The most recent articles from CRN

Off site and out of mind?

Juergen Obermann — 2008-10-10T16:34:00.000Z

Juergen Obermann, CRN, Friday 10 October 2008 at 16:34:00

The data loss issue is not going to go away, says Juergen Obermann

Private businesses and public sector organisations are straining under the weight of decades of creation and storage of electronic information.

With files and electronic documents dating back years, unstructured data not only represents a critical asset for the enterprise, but also a substantial burden.

At its simplest, this issue can be dealt with in two ways: either destroy the data that is not required, or organise it in some intelligent and consistent way.

Aside from being easier said than done, the task is compounded by increasingly stringent legal and industry-specific compliance regulations.

Businesses cannot simply ‘de-junk’ their data, they must ensure it can be reported on at short notice for audit, freedom of information requests, and the like.

What’s more, IT expenditure is under increased scrutiny and every penny must be justified.

One way which businesses are seeking to cut the cost of managing data and, in turn, the total cost of ownership of network infrastructure, is by investing in outsourcing data management, back-up and archiving procedures.

However, cash-strapped companies have CIOs and IT directors who may feel savings may best be made by employing outsourcing services. They could be missing the bigger picture.

One recurring themes in the industry over the past 12 months has been data loss.

Whether it be via dossiers left on trains, CD-ROMs lost in the post, or back-up tapes stolen from safes, the risk from losing data and the disastrous public backlash that might ensue has become of consequence to any organisation dealing with confidential or business critical data.

Should businesses be entertaining the notion of outsourcing data management?

Why add to the risk of data loss? In most cases, simple, cost-effective, low-risk steps can cater for the management of information.

By deploying an in-house solution, CIOs and IT directors will keep a much tighter rein on their data and can be confident that corporate policies are enforced at all times.

Resellers may offer advice to struggling businesses on how to manage growing volumes of data, while demonstrating the added value in solutions that minimise risk.

The issues involved are ongoing and, over the next 12 months, we are sure to see even more data loss fiascos hit the headlines, reinforcing the need for mitigating solutions that counter this threat.

The reseller that offers assistance and provides support in tackling these issues will be a valuable and trusted partner.

Juergen Obermann is chief executive officer of GFT inboxx

LCD-TV sales set to mushroom

Sara Yirrell — 2008-10-10T09:59:00.000Z

Sara Yirrell, CRN, Friday 10 October 2008 at 09:59:00

iSuppli predicts sales will almost double in the next four years

LCD-TVs will become the largest segment of the consumer electronics industry within the next four years, according to analyst iSuppli.

The market watcher revealed global OEM factory revenue for LCD-TVs will increase to $110.8bn in 2012, almost double the $61m achieved in 2007.

Main drivers for this growth include the global transition to digital broadcast, rapidly declining prices and consumer preferences for high-definition displays and thin form-factor sets.

Sheri Greenspan, senior analyst at iSuppli, said: “Consumers want their electronics in good times and in bad. Because of this, the consumer-electronics market will continue its incremental growth over the next four years, driven by LCD-TVs, along with consumer appliances, digital set-top boxes (STBs), digital still cameras and video games consoles.”

Rising in parallel with the LCD-TV market is the expansion of the digital STB segment, iSuppli predicted. Revenue for STBs is expected to grow to $25.6bn by 2012, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11 per cent, compared to $15.2bn in 2007.

Greenspan added: “Consumers continue to upgrade their televisions with new premium services such as high definition and video on demand, requiring new STBs.”

Oki online toolkit nets sales results for VARs

Fleur Doidge — 2008-10-09T11:20:00.000Z

Fleur Doidge, CRN, Thursday 9 October 2008 at 11:20:00

Printer VARs supplied with sales tool for segmenting and tailoring sales pitches to match customer needs

Oki Printing Solutions has rolled out an online toolkit to help its VARs target sales efforts more accurately and creatively, following discussions with its partners.

Ewa Johnson, marketing director at Oki, said the problem with selling printing solutions is that they often fail to excite customers.

What the vendor sought was a way to talk about printing so that customers and resellers could easily understand that all printers are not the same.

Oki also wanted a way to help partners communicate with potential customers to educate them that the right printer could really help an end-user organisation.

“How can we make it clear that this uninteresting grey box that sits in a corner of the office in most businesses is something that is pretty sexy and can add sizzle to your business?” asked Johnson.

The result is V-Business, an online partner toolkit, which has now been live for about three weeks.

