the value plus quarterly 2011

8/4/2019 The Value Plus Quarterly 2011

1/24

vpsh

quarterly

Aastra

TppnPnt

HP Srvr

CscNCmputn

Fujtsu

05

08

11

1417

20

May 201 1presents

A speciAl publicAtion from red ington gulf VAlue diVision

r a Va A d w a a m ea a Aa

COMMUNICATEFOR SUCCESS

HigHligHTS:

NComputings greenfuture?

Fujitsus changingchannel strategy

Cisco brings benefitsfor petrochem player

TippingPoint securesthe data centre

HP: Time to lookagain at blades?


2/24


3/24

signed partnership

agreements with Aastra,

NComputing, Fujitsu,

Tripplite and Symantec

to enable you to offer

more technologies and

a broader choice to your

customers.Feel free to share your

thoughts on how we can

improve our services, please

write to us on valueplus@

redingtongulf.com

Yours truly

Raj Shankar

Director, Redington Gulf

04 Ramkumars Blog

05 Cover Feature: Aastra08 Feature: TippingPoint11 Feature: HP Server14 Case Study: CISCO17 Feature: NComputing20 Interview: Fujitsu

from the director:

CoNTeNTS08

14

distributor and be more

relevant to your business,

we made some key

investments which have

begun to show positive

results.

Our continued focus

to invest in resourcesin-country has enabled

us to be present as a

Value Added Distributor

across 14 countries in the

Middle East and Africa.

Proof of Concept centres

in KSA and Nigeria

are operational where

you could brin g your

customers to experiencesome of the technologies

they plan to adopt.

We have recently

deArpArtners

We closed

yet

another

year of solid

growth for thevalue division

on March 31st

2011, thanks to

the tremendous

support received

from each one

of you who

trusted us with

your valuable

business. In ourevolution to

become a better

value added

05


4/24

T

his is a topic which

is a constant debate

in the minds of any

partner whether tobe aligned to just one vendor

or specific technology platform

or be brand agnostic and take

a customer centric approach.

As we see the landscape of

vendors evolving and more and

more vendors doing multiple

things away from their core

area of focus, this debate has

become even more heatedin the last few years. Frankly,

we dont see a one size fits all

kind of an environment has

a long lasting effect on his

ability to survive the highly

competitive market ahead.

Let us analyse the benefits

of being technology/brand

agnostic :

Allows you to have a moreopen conversation with

customers

As end customers perceive

the channel partner to be

giving the best of breed

solutions, they are in a

position to have a more

open conversation with their

customers.

Room for creativity in

suggesting solutions

The channel partner is

not constrained with the

limitations of a particular

technology platform which

allows more creativity in

suggesting different solutions

from different vendors.

Better trust with customers

This allows a level of building

better trust with their customers

as this form of an approach is

consultative selling.

The flip side of being

technology/brand agnostic :

Partnership status levelwith vendor (business may

be divided into different

RamkumaRS BLOG

Ramkumar B, Vice President, ValueAdded Business, Middle East & Africa,Redington Gulf

vendors thus losing a higher

partnership level with one

vendor)

This is the single biggest

flip side to being technology

agnostic. In most cases, the

channel partner is highly

supported and encouraged

by aligning with a particularvendor. This alignment lends

itself in terms of visibility, MDF

support, leads and several other

incentives from vendors which

the partner will be deprived of

in case there is a mis-match in

expectations from vendors.

More focus and specialisation

possible

The second critical factor is the

partner loses out on the ability

to be focused and specialised

on a particular platform and

spread themselves too thin

across different technology

platforms and hence losing the

edge in the market.

As I said when I opened thisdebate, there is no one size fits

all solution to this conundrum but

nevertheless, points to ponder !!!

Happy choosing!

Ramkumar B

Vice President Value Added

Business, Middle East &Africa, Redington Gulf

http://ram-valueplus.blogspot.com

The brand centric versuscustomer centric approach

solution to this paradox.

The technology is evolving

at a rapid pace and different

vendors are taking different

approaches to solve a common

problem. I am sure all of you

would be following the latest

announcements made bydifferent vendors on how to

approach the data centre.

We have at least five world

class vendors with end to end

solutions who have their own

approach to solutions ranging

from computing, virtualisation,

security, UC and the data centre

fabric. What does a channel

partner do in this fast changingenvironment? The choices the

channel partner makes in this

4 The ValuePlus Quarterly May 2011

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Communication is keyAastra is a leading company at the forefront of the enterprise communication market around the world.It develops and delivers innovative communications products and applications for businesses. Aastrasoperations are truly global with more than 50 million installed lines around the world and a directand indirect presence in more than 100 countries. The company is entirely dedicated to enterprisecommunications and offers one of the most complete portfolios of UC solutions individually tailoredto satisfy its customers requirements, ranging from feature-rich call managers for SMBs and highlyscaleable ones for large enterprises, integrated mobility, call centre solutions to a wide selection ofterminals. Following their announcement of its new relationship with Redington Gulf Value, we speak toRoger Hage, VP of Aastra MENA.

