this technology now,” he comments.
Robb adds that there is a lot of business potential in the small
and medium sized business space with wireless LANS and beyond
they can do more implementations in the same time period with
wireless technology.

48 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008

PRINTERS FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Printers
making a strong comeback
MFP giants are now dominant in the market.

BY DUDU SHABA

P rinters are still the machines of choice and

“Organisations of all sizes are standardising on MFPs, combining
four traditional office devices into one makes good business sense.”
– Boudje Giljam, Amvia.
Boudje Giljam, Amvia
the demand increases daily. As these
devices have improved in quality and per-
formance, many jobs which used to be
done by professional print shops are now
being done by users on local printers.
There was also a great move towards the
paperless office a few years ago but the
truth is more people use paper now than
ever before.
“The role of printers has increased from
machines that press dots on a page to
highly sophisticated machines that print
high-quality colour photos, scan, copy and
fax. Go into any office and you’ll find a
printer,” says Werner Kuhn, peripheral busi-
ness manager, Rectron.
Michael Powell, product marketing man-
ager at Kyocera Mita SA agrees that print-
ers are making a strong come back; he says
that the volume of laser devices has pushed
away from copying of originals to printing.
“End-users are becoming smarter, and
they now realise that they do not need a
high-end copier, if 90 per cent of the vol-
ume is going to be printer based. Why pur-
chase a large MFP when you can split the
volumes on a small copier and mid-sized
printer. This solution offers you redundancy,
costs the same to run, and nine times out
of 10, your capital outlay is much lower,”
says Powell.
Trends
While people continue to use printers as
their machines of choice, the trends are
changing and people are being influenced
by certain factors in terms of buying.
Kuhn believes that the biggest trend is
the move to multifunction machines. He
says that the quality of these machines is
improving and prices are decreasing,
making them almost the same price as their
single-function counterparts.
He mentions another trend – the photo
printer.
“With digital cameras becoming increas-
ingly cheaper and widely available, people
are creating their own photo albums at
home with programs like Photoshop,
Illustrator, Corel Draw, Indesign and many
more. The fact that photo paper prices
have decreased means that amateur pho-
tographers can printout professional-look-
ing prints on a relatively low budget,”com-
ments Kuhn.
According to Powell, printer manufactur-
ers are putting more pressure on the mar-
kets, which were traditionally dominated by
copier companies, by manufacturing and
selling low cost, small MFPs.
“This has forced margins down in the
lower segments, and at the same time it
has pushed the traditional copier manufac-
turers to compete in the print production
space. Copier speeds are increasing and
production costs are decreasing.
Specifications are no longer the key differ-
entiators, what will make you different now
is the solutions and service you provide,”
says Powell.
On the other hand, Hans Dummer, GM,
Epson mentions there has definitely been a
move towards colour printing in the office
environment. He says sales of colour laser
printers have been increasing steadily over
the past couple of years as the ever