V-Business guides partners to information for selling printing solutions, segmented by 12 markets, including education, health, horticulture and financial services.

Johnson said resellers or potential end users logging onto the V-Business tool via the Oki site are guided through a series of information sets centred around functionality, cost savings and the different options and features of each.

She said that Oki developed V-Business alongside partners via Printerland managing director James Kight.

“We are using this for our customer database as well as new business,” said Kight. “We have been waiting for something like this.”

Printerland has become the first Oki partner to adopt and customise the toolkit for use on its own web site.

Kight said V-Business has already become a key part of its sales engagement process and he believes sales are already rising.

“We are seeing particularly strong benefits from the integrated product selector application, which allows us to match customers’ specific requirements with the printer that matches those needs,” he said.

Case studies and promotions are also kept on V-Business and updated regularly. The aim is to update V-Business with three new case studies each quarter, while sections on new markets are also being planned.

Johnson said that early 2008 saw Oki launch an online tool called V-Studio for end users.

As soon as the company finished that project, it realised that a similar tool might be of value for its partners as well.

“We saw we should be facilitating our channel partners to talk intelligently in a very commercial and savvy market,” Johnson said.

Choiix targets mini-notebook channel

Nick Booth — 2008-10-03T16:01:00.000Z

Nick Booth, CRN, Friday 3 October 2008 at 16:01:00

Vendor claims VARs can make continuous profits from its mini-notebook accessories

Mini notebook accessories maker Choiix believes it can emulate the printer market’s model for making continuous profits for its partners.

Just as printer installations are a sort of Trojan horse that opens up the door for endless consumable sales, the Taiwanese manufacturer insists tiny notebooks in 2008 have created similar opportunities for the channel this Christmas.

With Asus looking to shift almost 8 million EeePCs in 2009, the market for mini-notebooks has never been stronger and Acer, MSI, Packard Bell and Samsung will continue to drive this segment forward, argued Choiix’s managing director, Jojo Chien.

The company has launched a set of ‘stylish’ accessories for mini-notebooks and is recruiting a UK channel. Technology is now something that needs to be accessorised, he said. “Expressing your differences is human nature; we all do it. It is something that has been programmed into us at a fundamental level.”

“Ten years ago, Nokia created a simple selection of snap-on, snap-off fascias for mobile phones and the market went crazy for them. These days it is mini-Mes for MSN and mobile ring tones that have people spending.”

Choiix has created a unique looking range of stylish holders for mini-notebooks for Christmas. The smaller units include compartments for business cards and pens. The larger units have aluminium backs and actually double up as notebook stands – which the vendor claims makes mini-notebooks easier to use - increasing air flow to ensure smooth operation on soft surfaces like beds and carpets.

“For corporate users, we have simple designs in black and grey. However, as Christmas presents, we anticipate huge demand for the fashionable power blue and pink products,” Chien said.

OKI and Epson unveil new sales chiefs

Doug Woodburn — 2008-10-01T15:15:00.000Z

Doug Woodburn, CRN, Wednesday 1 October 2008 at 15:15:00

Printer vendors announce new sales directors on the same day

Printer vendors OKI and Epson have unveiled new UK sales directors within hours of each other.

While OKI has enlisted former Canon and Danwood luminary Bill Allan to front its sales effort, Epson has recruited from outside the printer channel with the appointment of former Western Digital honcho Tim Anderson.

Epson has also announced the promotion of Kerry Reid to the new role of head of marketing, director designate.

Anderson, who was previously EMEA branded sales director at hard drive vendor Western Digital, said of his new role at Epson: “It is an exciting time of growth and change for Epson and there is huge potential to increase our channel sales both in consumer and business offerings.”

Allan joins OKI directly from Danwood Group, where he was commercial sales director for Scotland. He replaces Martin Ebbage.

Allan said: “The experience I will bring to OKI, especially in the growing A3 and graphics market, will complement skills already established within OKI with the aim of taking the company to a number one position within the next three years.”

Managing remote workers

Adrian Burholt — 2008-09-30T17:31:00.000Z

Adrian Burholt, CRN, Tuesday 30 September 2008 at 17:31:00

Users and resellers must ensure they don’t make a mountain out of a molehill, says Adrian Burholt

Remote working is a trend; popular because it cuts office costs and improves productivity although perhaps a little daunting for the uninitiated.