AASTRA| COVER STORY

C

an you brieflyexplain why Aastrahas partnered with

Redington Value?Aastra is known as a multi-

national vendor for complete

Enterprise IP Telephony

and UC solutions, with

established (former Ericsson

Enterprise) and new channels

of system integrators. On

the other hand, Aastra also

has a wide portfolio of openstandards-based fixed and

wireless IP phones and Video

Conferencing terminals

(SIP) as well as special IP

Phones (Lync) which are

interoperable towards

third party vendors such

as Asterisk, Broadsoft and

Microsoft. These products

are unique and complementRedingtons offering towards

its reseller channels.

Whats the current state of themarket in the enterprise UC

space?

We do welcome and encourage

competition. We believe

that it in the end it is up

to the customer to choose

the best solution fitting

his needs concerning the

speed of migration to IP,

the requirements for open

standards and multi-vendor

sourcing, the functionalitytheir enterprise needs, the

quality of after sales service,

the TCOs and the optical design

of the terminals. All major

players in UC are our key

competitors - even Microsoft,

who has the newest platform

called Lync 2010, is our

competitor when it comes to

complete IPT & UC solutions,but we do also co-operate with

them and have developed Lync

Lync IP phones, as this would

represent a cost-effective

way of adding IPT and UC

to their Enterprise software

applications and unified

messaging solution based onMS Exchange.

optimised

Aastra IP phones which

exclusively work on the Lync

2010 platform. If a customer

has already made investments

in Microsoft Enterprise

Licenses, they might be infavour of taking their UC

solution together with Aastra

May 2011 The ValuePlus Quarterly 5

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COVER STORY | AASTRA

W d wcm and ncura cmpttn. Wbv that t n th nd t s up t th custmr t

chs th bst sutn fttn hs nds cncrnnth spd f mratn t iP, th rqurmnts fr pnstandards and mut-vndr surcn, th functnatythr ntrprs nds, th quaty f aftr sas srvc,th TCos and th ptca dsn f th trmnas.

What is the competitiveadvantage that Aastra has to

offer both channel partners andtheir end-user clients in the UC,

contact centre and IP telephonyspace?

We are a company dedicated

to enterprise communications,

meaning that IPT, UC,

contact centres and

videoconferencing are

our specialisation. This

translates into optimal

support, quality, innovation

and expertise towards the

channels and customers.

Aastras open standards

philosophy benefits equallychannels and customers

by not forcing them into

single vendor lock-in. Our

co-operation and alliances

with HP Networking and

Microsoft are clear signs of our

openness.

How is Aastra engaging with the

channel (both distributors andSIs) to ensure that both move

towards achieving the same goal- to grow their businesses and inturn grow Aastras market?

We have an extensive channel

partner programme for SIs and

distributors, which includes

training, certifications, co-

marketing and incentives.

From our history with Ericsson

(Enterprise), we directly

engage with service providers

and operators by creating

opportunities for IP terminal

sales benefiting the channels,

which is in line with Aastras

indirect go-to-market model.

The enterprise communicationsolutions market requires

partners in invest in training,

certification and on-going

partner education. How isAastra rolling out thesechannel training initiatives inthe Middle East?

We have offered since the

beginning of 2011, local

training for the channel

in our Training Academies

in Dubai and Istanbul, as

well as on-line training

(Weblearn) which makes it

easy and affordable for the

channels to acquire the right

certifications. Last year,

we launched a customised

Aastra ONE Partner Program

targeting HP Networking

partners and resellers,

which is a fast-track to offer

Aastra IP telephony and UCtogether with HP Networking

infrastructure.

Do you have a partner certification

programme? If so, how manypartner tiers do you have?

We have an extensive

certification programme for

distributors with certification

levels depending on sales

volume and specialisation:

Authorized, Advanced and

Premium. For 1st tier SIs we

have: Silver, Gold and Platimum

certifications; for 2nd-tier

SIs and resellers (purchasing

exclusively via distributors) we

offer Bronze certifications.

Specialisation has become a keycomponent of partner certification

and training. Is Aastraencouraging its channel partners

to specialise?Our partner programme

certifications include

specialisations in IP

telephony, mobility, and UC.

Which markets in the Middle

East are key for Aastraschannel growth?

We are covering some 33

countries in the Middle

East and North Africa and

are expanding our channels

in the whole region

especially in North Africa

and Pakistan.

What product solutions are

high on Aastras channel agendafor 2011 in the Middle East and

why?We have released the MX-

ONE 4.1 server-based IP

Telephony solution, which

can run standalone or

can be fully integrated

into HPs E8200 zl and

E5400 zl switches, which

is finding good traction

in the Middle East. This is

complemented with our

award winning multimedia

Contact Center solution,

Solidus eCare 7.0. In the

second half of 2011, we will

regionally launch the Aastra

BlueStar a SIP media phone

for video conferencing

and collaboration. More

information to be reveleaed

later.

Is there a specific product

set or technology that yourepushing strongly through thechannel in the Middle East?

We are pushing espeacially

the portfolio of SIP phones

and Microsoft Lync IP

phones through the 2-tierdistribution. We also

introduced a small all-in-one


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plug-n-play SIP PBX called

AastraLink Pro 160, which is

ideal for 2-tier distribution.