50 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008


decreasing cost of these products makes
them more affordable.
“Epson has seen growth in the use of
photographic inkjet printers. There is a
growing trend towards home photo print-
ing which is driving this segment. These
products are also becoming more afford-
able and the quality of the photos printed
on them is excellent,” he remarks.
New technologies
Powell believes that most printer technolo-
gies are focused on making the devices
eco-friendly.
“Devices which require little or no main-
tenance, no dumping of used parts, pro-
duce no ozone or perhaps have toner-only
cartridges,” he says.
Dummer states that Epson has launched
a range of business colour inkjet printers,
which have been designed with affordable
printing costs in mind, are very fast and pro-
vide an alternative to colour laser printing.
Ronnie Oeschger, divisional manager,
office systems group and channel opera-
tions, local Xerox distributor Bytes
Document Solutions, quotes InfoTrends, an
industry research and consulting firm, say-
ing that the research company’s survey
results show that the photo speciality print-
ing market is expected to grow at a com-
pound annual growth rate of 24.5 per cent
through to 2010, reaching US $800 million
in revenues.
“Recently released advanced JPEG plug-in
technology makes it easier and faster for
commercial printers, photo labs and photo
retailers to produce photo books, greeting
cards and calendars.
In the past, when customers submitted
raw JPEG files for photo speciality products,
print providers were required to pre-process
each photo through photo-editing programs.
This new technology simplifies the photo
production process by allowing print opera-
tors to use the image files in the same for-
mat they receive them, eliminating steps
from all stages of the production process
and improving efficiency,” he says.
MFPs making the most of the
status quo
Technology evolution pretty much sums up
what the MFP market is going through, it’s
PRINTERS FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
a dynamic industry that continues to tailor
itself to suit the most direct and immediate
needs of its users.
According to Esna-May Hattingh, HP
printer product specialist at Drive Control
Corporation, the MFP giants, such as laser
photocopiers, continue to dominate the
market when it comes to sheer critical mass,
however, Hattingh says that it is also the
smaller devices that are making some
serious headway.
“Why purchase a large MFP when you can split the volumes
on a small copier and mid-sized printer?” – Michael Powell,
Kyocera Mita.
“It’s not only the more established multi-
functional ranges that are enjoying support,
photo printing, associated with higher qual-
ity inkjet printing is also morphing from sin-
gle to all-in-one devices,” says Hattingh.
Boudje Giljam, marketing and sales direc-
tor, Amvia says that organisations of all sizes
are standardising on MFPs, he says that
combining four traditional office devices into
one makes good business sense.
“All offices need a printer, copier, scanner
and fax machine, and having them in one
device saves money, space and electricity. It
improves control and if the device is reliable
it can boost productivity,” he says.
He goes on to say that there are thou-
sands of organisations that have opted
for MFPs, but in most cases, they are
missing a trick.
“By using the fax device supplied as stan-
dard with the MFP, these organisations are
out of synch with best practice in terms of
fax management, and they are almost cer-
tainly losing an opportunity to save money,”
he comments.
Giljam states that this is because of the
following reasons:
 Each MFP, being a standalone device,
needs its own dedicated analogue tele-
phone line, supplied either via a switch-
board or Telkom. This carries obvious
cost implications in terms of line rental
and hundreds or thousands of individual
dial-up calls a month.
 The MFPs tend to be equipped with
technology equivalent to a traditional Michael Powell, Kyocera Mita
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 51
PRINTERS FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
fax machine, which cannot be integrat-
ed into business processes.
 Higher costs: the fax module tends to
cost between R6 000 and R15 000, far
more than a standalone fax machine.
 These fax devices carry all of the tech-
nology and business processes issues of
a standard fax machine: pages need to
“Ink printers have always been seen as expensive when it
came to their cartridges but this is not so much the case
anymore. The cost per copy of ink printers are always on the
decline. Researchers are now calling for regulations on printer
emissions,” – Werner Kuhn, Rectron.
be scanned; privacy is compromised,
with fax pages able to be read by any-
one; low throughput (far lower than
that achieved with a fax board); and
lack of automation. In addition, MFPs in
this scenario lack storage and archiving
capability, along with final proof of
receipt. All of this means the MFPs fall
outside the requirements of good cor-
porate governance, which require
organisations to have full auditability
and traceability in place.
 Most organisations of substance have
several MFPs, so this scenario is replicated
at several sites, with consequent dupli-
cation of costs.
The digital photo evolution
Digital photography has changed just
about everybody’s world. It isn’t just a
trendy niche anymore, it is becoming the
dominant platform and sales of digital
cameras to both professionals and con-
sumers have grown rapidly.
With the demand for creative printing,
Patrick Reeves, HP marketing manager, Axiz,
says that HP has gone to the extent of pro-
viding the individual user with revolutionary
printing opportunities.
“With scalable printing technology and
the options to print from SD cards, wireless
and Bluetooth connections, printing has
never been easier. With the easy use of
printer touch screens it is easy for users to
Werner Kuhn, Rectron be creative without the use of a PC.
52 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
Creative writing elements include font
selection, adding borders and frames, and
changing the colour schemes,” he explains.
“With the red eye removal button, now
available on the printer, it is easier to edit
and ensure high-quality photographs. HP
has also ensured that selected printers,
such as the C8183, have lightscribe-DVD
burning capabilities,” he adds.
“Vendors are focusing their attention on
better, longer-lasting inks. They are also
putting a lot of emphasis on quality photo
paper. In the case of Epson, it has merged
these two technologies to give the best
results when using its photo paper and inks
with images lasting up to 200 years when
stored under album conditions,” says Kuhn.
Dummer says that Epson offers a wide
range of photo printers from four-colour
entry-level units to eight-colour professional
units. He says that the quality of these prod-
ucts is largely due to the Epson patented
Micro Piezo technology which allows its prod-
ucts to produce a perfect dot on the paper,
thereby improving the quality of the print.
“Our combination of colours covers a
wide spectrum allowing the printing of a
wide range of colours.
Other features that have been developed
are on-board SD/USB and compact flash
slots which allow the user to print pho-
tographs without having to connect the
printer to a PC. LCD panels on certain mod-
els allow the user to view photos before
printing them. All this technology is com-
plemented by an extensive range of photo-
graphic media which give the user a great
deal of flexibility in the type of photo they
wish to print,” he explains.
Are resellers winning in the
printing and imaging space?
According to Dummer, there are two types
of resellers.
“The first is only interested in selling a
unit at the lowest possible price. The sec-
ond will do a proper needs analysis with
every customer and supply the correct
printer for their needs, not necessarily the
most affordable. It is the second type of
reseller, who will generate repeat business
and win in this space,” he explains.
He says that the lowest cost per unit
reseller will be making very small margins
but the value-added reseller, the one that