I know first-hand how hard it is to recreate the level of IT support found in a big enterprise with nothing more than PC World’s finest. Even though I like to think that working in technology elevates me above the average IT user, I have to admit that cobbling together a remote working system would stretch my talents.

BT’s recent research into people management and IT recognised the difficulties SMEs face when trying to set up and run remote working. The channel, we think, should be focusing on the technology that enables remote working.

It is important to stress that the key to making remote working possible for a business is to keep it simple.

If it proves difficult for someone with a technical background to build a remote-working system from scratch, I dread to think what SME owners in non-tech industries make of it all.

There are plenty of new remote working technologies ripe for channel adoption: cloud computing, for example, which has attracted interest from a number of big players – Google, Amazon, and tech giant Dell, who saw fit to patent the domain name “cloudcomputing.com”.

However, whether it’s cloud computing, portable storage devices or encryption for off-site workers, one rule applies: the technology needs to be easy to use.

This principle of simplicity needs to be applied to remote working technology. When workers are outside the typical office IT support network, their need for intuitive, usable IT becomes paramount.

Think of it as the iPod rule: the iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player on the market, but it mastered the usability equation and this fed into its customer appeal.

Remote working has a growing number of advocates. IBM, AT&T and American Express have all used remote workers to great success and SMEs are following their lead.

There is also the cost-saving aspect: by taking employees out of the office, businesses can cut down on space and IT requirements, saving on rent and electricity.

In the UK the government is considering extending the remote working rights of parents from those with children under six to all parents with under-16s – a real chunk of the workforce.

With grass-roots demand from employees combined with legal requirements, it’s clear remote working is more than a fad. It would be a shame, therefore, to miss this channel opportunity by overestimating how tricky remote working is to set up and run.

The next question is why do people overestimate the complexity of remote working? To an extent I think some vendors find it hard to avoid the pharmaceutical model of marketing – market the illness and the cure sells itself.

The recent and steady stream of lost data stories in the press (missing memory sticks, laptops left on trains) is enough in itself to put some employers off remote working, who reasonably assume that everyone is liable to forgetting a memory stick.

Exaggerating the risks of remote working to sell more technology to customers merely adds to negative perceptions and can come across as patronising.

Instead, vendors and resellers need to head off these concerns by emphasising what we believe is tried-and-tested, easy-to-use technology that protects customers from human error.

It’s actually very easy to secure portable data even when it’s been left on a train: credit cards and mobile phones already do so and it’s so integral to both products that I suspect most users don’t give it a second thought.

The technology in both is SIM or smartcard based. This system is trusted – for the most part -- to protect mobile phone data and bank balances.

Resellers can capitalise on the familiarity of SIM cards and their daily functions to then promote their use in remote working technologies.

Customers will build up their trust of the technology by building a relationship with the brand and by drawing parallels with existing products like mobile phones and bank cards.

Resellers and vendors alike should resist the urge to market technology through fear. Don’t risk eroding your own business model by scaring away customers.

If, however, you can prove that you’ll be making someone’s life easier, you’re guaranteed an audience.

Look beyond the concept of ‘plug and play’, too, to cost savings, financial and even psychological benefits. Best of all, look at timing.

SMEs all over the country are starting to investigate remote working options and if a reseller can provide timely, simple and instantly deployable solutions to customers who are just about to take the plunge, they will be welcomed.

If the salesman in PC World had been able to offer me a remote working solution in a shiny little box, I would have shaken his sweaty paw and invited him round for tea.

Adrian Burholt is chief executive officer at The Key Revolution

One step Beyondis the way for Sony

Fleur Doidge — 2008-09-29T15:20:00.000Z

Fleur Doidge, CRN, Monday 29 September 2008 at 15:20:00

Reading AV specialist targets SMEs with new Sony HD entrant

Distributor Beyondis has added Sony PCS-XG80 HD videoconferencing to its range.

Beyondis managing director Kristian Davies said that videoconferencing technology’s time has come as it is getting affordable and easy to use even for SMEs.

The user buys the codec, a Sony HD camera and an audio module but it is essentially simple to use out of the box with a PlayStation-like console.

“With Sony now in the HD arena, it will have a big influence on the market,” he said.

Davies said he is expecting a big takeup of videoconferencing applications over the next 18 months.

“The traditional AV channel is well established but now there are these sorts of devices all over the network, the IT resellers are actually the obvious people to be selling this,” he added.

Also, Sony’s brand is strong and the higher-quality HD offering should have wide appeal for a range of customers.

