Alastair Bell

Career so far: I moved away from commercial diving into the IT industry and set up Bell Microsystems in 1996.

If you could be anyone else for a week, who would you be and what would you do? Paul Simonon while on tour [bass guitarist and vocalist for punk rock band The Clash. He later joined the band Gorillaz].

What would you have as your last meal? Liver and bacon, washed down with several bottles of Chateau Petrus 1961.

What is the best corporate jolly you have ever been on/taken partners on? Our annual Panerai Sailing Regatta out of Cannes, on a 1929 classic 22-metre yacht, with customers and friends.

Do you see the cloud as a threat or an opportunity? It's a threat to the majority and a massive opportunity for any reseller that can bring specific value to their customers in any element of cloud computing.

Have any of your predictions come true this year? All of them - especially another tax investigation!

What do you see as the channel's biggest challenge in 2011? I do not see any great shift in the current climate. In 2011 the challenge will still be for some resellers to create a partnership with their customers based on mutual gains rather than purely provisioning.

What is the best part of your day? Going home to my wife and children.