will install, conduct product training and
supply media, will be able to command a
higher margin and the likelihood of repeat
business as a result.
“The HP reseller has been winning in the
printing and imaging space by offering
managed print solutions. The print solutions
incorporate optimising their infrastructure,
managing the print environment and
improving their workflow,” says Reeves.
Venter says that resellers are winning
by selling more supplies and paper to
their customers.
“This is because more people work and
print from home, especially photos from
their digital cameras. Even professional
photographers have commented on the
quality of Epson photo paper saying that it
is streaks ahead,” he adds.
He goes on to say that the only resellers
that will win are those offering true value-
added services and solutions to customers.
“By doing a quick needs analysis they
can offer their customers the correct
solutions to satisfy their needs. The
resellers that explain the benefits of original
consumables will retain their customers for
longer and reap the benefits of repeat
sales,” adds Kuhn.
Resellers
Branislav Zivkovic, title?Lexmark
International SA, believes that there is a big
opportunity for resellers to educate their
customers on the different features of the
devices they purchase, and the productivity
and cost savings benefits in implementing
them will have on their business.
“There is a big difference between the
success rate of a reseller that just sells the
hardware and one that takes the opportuni-
ty to educate their customer, show them
how to use the features and print less,
reduce their waste and, ultimately, their
costs. Just by looking at an old and stan-
dard feature in a new and fresh way, a
whole new world of selling is opened up,”
he says.
Powell agrees that the most important
thing for resellers is the ability to do a prop-
er needs analysis.
“Ask the right questions so as to supply
the right product to the customer,” he says.
According to Neil Watson, MD, Digital
Planet, printers are a low-margin product.
PRINTERS FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
He says that printer companies make
money on the ink and as a result the print-
ers themselves are seen as a commodity
which the manufacturers want to move
without making too much margin.
“It means there is margin squeeze for the
retailer as well and as a result printers don’t
always get the highest priority in terms of
sales. Brand is very important and slowly
we’re seeing that design is also becoming a
more important factor. Cost per page is an
important buying factor for customers
although it is hard to compare apples with
apples in terms of the specifications from
different manufacturers. As a result, the
sales person has a heavy influence on which
product is actually sold.
“We will continue seeing vendors such as HP driving down cost
per page, and offering products that are rich in productivity and are
affordable.” – Esna-May Hattingh, HP
Looking ahead
Powell predicts that the 2010 World Cup
will cause an increase in sales of printers.
“With the administration of such an event
being extremely paper intensive, it should
open up interesting opportunities for
providers who can offer an end-to end-solu-
tion,” he comments.
Kuhn also believes that pubs, clubs and
hotels will welcome the extra patrons and
will need to have the latest POS systems to
keep up with the demand.
“Ticket vendors like Computicket as well
as the stadiums are going to print thou-
sands of tickets everyday during the world
cup. Sport stores are going to sell hundreds
of sports jerseys and all the slips will be
printed. At airports the POS printers will be
going crazy with all the entering and exiting
tourists. There are countless opportunities
offered by 2010 in the printer industry,”
Venter says.
“We will continue seeing vendors such as
HP driving down cost per page, and offer-
ing products that are rich in productivity
and are affordable. Furthermore, MFP
brands will continue to differentiate their
value proposition by offering tailored func-
tionality that suits niche, yet important, Esna-May Hattingh, HP
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 53
PRESENTATION SOLUTIONS FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Quality presentation
solutions bring success
Successful presentations lead to good business results.

BY DUDU SHABA

P
resentations are crucial to any business’
marketing strategy, and getting your mes-
sage across in an effective way can be the
difference between success and failure.
“A high quality, quiet, bright projector is an essential part of the
presentation solution. It is also important to establish, depending
on the brightness of the room, what resolution is required for a suc-
cessful presentation.” – Hans Dummer, Epson.
Hans Dummer, regional manager, Epson,
believes that the first important step is to
make the right impression on clients when
presenting.
“A high quality, quiet, bright projector is
an essential part of a presentation solution.
It is also important to establish, depending
on the brightness of the room, what reso-
lution is required for a successful presenta-
tion,” he says.
Mark Forbes, product manager, Axiz,
adds that the key to remaining profitable in
the presentations game is not to compart-
mentalise your offerings.
“We are often inclined to offer every-
thing, from the projector to the notebook
and more, separately. Your customer is, in
fact, looking for a presentation solution, so
you need to offer a combined solution. By
identifying your customer’s needs, you are
able to compile a bundled solution that
reflects value as a whole,” he says.

Key trends
As presentation needs increase, so does the
customer’s desire to eliminate lugging
around cumbersome equipment in order to
deliver a quality presentation.
According to Forbes, products like PDAs
are drawing nearer to being mobile presen-
tation devices, and the likes of the HTC
X7500 allow for just such an opportunity.
Dummer, states that one of the key
trends in the presentation solutions
market is the move towards mobile and
wireless technology.
“Epson has a complete range of portable
wireless 3 LCD projectors which are
designed to operate in most presentation
Hans Dummer, Epson environments. These units can also be used