“There are also significant savings to be made on travel costs, which means it is environmentally friendly,” he said.

The £5,500 Sony system is interoperable and standards-based so can be used to talk to other companies or locations that do not have the same setup.

Sony’s PCS XG80 setup combines 1080i high resolution and a frame rate of 60 fields per second, providing nearly four times the detail of standard definition (SD) images.

“We believe it offers our customers unrivalled quality at a price that makes high definition video conferencing solutions accessible to all,” Davies said.

According to Sony, the PCS-XG80 HD videoconferencing system has been finding fans in Europe. It has backward compatibility, so can be used alongside older, SD legacy systems over IP or ISDN.

Two separate streams of live, HD information can be supported in parallel – such as live camera view and an animated PowerPoint presentation, Sony said.

Four hundred units shipped to Europe in August, the product’s first month on the market, the vendor said.

The system has appeal for large corporate businesses and SMEs as well as healthcare, government and education verticals, Sony said in a statement.

Lexmark swells reseller ranks

Kayleigh Bateman — 2008-09-26T13:33:00.000Z

Kayleigh Bateman, CRN, Friday 26 September 2008 at 13:33:00

Printer vendor announces 270 resellers in EMEA have joined its pay-per-page programme since launch last year

Printer vendor Lexmark has netted 270 EMEA reseller partners for its Value Print Partner (VPP) Programme a year after its launch.

The programme enables partners to offer Lexmark print technology on a cost-per-page plan, and to reinforce the vendor’s ‘Print less, save more’ approach, which is designed to open a new revenue stream for partners.

Marcus Harvey, director of UK channel sales at Lexmark, said: “Lexmark has a channel-centred culture. Our business has been built around the commitment to our open channel partners.

“Already, we can see that our traditional reseller base is moving into the pay-per-page market and our partner programme is designed to support this shift.”

The VPP Programme offers discounts on cost-per-page contracts signed with the customers, technical training, performance bonuses and a quarterly and annual rebate scheme.

Dave Gibson, managing director at VPP partner altodigital UK, said: “The Lexmark portfolio offers exceptional products and is supported by an extremely knowledgeable team with a positive approach, this winning combination is one of the main reasons why we decided to take on the Lexmark range.”

Lexmark recently vowed to double its UK reseller base by 2010 after the launch of its Channel Value Scheme in July, which is designed to build closer ties with smaller resellers and mid-tier Premium partners through a points-based loyalty programme.

July also saw Lexmark sign a fourth UK distributor, Computer 2000, alongside Ingram Micro, Midwich and Northamber.

CRN Special Report: Thinking big to sell bigger

Nick Booth — 2008-09-25T11:35:00.000Z

Nick Booth, CRN, Thursday 25 September 2008 at 11:35:00

Canon has called for reinforcements in its assault on the wide-format printing market. Nick Booth looks at how crack consumer and office printer teams can adapt to the terrain

Print resellers fall into two camps. There are those that sell office and consumer printers, which rarely print on anything more exotic than paper, never go beyond A3 size and where most of the output rarely leaves the office. Then there is the land of the giants, where machines can produce outlandishly large banners, adverts or posters.

These might have to withstand extremes of temperature, climatic rigours, or intense scrutiny. The hardiness of the media and the quality of the colour reproduction have to be perfect.

Canon has signed Midwich to distribute its wide- or large-format printer (LFP) range a second attempt by the latter to compete in this market. Consumer and business printers, regarded as commodities, can be distributed by box shifters without adding value. But LFPs need a lot of understanding.

Many IT resellers have long relied on what is sometimes described as the entry-level end of the market home and office printers for consumer and standard business use. Its client base, while often comprised of experts in their field, has skills and experience that stop at anything above A3-sized printing. LFP is a different proposition with a different channel to market.

Canon is a leader in the field, so what does this tell us about the state of the LFP market?

Rival printing firms say there is a world of difference between consumer and LFP printing. LFP distributors point out that this market will appeal to office printer resellers and distributors that are prepared to look outside their traditional strengths to develop new ones.

This way of thinking offers new revenue streams to the hardworking, keen-to-learn reseller.

Established resellers of LFP say their hard-won experiences have taught them that newcomers can make expensive mistakes when they get into this market.

Canon says it appointed Midwich to provide new focus for its large-format computer-aided design (CAD) or geographic information system (GIS) and ge neral-use printers.

