Escape to the country for Channel Conference

The plush surrounds of Whittlebury Hall are just eight miles from Northampton

Places have been filling fast for this month’s Channel Conference at the luxurious Whittlebury Hall in Towcester on 13 October. Held back to back with Intel’s partner conference this year, the forum is meant as a chance for the business leaders and innovators of the UK channel to compare notes and sharpen their approach for a more successful future.

IT giant HP is a Gold sponsor at this year’s conference. Dave Poskett, chief of the solutions partner organisaton at HP, said: “Especially exciting is the climax of the Channel Debate, which over the past six months has seen many top industry figures commenting on business concerns that matter most to the UK technology channel.

“I look forward to an insightful discussion on how vendors and channel partners are maximising value.”

Poskett is also giving a talk on the changing dynamics of the channel. New competition emerging all the time means that VARs and vendors alike must maximise the value of their business models to keep up with market trends and technologies.

Poskett will take questions from the floor and offer his views on the most profitable business opportunities in IT.

HP joins Bell Micro, Microsoft and C2000 as Gold sponsor, while Avnet, Intel and Dell have generously taken on Platinum sponsorship. Other sponsors that have gone to make the Channel Conference a worthwhile success include Double-Take Software, Interactive Ideas, RISC Group, Vistage and TCA — formerly known as the PC Association.

Lunch, which should be tasty going by the emphasis on fresh, continental cuisine at the hotel’s four restaurants, has been kindly backed by leading broadliner Ingram Micro.

For those who have opted to stay on to benefit from Intel’s channel conference on the Wednesday, award-winning Whittlebury Hall, eight miles from Northampton, offers a range of deluxe rooms and suites as well as full spa facilities.

Sara Yirrell, CRN editor, says this year’s conference builds on last year’s Reseller Leadership Forum (RLF) as well as the Channel Debate to create a forum that will target channel concerns and questions about the future.

“We are thrilled to have secured Whittlebury Hall as the location. While last year’s venue was beautiful and plush, it was less well located for resellers from the Midlands and the North,” she said. “We aim to make this event genuinely representative of the whole UK channel.”

Latest additions to the speaker line-up include Laurence Painell, Windows product manager at Microsoft. Painell will speak about the opportunities presented by Windows 7 ­ a product release that will seem well overdue after the disappointment that some experienced with Vista. He will explain what Microsoft sees as a new focus on the desktop ­ clientside computing not the way it was, but the way it should be.

Peter van den Berg, general manager for Europe at the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC), will answer the ever-pressing question of whether a two-tier model really gives customers and the channel what they need, especially in these days of one-stop shops and rapid delivery. Better yet, he has new GTDC statistics by Context that back up his views.

One of the stars of this year’s Channel Expo, CompTIA’s Matthew Poyiadgi, will get out his crystal ball once more and attempt to scry out a profitable future for VARs.

Siceo chief Ian French is expected to give some typically savvy and sharp remarks in his opening and closing speeches, casting his eye over the conference to create a useful summary for the channel.

After which we feel many of the attendees will want to discuss the event over a drink and canapés. We hope you can join us.

To book your free reseller place or for more details, please contact lucy.tarbard@incisivemedia.com or telephone 020 7316 9158.