54 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • APRIL 2008


without a PC, by running the presentation
off a USB flash drive. The presenter is able
to concentrate on delivering a good perfor-
mance without worrying about the projec-
tor running smoothly,” he says.
“It is becoming evident that more people
will use presentation solutions as the tech-
nology becomes more affordable, and they
get to experience it and feel more comfort-
able with it,” says Craig Butterworth, sales
manager, NEC.
New technologies
Forbes continues to explain that the
HTC X7500 is a mobile phone which
offers the added benefit of being a
presentation device.
“Equipped with 8GB internal storage, the
phone has a 5-inch display, is wireless, has
3G connectivity and a removable keyboard.
With this device executives can easily take
their office wherever they travel and present
on an external monitor or projector. With
the help of the HTC X7500 docking station,
the user can connect to a television through
the composite port or via VGA to a monitor
or projector,” he says.
For those who prefer using a notebook,
Forbes adds that the HTC has introduced
the HTC Shift.
“The HTC Shift features SnapVUE, an
always-on mode that provides instant
access to critical information, including e-
mail previews, local weather, calendar and
SMS, even if the device is not switched on.
Push e-mail gives you instant alerts
whenever you receive e-mails, and through
Wi-Fi or 3.5G high-speed connectivity, you
can enjoy the ultimate in productivity,”
says Forbes.
According to Butterworth, changes to
the technology include the introduction of
Microsoft Vista, which makes it easier for
people to use wireless technology when
doing presentations.
“Up to now, you would have to load
some software on your notebook, but with
Microsoft Vista having drivers pre-installed,
you no longer have to be a technocrat to
use wireless networking for your presenta-
tions,” he comments.
Technology convergence
Organisations, businesses and end-users will
PRESENTATION SOLUTIONS FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
have the ability to be more efficient, and
reduce operational costs and time when
converging their technologies. Dummer says
the company has developed a product that
converges three technologies into one
device, namely projection, DVD player
and sound.
“An example of this is the Epson EMP-
TWD5, which has been developed for busi-
ness presentations as well as for home use,
and is an all-in-one presentation solution,”
he says.
“As technology is becoming affordable more people will opt for
presentation solutions.” – Craig Butterworth, NEC.
“With units being able to attach to a net-
work, you no longer have to have the PC or
notebook in the same room. I could be in
London doing a presentation which is on a
PC or server in SA.
“Mobile phones that have wireless capa-
bilities enable you to use your phone to
transmit the presentation to the projector,”
says Butterworth.
Budget constraints
There is a wide range of options to meet
customers’ presentation and budget needs.
One example is given by Dummer, who
states that Epson’s entry-level projectors are
affordable and can be used for business
and home applications. He believes that
high-end projectors, with higher resolution
and brightness are ideal for use in larger
venues and fixed locations.
“Customers must ensure that they are
aware of their presentation requirements
before making a decision based on price.
There are often cases where price is the sole
factor used in making a purchase decision
and, more often than not, the customer
ends up with an unsuitable solution,”
says Dummer.
Forbes says that a complete or bundled
solution that is presented to a customer can
rate the proposal as a complete value offer
and also allow the reseller to increase its
opportunity for margin.
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 55
PRESENTATION SOLUTIONS FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
“A combined solution is designed to
offer value. By doing all the legwork
involved in building a working solution that
meets the customer’s needs, you are also
creating a single area of support when help
is needed. Most importantly, the confidence
generated by creating a bundled solution
for the customer adds credibility, which can
easily turn into bigger profits,” says Forbes.
Things to consider, adds Forbes, when
tailoring and end-to-end solution include
identifying needs like level of portability
required, size of boardrooms used as well
as warranty. Many companies have a pro-
jector or form of presentation device at the
“The confidence generated by creating a bundled solution for the
customer adds credibility which can easily turn into bigger profits.”
– Mark Forbes, Axiz.
site being visited, but quality and compati-
bility as well as the correct cables are
always a concern.
“By tailoring your own solution, you
eliminate that risk and are assured that you
know your way around the equipment.
What is important is that you understand
connectivity requirements like wireless and
3G,” says Forbes
“Budgets are always a limiting factor, but
you have to balance quality with quantity,”
remarks Butterworth.
Decent margins
For solution providers to earn decent mar-
gins, customers’ needs should be priori-
tised. Dummer suggests that they need to
ensure that they provide a value-added
package and not just a box-dropping
service to customers.
“This includes advising on the right
product to suit specific needs, product
demonstrations, and delivery and installa-
tion,” he says
Meanwhile, Craig says that installations
are also a viable area for dealers to make
decent margins. Unfortunately, there are
Mark Forbes, Axiz still those fly by nights that make a mess of
56 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008
installations, making it more difficult for
customers, which ends up costing them
more in the long run.
Nevertheless, he mentions that there are
opportunities in the video conferencing,
digital signage and visual markets.
Leaders
When it comes to leading vendors, Forbes
remarks that Acer is currently one of lead-
ing vendors of projectors in SA.
“The vendor offers solutions from entry-
level 2000 ANSI Lumens to the powerful
4500 ANSI lumens projector with colour-
wheel technology for accurate colour inter-
pretation and the latest HDMI input.
Those prepared to sacrifice a bit of space
can get a projector for R4 599 and the Acer
Extensa 5220 for R5 999, both including
VAT. With these purchases, the user makes
a small investment to achieve a huge goal -
a quality presentation!” Forbes comments.
Meanwhile, Dummer states that Epson
has always been a leader.
“Epson has been the major player in the
projection market for the past seven years.
Epson has had the highest share in the
global projector market since 2001 and in
the EMEA region since 2003,” he remarks.
Resellers
Adriaan Vlok, MD, Presentation Solutions, a
reseller company based in Cape Town, says
the disadvantage of selling presentation
solutions is when stock that will satisfy the
company’s customers is not available in the
country. Vlok says the company is profitable
in terms of selling presentation solutions,
but the current challenge is the manage-
ment of cash flow. “No matter who you
deal with, you will always have outstanding
debts that need to be paid,” says Vlok.
He goes on to say that presentation solu-
tions have been in demand from customers
since last August.
“There has been an influx of requests for
presentation solutions and I think our good
BEE-managed plan and rating, and high-
level corporate referrals are to our advan-
tage,” he comments.
There is strong evidence that businesses,
government and end-users are now looking
for presentation solutions that are easier to
use and create a good impression.