Midwich has enjoyed a long relationship with Canon. Its trust in Midwich to make the step up into a new speciality is testament to its confidence in the distributor, and its ability to lead partners.

Meanwhile, Midwich has announced that it has transformed itself. It has signed up an army of resellers that understand the aesthetics of colour and display. That is unsurprising because Midwich is one of the UK’s main audiovisual technology distributors.

Midwich is also pushing its background in training, supporting and handholding of resellers in a market where you cannot just plug and play. Wide-format printing is not an install-and-invoice market. The distributor also supplies its partners with Canon document scanners and consumer imaging (CCI) products.

The distributor also has previous experience having initially tried LFP some years ago but then retreated.

Midwich re-entered the fray this year and has now taken on the whole range of Canon CAD and general-use LFPs, including the Canon iPF610, iPF710, iPF720, LP17 and LP24 printers.

These are like a starter pack for the LFP market, being ideal for the office environment whether for general use or the CAD and GIS markets. At this end of the range, the reseller is dealing in five-colour printing in sizes up to A1, on a range of substrates and with a variety of features to suit any environment, according to Midwich.

Maidenhead-based Colourgen is a distributor for Epson and Seiko, two rival players in the market. Colourgen marketing manager Melanie Enser wishes any new entrants good luck.

She says resellers that do not know what they are dealing with could be taking a risk although that is true whenever a firm trades in unfamiliar territory. With LFP, certain parameters have changed and resellers should take note.

“The cost of consumables in the LFP market is very high. It is not like dealing with paper, where you just print something again if you spot an error. If you do not get your settings right first time, you could waste a lot of money,” says Enser.

“You should not think of getting into this market unless you really know colour management.”

Preparation is all, so resellers should research LFP to determine such things as how the end user will get their colour settings right, she says.

If IT resellers do not know what colour management is, they should forget any illusions they have about entering this market, no matter how lucrative it may be. These skills may take years to pick up, says Enser.

Analyst Clive Longbottom, service director at market research company Quocirca, agrees with Enser. “If you do not understand Pantone [a system for controlling colours], for example, you should not be in this market,” he says.

Longbottom hastens to add, though, that LFPs are a high-growth sector right now and therefore hold an undoubted appeal for resellers.

“I can see the attraction,” he says. “This used to be a specialist niche, but large-format printing is bleeding into all kinds of areas. Businesses that once would have paid £3,000 for a top-quality single giant print now wonder if it would be better value to invest in the machinery themselves.”

Today, he suggests, the right reseller with the right vendor and distributor partners could do very well with LFP. Firms in all kinds of verticals retail, entertainment, hotels and pharmaceutical, to name just a few are entertaining the idea of buying large-format printers and managing their costs as they produce more of this type of printed work.

Midwich, a Norfolk-based distributor, claims to turn over about £150m a year from the audiovisual, home entertainment, imaging and document scanners, and printer markets.

“The IT sectors represent an untapped market for this kind of equipment,” says Alex Ward, Midwich’s commercial director. “Canon and Midwich both saw that.”

Canon has competition from HP and Epson in this market another indication that opportunities exist for the IT channel. “So we use our channels and expertise to promote the range as strongly as possible,” says Ward.

The latest figures from Infotrends show that Canon is making progress. It increased its European market share in 24in to 59in LFPs from 8.3 per cent in 2006 to 18.2 per cent in 2007. This was partly down to an expanding product range. Canon launched 11 products in 2007 alone. More products means there is more scope for new partners.

Shane Burchett, large-format product marketing manager for Canon UK, says Midwich’s printer resellers could make headway in as many as five niches immediately. Education, retail, government, leisure and corporations with multiple departments are the markets on which Canon plans to concentrate.

Different departments will have varying needs for LFP and a reseller might wish to target each accordingly. A marketing department may want to print posters for its latest event, while the HR department might need a machine to help it chart new hires and changes to company structure.

Schools are always looking for new ways to present information while the retail and leisure sectors, being sales oriented, have always been keen on signage, according to Burchett.

Meanwhile, local government loves to erect A1-size missives that communicate to other bodies or to the tax-paying public, he suggests, especially if they can print them in 27 languages.

The entry-level products, though employing the same technology as higher-end offerings, do not have the same challenges, says Burchett. “We service the printers. The reseller just needs to ask the potential client the right questions,” he points out.