Software
Still costing the IT industry billions
BY KAUNDA CHAMA
W
hen one considers software piracy, they
rarely think of it as being theft; similar to
taking another person’s car, purse or any
other personal belongings. It is strictly illegal
and infringes on other people’s intellectual
property rights.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has
made considerable efforts to get end-users
to legalise their software but there remains
a large amount of software out there that is
not legal. At the same time, software
vendors have stepped up the fight against
software piracy as most of them are
embedding activation codes and product
activation keys, although a lot of these
product validation mechanisms have
either been breached or failed to curb soft-
ware infringement.
It almost seems that while the software
vendors are working hard, the software
pirates are working twice as hard.
According to a recent economic study by
the IDC, spending on hardware, software
and IT services in SA will have reached R61
billion in 2007. The IT industry employs
more than 355 000 people, and for every
R1 that Microsoft earned in 2007, partners
working with the company earned R9.69.
However, software piracy threatens the
ability of the industry to continue contribut-
ing to the economy. A 2006 IDC study
reported that piracy of business applications
in SA cost commercial software publishers
R1.117 billion in 2006. The reported piracy
rate in SA in 2006 was 35 per cent.
John Newton, Manager of Interpol’s
SOFTWARE PIRACY FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
Intellectual Property Crime Project, says Piracy a major hurdle
the criminals behind counterfeit syndicates “Piracy remains one of the major obstacles
are organised, resourceful, and willing to to realising the potential of the information
spend large amounts of money to develop economy in SA and the rest of the conti-
and ship pirated goods to markets all over nent,” says Alastair De Wet, chairman of
the world. the Business Software Alliance (BSA). “There
“Piracy is a crime, pure and simple, and it is great concern in our economy that over a
is imperative we coordinate our efforts third of software in use is illegal.”
across the globe to stop these criminal syn- Microsoft SA’s Mark Reynolds says
dicates and their illicit trade,” says Newton. anecdotal evidence from the channel
How, then, can a company get and stay legal? There are a number
of steps to follow:
 The fundamental first step is to conduct a computer software audit, which
entails establishing what computer software is running on your computers
and how many licences you have.
 If you have a licensing shortfall, you may need to contact a computer soft-
ware vendor or distributor to establish how you can go about purchasing
the additional licences at the most cost-effective rate.
 Record the serial numbers of the computer software that is running on
each machine.
 Conduct a computer software audit on at least an annual basis.
 Ensure that your acceptable computer usage policies regulate the ability to
load computer software onto your machines.
Microsoft has encountered a number of instances where employees have
loaded Microsoft Golf and Microsoft Age of Empires onto their machines, the
installation of which could result in the company being liable in terms of the
Copyright Act for having the software installed without the requisite licences.
Although these steps relate more to best practice than legal requirements in
terms of the Copyright Act, by conducting an annual computer software audit,
a company will ensure that it is meeting its legal obligations under the Act as
well as doing its bit for the South African economy.
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 57
SOFTWARE PIRACY FEATURE
SOLUTION
suggests that recent “name-and-shame”
campaigns against rogue dealers are starting
to drive a greater sense of compliance
among the system builder community.
The company will continue cracking
down on counterfeiters and rogue
computer dealers found installing illegal
software on new computers being sold to
their customers.
“We want to protect legitimate computer
businesses and resellers who do the right
thing by selling genuine software.
Microsoft won’t stand by and allow
its businesses and employees to be
undermined by unscrupulous vendors,”
says Reynolds.
“We want to protect legitimate computer businesses and resellers
who do the right thing by selling genuine software. Microsoft won’t
stand by and allow its businesses and employees to be undermined
by unscrupulous vendors.” – Mark Reynolds, Microsoft SA
“We intend making it increasingly diffi-
cult for dishonest resellers to succeed at the
expense of those who are running their
businesses lawfully.”
The move is part of Microsoft’s Genuine
Software Initiative (GSI), which aims
to help protect legitimate distributors
and customers from the effects of software
piracy. In recent months, Microsoft SA has
reached settlements totalling hundreds of
thousands of rands with at least 16 rogue
computer dealers found installing illegal
software on new computers being sold to
their customers.
Reynolds says the GSI initiative will
focus increasing investments across three
strategic areas: education, engineering
and enforcement.
PROVIDERS
Education is key
“Key to protecting consumers and reducing
software piracy is education. The best way
to protect consumers is to raise their
awareness of the issue, equip them to be
able to spot counterfeit software and help
them to understand what they should do
about it,” says Reynolds.
As part of its overall effort to raise
awareness, Microsoft is working with
industry partners to make consumers aware
of the increasing risks associated with
acquiring and installing counterfeit soft-
ware. While the Internet facilitates com-
merce, it has also been adopted by soft-
ware pirates as a new vehicle for peddling
Mark Reynolds, Microsoft SA
installed product may not be genuine.
From a vendor’s point of view, activation
technology can be constantly updated to
their illegal wares. The possibility of being block any efforts hackers make to “crack”
infected by spyware or other malware, such product activation, limiting the impact of
as viruses, or receiving incomplete code illegitimate product keys.
increases when consumers are sold “We’re also seeing customers increasingly
counterfeit software over the Internet. reporting activation failure to us and as a
Microsoft has also seen instances of credit result we can identify rogue dealers, take
card theft by selling software online that the appropriate action and ensure more
later turned out to be counterfeit. customers aren’t duped,” the vendor says.
On the engineering front, Microsoft is Like many other businesses, the system
continuing to invest in anti-counterfeiting builder channel is experiencing the impact
technologies and product features of current macroeconomic factors, and
that protect its intellectual property and exposing dealers who sell pirated goods
alert consumers to the presence of removes one obstacle to the legitimate
counterfeit software. This includes improve- system builders’ business. The push is
ments in programs such as Windows raising awareness among customers and
Genuine Advantage. the channel, ensuring customers demand
The company believes activation gives genuine software and make sure they get
customers an early warning sign that the what they’ve paid for.
SOFTWARE PIRACY FEATURE
SOLUTION
Microsoft says its OEM distributors are all
tremendously supportive of its anti piracy
activities, supporting the use of genuine
product, assisting in training, educating
their partners and highlighting potential
piracy issues.
Effects on local channel
Alastair de Wet, Chair of the Business
Software Alliance South Africa Committee,
says the effects of software piracy are felt
throughout the local distribution channel.
“We have instituted several practical measures to prevent
fraudulent registrations. All to dissuade callers from their attempts
to access our software illegally.” – Philip Meyer, Softline’s
anti-piracy champion
He adds that while local and internation-
al software developers are also victims of
piracy, it is South African distributors and
resellers supplying end-user that are most
adversely affected by piracy. In IT circles, the
link between the developer (also known as
a vendor), distributor, reseller and the end-
user is known as the channel.
For developers, every unlicensed copy of
software in use means lost revenue and less
money to spend on activities such as prod-
uct development, marketing and training,
and channel development. Many vendors
have implemented various channel pro-
grammes to encourage resellers and distrib-
utors to promote their products and assist
them with marketing.
“Such programmes are particularly
important to smaller software resellers
because the resultant boost in sales and the
shared marketing expenses from these pro-
grammes help small businesses to upskill
PROVIDERS
their staff and save on marketing costs. But
with high software piracy rates, vendors are
finding it increasingly difficult to fund chan-
nel programmes, leaving resellers to bear
the brunt of marketing costs on their own,”
comments De Wet.
Even though the cost in lost marketing
support can be substantial, it does not
compare to the cost of lost customer confi-
dence. When using illegal software, end-
users lose many of the vendor guarantees
that come with every licensed software
copy. In most cases, they are unable to
access vendors’ service centres for assis-
tance, leaving them stranded with faulty
software that can’t be fixed. Such bad
customer experiences can drive existing
customers away and, through word of
mouth, even potential customers can
be discouraged.
“For software resellers, the sales transac-
tion does not end when the customer
walks out of the door with their software
package. There are additional services such
as custom design, installation and other
support services that may be required by
customers. Because such support services
are generally not available on unlicensed
software, local resellers are robbed of this
additional source of revenue whenever unli-
censed software is purchased,” he explains.
He comments that the software
distribution industry is a major part of SA’s
overall IT industry, adding that to keep the
industry growing and presenting further
opportunities to local entrepreneurs looking
to get a piece of the technology pie, it is
imperative that software piracy be fought
and eradicated.
Warren Weertman, associate at Bowman
Gilfillan, claims that 35 per cent of all com-
puter software used in SA is thought to be
unlicensed or pirated; this equates to a
staggering annual loss to the economy of
R1.5 billion.
He adds that recent studies have sug-
gested that if the software piracy rate was
reduced by 10 per cent, this would result in
an additional spend of R6 billion in the IT
sector, plus the creation of more than
1 000 high-income jobs.
Not only does software piracy have
economic consequences; it also has
legal consequences.
Computer programs are protected as
copyrighted works in terms of the
Copyright Act 98 of 1978. Accordingly, the
unlicensed use of software amounts to
copyright infringement – which means that
vendors, such as Adobe, Symantec and
Microsoft, can sue users of unlicensed
software in both the criminal and the
civil courts.
The penalties imposed by the criminal
courts for the use of unlicensed software
are R5 000 per illegal copy and/or impris-
onment for the first offence, and R10 000
per illegal copy and/or imprisonment for
the second offence. Hence, if, for example,
you are using 100 illegal copies of
Microsoft Windows XP, your fine will be
R500 000 - a number that would bankrupt
most businesses.
Since the penalties are high, why pirate
computer software? Because software is
often perceived by companies as expensive.
True, software can be expensive when
you look at prices in computer retail stores.
“What companies often forget, however,