At this end of the market, the reseller only has to remember three principles. As Burchett says, they need to ask the customer the right questions to match them with the right printer for their applications. They need to be able to calculate and show the customer a return on their investment. And they need to demonstrate that the printers are sufficiently easy to use: at this end of the LFP market, Canon offers only two modes and one of them is known as the Easy setting, he says.

Software bundles may illustrate how Canon envisages its printers being used. Poster Artist, an application offering the user 1,000 templates to use for designing a poster, usually costs about £425, but is given away free with the Canon range sold through Midwich, says Burchett.

Canon and Midwich are doing a lot of work here. Canon is producing presentations, sales guides with answers to typical customer questions, cost comparison figures and sales organisation sheets, he says.

Meanwhile, Midwich is to have a dedicated sales development manager and sales development executive. Like with every golden-sounding sales opportunity, resellers may wonder how long the demand will last. In which case, they may want to start moving up the value chain, eventually taking on higher-end products, adds Burnett.

Canon also offers higher-end products, but they are handled by different distributors the more specialised Velmex and Art Systems.

Gareth Parker, product manager at printer manufacturer Ricoh, says resellers will need to address new markets if they wish to sell higher-end products. That is where the complexity comes in. “Recognising the difference between the two key large-format markets CAD and graphical can be a challenge.”

CAD-based plotting was once mono based, but customers now demand colour. High-end graphical applications, however, have always been wholly colour based, for both in-house and outdoor production. Wherever there is colour, there is complexity. Even plotting and printing for CAD can be difficult, says Parker, as there are various expectations on

controllers, production time and the use of different media.

“Understanding historic processes and workflows will be a challenge for new resellers getting to grips with the large-format market,” he says.

Recognising the trends from centralised production to decentralised, convenience printing and plotting is important. The immediate challenge in the CAD market is to offer high-quality colour scanning at an affordable price, ideally integrated into one system with a robust plotter or printer, says Parker.

Another challenge that ambitious resellers may want to think about is identified by Quocirca’s Clive Longbottom. “When you are selling these large-format devices, to whom do you pitch? The IT manager or the printer manager, the asset manager or the facilities manager? Think about who you target,” he says.

Colourgen’s Enser argues that resellers planning to sell LFPs but wanting an alternative to Canon are most likely to choose Epson, which she said is the nearest equivalent and has LFP offerings at about the same price.

HP, with its DesignJet range, dominates the market, though, she says. HP was not available to contribute to this article.

Epson’s prographics business manager, Martin Johns, has a few now familiar-sounding words of advice to IT resellers thinking of entering this market.

“It is not a market that I would advocate for an IT reseller unless they had the requisite knowledge in matching Photoshop settings, colour management and raster image processor (RIP) with a client’s business processes,” he says.

“It may take at least a year or two to get the pre-press experience.”

The pre-press market is huge, though, so it would not be too difficult to find staff with that expertise already, according to Johns.

Xerox’s UK wide-format manager, Howard Witt, is also encouraging. “There are few industries that do not need wide-format printers in some way,” says Witt.

He cites oil and gas companies, universities, finance organisations, engineering and law firms as all being particularly happy hunting grounds.

Again, it depends on the resellers’ ability to match workflow software with the printing process, which suggests you need to know market applications particularly well to get the right printer settings configured, he notes.

Another pitfall is that some printers can be high maintenance and that is before one considers the media and the inks used, according to Witt.

“Some machines look very similar, but one might need its printer head periodically replaced, and another might merely need the ink to be refurbished regularly. The difference in cost can be enormous.”

That is the whole point of Canon and Midwich’s initial training for the channel, agrees Alistair Coyne, Midwich’s product manager for digital imaging brands.

“The great selling point for Canon is that it is open and accessible. It designs the products to be easy to use, almost plug and play. And the return on investment should be easy to identify,” says Coyne. “Our rationale is to keep the cost of printing down by keeping it simple.”

Northamber posts sales drop

Doug Woodburn — 2008-09-24T11:03:00.000Z

Doug Woodburn, CRN, Wednesday 24 September 2008 at 11:03:00

Broadliner posts fall in annual revenue after suffering poor fourth quarter

Broadliner Northamber has posted a 1.4 per cent drop in annual revenues after being hammered by the downturn in its final quarter.

The distributor saw revenues fall from £182.2m to £179.7m for the 12 months to 30 June. Northamber blamed the drop on the “general economic climate” during the fourth quarter.