is that most software vendors have volume
licensing programmes in terms of which
software can be bought at a discounted
rate. Not only can companies make use of
volume licensing but they can also look at
making use of open source solutions such
as OpenOffice.
“While OpenOffice may not have all the
‘bells and whistles’ of the likes of Microsoft
Office, if basic word processing is all you
need, then maybe a program like
OpenOffice would suit your needs better
than Microsoft Office,” explains Weertman.
Softline’s anti-piracy champion Philip
Meyer says that the new enemy facing soft-
ware companies is not just piracy, but also
fraud: “Thanks to the extensive research and
development done by most of the leading
software vendors, piracy at a computer level
has been drastically reduced. Unfortunately,
software fraud doesn’t stop there. We are
seeing a new trend emerging; that of
increased fraudulent registration attempts.”
Meyer says the progress made by soft-
Genuine software users enjoy a range of benefits, including
access to greater capabilities and easy integration with a variety of
hardware, software and services. Genuine, licensed users of
software are able to access the latest product features, updates and
ongoing improvements to keep their PCs performing better.
ware vendors to combat piracy is both
innovative and forward thinking: “The new
approach to software installation has posi-
tively impacted on piracy; however, people
installing on multiple machines or at various
branches often falsify information to avoid
purchasing additional licences. This has
seen the rise of fraud, making it one of the
new enemies to watch out for.”
Fraud is all too often perceived as a vic-
timless crime; however, Meyer says that in
the case of software it has an immediate
effect on the piracy rate if the fraudsters are
successful. Combating it begins with knowl-
edge and awareness. It’s often impossible
to prevent fraud (or to discover those com-
mitting the crimes) without understanding
what fraud is and how it is perpetrated.
SOLUTION
“We have instituted several practical
measures to prevent fraudulent registra-
tions. All to dissuade callers from their
attempts to access our software illegally,”
says Meyer.
One such example is the presentation of
an original company letterhead. Meyer says
anyone wanting to upgrade their software
will need to present an original company
letterhead with the necessary registration
information as opposed to simply calling or
emailing the request. In doing this, the soft-
ware vendor is able to verify the request,
knowing it is legitimate.
“In promoting a safe and legal digital
world we unfortunately have to ask lawful
users to go through the same process of
supplying additional information. This is not
unusual if you consider a bank as an exam-
ple. Whenever you want to do a balance
enquiry you have to supply information
confirming that you are the lawful owner of
the account you are doing an enquiry on.
With software it will be no different and it
will assist in combating piracy,” says Meyer.
Meanwhile, Microsoft SA recently
reached settlements totalling hundreds of
thousands of rands. Twenty-one dealers
based in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban
and Pretoria, and a number of smaller
regional locations, were found to be selling
computers to customers loaded with unli-
censed Microsoft software.
The action forms part of the company’s
worldwide efforts to protect its
customers and partners from the risks of
counterfeit software.
“The crackdowns are part of Microsoft’s
global Genuine Software Initiative, which
aims to help protect legitimate distributors
and customers from the effects of software
piracy,” says Microsoft SA partner executive
SOFTWARE PIRACY FEATURE
PROVIDERS
Mark Reynolds. “The criminals behind soft-
ware counterfeiting networks are organised,
shrewd and willing to spend large amounts
of money to develop counterfeit products
and introduce them onto the world mar-
kets,” says John Newton, director of the
intellectual property rights programme at
Interpol. “First and foremost, piracy is a
criminal offence and it is of utmost impor-
tance that we coordinate our efforts on an
international scale in order to dismantle
these criminal networks and put an end to
their illegal activities.”
“Microsoft’s actions, in coordination with
law enforcement agencies and other associ-
ations, represent an important effort in its
ongoing effort to protect customers, part-
ners and our intellectual property from dis-
honest dealers,” says Reynolds.
“We want to protect legitimate computer
businesses and resellers who do the right
thing by selling genuine software. Microsoft
won’t stand by and allow their businesses
and employees to be undermined by
unscrupulous vendors.”
Every year, millions of consumers and
businesses are hurt by counterfeit software
that they have acquired unwittingly, and
many companies that offer legitimate soft-
ware have difficulty competing with low
prices offered by software pirates.
Reynolds warns consumers to be sure
that the new computers they buy are not
loaded with pirated software. “Hard-disk
loading is one of the most common forms
of piracy,” says Reynolds. “What might be
seen initially by consumers as a saving is
actually a loss in the long run. Illegally
loaded software is not upgradeable, users
will not receive support and there is always
the threat of a virus wiping out their com-
puter’s hard drive.”
Genuine software users enjoy a range of
benefits, including access to greater capabil-
ities and easy integration with a variety of
hardware, software and services. Genuine,
licensed users of software are able to access
the latest product features, updates and
ongoing improvements to keep their PCs
performing better. They also get access to
additional add-ons and tools that make
their computers run better and do more
things, including useful downloads, add-ins,
templates, learning tools and more.
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008 • 61
 Reviews by: Kaunda Chama
Highly Recommended