Despite the lower top line, Northamber saw pre-tax profits rise 5.9 per cent to £627,000, which it said reflected a decrease in overheads, including an 8 per cent reduction in logistics costs.

Stock turns rose from an average of 14.5 to 16.5 times, debtor days fell from 44 to 39 days and additional cash discounts drove creditor days from 41 to 37 days.

David Phillips, chairman of Northamber, said it was impossible to give guidance for the year ahead.

“The expressions of quiet confidence in my statements of prior years, within the present economic uncertainty, are not easily given,” he said.

“Within an area of largely discretionary expenditure and a lack lustre start to the year, it is simply not possible to provide any guidance, beyond our determination to continue to manage the balance sheet tightly.”

ScanSource inducted to distribution body

Doug Woodburn — 2008-09-22T11:25:00.000Z

Doug Woodburn, CRN, Monday 22 September 2008 at 11:25:00

Point of sale distributor one of two new recruits for the Global Technology Distribution Council

The Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC) has continued to swell its ranks with the recruitment of ScanSource and D &H.

The GTDC, which already counted the likes of Ingram Micro, Tech Data and Westcoast among its members, represents more than $100bn (£54bn) in annual sales.

The double swoop will extend the council’s presence in Europe: Scansource boasts presence on both sides of the Atlantic and recently bought UK telecoms distributor MTV Telecom.

D&H is one of North America’s largest wholesalers.

The GTDC recently revealed it is looking to recruit more European outfits. The organisation held its first ever European Investor Relations Conference in Chelsea Harbour in June.

ScanSource and D&H were officially unveiled at GTDC’s recent Rising Star Awards ceremony, which discussed current market trends and how to continue strengthening supply-chain efficiency, channel reach and profitability.

Midwich signs Canon LFP distribution deal

Fleur Doidge — 2008-09-19T17:20:00.000Z

Fleur Doidge, CRN, Friday 19 September 2008 at 17:20:00

Distributor to take Canon large-format to vertical markets in expanded deal

Printing and imaging vendor Canon has extended its distribution deal with Midwich for the latter to sell its Large Format CAD/GIS and General Use Printers, including media and inks.

AV-focused Midwich will now sell the Canon CAD and General Use imagePROGRAF range of LFPs, including the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF610, iPF710, iPF720 and the Canon imagePROGRAF LP17 and LP24 printers.

Previously, the distributor sold Canon’s document scanners and consumer imaging line.

“In sizes up to A1, the printers provide five-colour printing on a range of substrates and with a variety of features to suit any environment,” Canon said in a statement.

Alex Ward, commercial director at Midwich, said the Canon imagePROGRAF range made for an “impressive” addition to its portfolio.

“Both Canon and Midwich recognised that the IT sectors represent an untapped market for this kind of equipment, and we will be using our channels and expertise to promote the range as strongly as possible,” Ward said.

Infortrends data provided by Canon suggest the vendor has increased total market share in Western European unit shipments across the technical large format LFP segment between 24in and 59in sizes from 8.3 per cent in 2006 to 18.2 per cent in 2007.

Canon attributes the growth to its launch of 11 new products in 2007 and also what it claims is its growing reputation for product speed and quality.

Matthew Searle, UK channel director at Canon, said he believed the time was right to make Canon LFPs available to IT resellers.

“Our relationship with Midwich and the success we have shared with them in other areas of our business makes them the perfect partner for us to work with as we grow our sales via our valued reseller partners,” Searle said.

Midwich, which focuses on the audiovisual, home entertainment, imaging/document scanners and printer boasts an annual turnover of £150m.

Didata hooks up HSBC with Cisco telepresence

Fleur Doidge — 2008-09-18T17:20:00.000Z

Fleur Doidge, CRN, Thursday 18 September 2008 at 17:20:00

Sophisticated setup of video-conferencing could save thousands of pounds in resources

Integrator Dimension Data (Didata) has deployed a global network of video-conferencing rooms using Cisco telepresence technology for HSBC to save the banking group thousands of pounds in travel costs.

Ken Harvey, chief information officer at HSBC, said in a statement that the network of conference rooms creates a virtual in-person experience with real-time, face-to-face interactions on a giant screen with visual and audio collaboration technologies.

“Our meeting and collaboration tools provide significant increases in productivity, but are no substitute for in-person meetings,” Harvey said.

A meeting using the new video-conferencing network that would have required three employees to travel from Hong Kong to Chicago could save HSBC about £28,000 in airfares and other travel costs, he said.

Michael Robinson, converged communications business manager at Didata, said that telepresence gave its customers improved productivity and user experience. “Didata has deployed more than 200 Cisco telepresence end-points around the world,” Robinson said.

PSCo wins sole distribution rights to 108inch LCD

Fleur Doidge — 2008-09-17T12:54:00.000Z

Fleur Doidge, CRN, Wednesday 17 September 2008 at 12:54:00

Reading based specialist PSCo wins exclusive rights to the largest flat screen on the market

Sharp has granted Reading specialist PSCo the rights to distribute what it claims is currently the world’s largest screen at 108 inches to high-end customers including the exclusive yachting set in Monaco.

Stuart Holmes, managing director at PSCo, said the main market for the massive screens is in fact high-end consumers, especially owners of luxury yachts and the like.

As CRN went to press, PSCo and its reseller, Hull based Advanced New Technologies , were preparing to jet off to Monaco to show the screens and other related products to the international yachting fraternity at this year's Monaco Yacht Show.

“These guys aren’t so much into the video-conferencing although they do a bit of that. The main thing is screens in the gymnasiums, or they have a cinema room, or in the lounge area,” Holmes said.

“They might have two or three on each boat and they are not really fussed about the price. We are talking about supplying to the £450,000 sort of yacht.”

While a corporate market is possible for the screens, in the current economic climate Holmes conceded he did not think many would sell.

Sharp’s 108inch LCD is priced at around £100,000 per unit and just two have been allocated to UK based distribution. Holmes said that PSCo and its reseller might well return from Monaco having sold both of them.

The nearest similar item in PSCo’s screen inventory is the Panasonic 103inch plasma – relative bargains at around £50,000 each, Holmes said.

Pricing for the Sharp 108inch is expected to fall once production increases, probably next year. PSCo next year expects to have 15 to 20 of the 108inch Sharps to sell.

“Even though we are the UK distributors there is nothing that says we can’t sell them in Monaco or anywhere else,” Holmes said.

A larger display than the Sharp LCD has been made – measuring about 150inches – but had not yet been produced in commercial quantities, he said.

The 195kg Sharp 108inch, first unveiled 18 months ago, has an expected lifespan of just 30,000 hours, compared with the Panasonic 103inch’s 80,000. But, Holmes pointed out, that still meant 10 years of use if the Sharp was turned on all day every day.

PSCo has also invested in specialist lifting equipment and accessories to make the installation safer, simpler and cheaper for their clients, as well as a demonstration unit. The giant flatscreen will also be available via PSCo’s rental service.

Sharp showcased the 108 inch screen at Las Vegas’ massive Computer Electronics Show (CES) this year. According to Sharp, it is a full HD 1080p LCD featuring Sharp’s Advanced Super View LCD panel.

“It is manufactured at Sharp’s Kameyama Plant No. 2, the first facility in the world to produce panels from eighth-generation glass substrates.

"The success of this development means that it is now possible to produce LCD TVs in all sizes from 13-inches to the super-large-size class,” Sharp said in a statement.

Brother seeks to spread A3 appeal

Fleur Doidge — 2008-09-12T17:51:00.000Z

Fleur Doidge, CRN, Friday 12 September 2008 at 17:51:00

Compact A3 inkjet unveil targets occasional users of larger format

Office products vendor Brother has launched a range of compact A3 inkjet printers to the UK channel.

Phil Jones, sales and marketing director at Brother, said the range was its first compact multifunctional A3 inkjet printer series at a lower price point that would enable appeal to a much broader range of customers.

“At many companies, spreadsheets are getting bigger,” Jones said.

“You’re always going to want to print some things out. And at the same time, there are still occasions when you have got to go out and present materials in that format to a client who doesn’t have the technology in-house to view it.”

Increased demand for quantifiable business intelligence is part of what is driving A3 popularity, he said.

Yet fewer A3 pages are still printed than A4, so selling companies a separate, dedicated A3 printer is unlikely to appeal to many customers, he added.

The secret to expansion of the niche was greater accessibility, and Brother’s new 6000 series could be the ticket with prices starting from from £249.99 including VAT, Jones suggested.

“There are massive opportunities for resellers here. Not only have we made A3 printing affordable while conserving margins, but these products open the idea of A3 up to markets from construction companies to art and design colleges,” Jones said.

Brother plans several new reseller initiatives expected to help the channel sell the 6000 range following this month’s product launch, Jones said.