LG R700 notebook Epson Stylus CX 4300

When most people purchase notebooks,
it is usually for the convenience of their
portability and weight.
LG’s R700 notebook is a differ-
ent case altogether. This 17”
widescreen powerful business
notebook is not built for
that, it is definitely a desk-
top replacement and a
good one at that.
On the performance
side, the notebook runs
on Intel’s Centrino Duo mobile
technology based on the chip vendor’s Core 2
Duo processor.
Although the one I tested came basic with Windows Vista, I managed to
get Microsoft Office on it and put it to the test with plenty of applications
running at the same time and it did not disappoint.
However, when I attempted to do some high-definition video editing on it,
the PC did take a little strain.
The screen size has to be one of its best attributes because 17 inches is
very decent, even for the fussiest user; besides, it is WSXGA and comes with
Fine Bright Technology for added clarity. I don’t even feel this device should
be at the office unless one’s work is of a multimedia nature.
Besides its performance with a decent sized hard drive, it also comes with
added and enhanced multimedia features, and decent sized screen.
The security features and the design alone make it very appealing.
Other than its weight, there was really nothing negative I could find to say
about this product. It would be an overstatement to say that it is the best
notebook on the market or the best I have ever used but, overall, I can con-
servatively say that it is a very nice machine.
The Epson Stylus CX4300 All-in-One printer is definitely a device suit-
ed for home and small office users
The printer is a very affordable printing and copying solution that
produces reasonable quality direct printing using either memory card
slots or PictBridge. It can also be used as a PC-free colour photocopier.
This is yet another simple plug-and-play device that provides easy
printer, scanner and copier functionality, and is small enough to fit in
any small office or even a home study or business area. It makes
scanning, copying and printing documents or photos as simple as it
should be.
I found it extremely easy to make high-quality prints, scans and
copies in a very short time with the simple push of a button.
Although it is an inkjet, it comes very close to providing laser-like text
and glossy photos, which are resistant to water, smudging and fading.
It also proved to be relatively cost-effective because there are four
individual ink cartridges, so users need only replace the colour that
runs low.
As far as low-end small and home office printers are concerned,
this is one of the better ones.

HTC Touch Dual

At first sight it looks like its predecessor, but no, this is the new and improved Touch from the handset vendor that has
brought you some of the industry’s best phones.
Just like most of HTC’s handsets, this one is well designed and eye candy for every handset geek.
Unlike the previous model (The HTC Touch), which I found to be unrefined, this one is very functional
and all the software applications and utilities that have been added to it make it a device to be reck-
oned with and sets it apart from competing brands in the same price range.
However, I am not a big fan of what I call PDA phones and it seems HTC can’t let go of that with
the Touch range, I think it’s pointless to have a touch screen sensitive enough for one to use finders,
but have a stylus and a keypad on the same device.
Why not just make it smart and keep it smart, there is no need to dumb down a phone it this com-
petitive industry.
For those that are used to standard keypads or those with smart phones, the Touch Dual comes with a little surprise - its sliding keypad in 16- or
20-key versions, which can be confusing at first.
The xT9 system helps users to get used to its workings quickly. When one starts typing a word, options promptly appear at the bottom of the screen.
But why is there a physical keypad and a choice of touchscreen keypads? And they are not that easy to use, the word “overkill” comes to mind.
Slide detection on the device is quite impressive, on opening the slide, a menu appears with common activities like SMS, contacts or even email
and the good thing is that it closes if a choice is not made within a few seconds.
Essentially, this is a good 3G phone that still has room for improvement. I hope the next one has WAN connectivity.

62 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008

PARTING: SHOTS

DILBERT www.dilbert.com by Scott Adams

S n a pshot
Company: Axis Communications
Position: Key account manager

Age: 25

Best personal achivement: Completing my degree Howard

through correspondence at UNISA. Presenting at Valentine
the annual Top Property conference alongside
Michelle McLean.
Management style: Lead by example

Most admired company: Apple

Most admired executives: Steve Jobs

Best IT product: Any product that changes/enhances the

way we communicate.
Most pressing local business issues: Load shedding

Key to success: Dedication. Know what you want and

keep your eye on the prize.

Favourite car: Porsche Carrera GT

Your car: Ford Focus

Favourite author: Cormac McCarthy

Where do you live: Fourways, Johannesburg

Birthplace: Grahamstown, Eastern Cape

Hobbies/sports: Rugby (watching), Basketball, Reading

64 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • MAY 2008