With most enterprises movingswiftly to remove complexityin their company networks,

how is Aastra positioningitself as well as the partnerecosystem to ensure that

it plays a significant role inhelping data centre networksto transform and reduce costs

of managing next generationnetworks?

As the responsibility of

enterprise communications

is shifting towards the ITdepartment, we are making

it easier for IT staff to

manage and support the IPT

and UC by implementing

the following: server-based

communication managers,

light rack-mountablemedia gateways, Web-based

centralised management

(system and user), integration

with Microsoft Active

Directory and SNMP (like HP

Openview), open standards-

based protocols like SIP,

XML, CTSAv3, IEEE based

protocols for PoE, QoS and

LLDP-MSED and, finally,

a tight integration of the

Aastra IPT sofftware into HPs

switches.

How important is the SMB/SoHosegment to Aastras business inthe Middle East region?

In 2010 Aastra ranked

number one in the SMB

segment (less than 100 lines,according to Canalys EMEA

unified communications

call control market Q4

2010). This is mainly due to

our market leadership in

Europe. In MENA we are now

introducing new products

such as the AastraLink

Pro 160 and expanding or

distribution channels in

order to reach a similar

position.

If it is important, what SMB/SoHo solutions is Aastraoffering to this segment at the

moment?

AastraLink Pro 160 SIP PBX

What would you like to achievethis year as Aastra given yourpartnership with Redington?

Our target is to build-up a

regional reseller channel

network to carry the IP

terminals and Small SIP PBX.

Has Aastras business beenaffected by the political unrest

that has engulfed some partsof the Middle East region?In the MENA region, we

are used to cope with

challenging circumstances

in the past and this current

situation is no exception.

Aastra has been in the region

for a long time (as Ericsson

Enterprise) and we do invest

in longterm partnerships. We

firmly believe that there will

be an economic turnaround

in the troubled countries and

are ready to be part of it.

Where does Aastra see growth

coming from this year andbeyond?

We see growth in IPtelephony and UC especially

in videoconferencing.

H

adquartrd n ontar, Canada, Aastrahas an ntrnatna rach wth mr than2,000 mpys arund th wrd, a drct

prsnc n mr than 30 cuntrs as was thusands f sas partnrs and rsrs,ncudn a strn prsnc amn carrrs.

Aastra s a prftab and w manadcmpany: Q2 2010 was Aastras 49thcnscutv pstv quartr, rvnus rachdCAD$832.9 mn by th nd f FY 09 and thbaanc sht s strn wth a pstv ntcash baanc.

Wth mr than 50 mn ns nstadbay, Aastra has n f th arst custmrbass f any ba tphny prvdr andth yaty f ts custmrs s a tstmny tprduct and srvc quaty. Aastra has a ntm track rcrd f prtctn custmrsnvstmnts.

Aastra has a brad prtf f ntrprs

cmmuncatns sutns t satsfy ts vrycustmrs rqurmnts. offrns ran frm

Aastra at a glance

Roger Hage, VP of Aastra MENA

fatur-rch ca manars fr sma and mdumbusnsss t hhy scaab ns fr arntrprss, t ntratd mbty sutns,

unfd cmmuncatns appcatns and cacntr suts, cmpmntd by a wd array ftrmnas.

Aastra s 100% ddcatd t ntrprscmmuncatns and s numbr sx n th wrdfr th entrprs Tphny Patfrm andendpnts markt and n f th adn payrsn eMeA: numbr tw vra n eMeA and numbrn n th sub 100 xtnsn smnt n 2009.

Aastra mbracs pn standards t ffrstandan ntwrk mnts r cmptsystm sutns t ts custmrs. Aastra sth ny cmpany wth a cmpt prtff archtctur: iP-PBXs, sftwar basd camanars, pn surc patfrms, hstdsutns and Mcrsft basd archtctur (Rspns Pnt and oCS)

Aastra cntnus t nvst arssvy nR&D t b at th frfrnt f iP tchny

AASTRA| COVER STORY


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FEaTuRE | TiPPiNgPoiNT

Many organisations

are now migrating

their data centres

to virtualisation

in order to take advantage

of its promise of improvedefficiency and cost savings.

Some of these advantages

Securing the virtualTippingPoint security solutions are deployed by thousands of organisationsworldwide, including many Fortune 1000 and Global 1000 companies. The

combination of purpose-built intrusion prevention system (IPS) platforms,enterprise-class management and industry-leading threat research and securityfilter development has positioned TippingPoint as a trusted partner for securingthe largest data centers.

include: system consolidation

(including shared storage),

reduced space requirements,

reduced power and overall

hardware requirements,

quicker applicationdelivery, improved disaster

recovery and better overall

management flexibility.

These advantages cannot

be realised if the virtualised

infrastructure is at risk of

data compromise, does not

meet security regulatoryrequirements or is at risk of

downtime caused by cyber

threats. Furthermore,

enterprises want solutions

that are trusted and

have been proven to be

effective over time for large

enterprise protection.

After all, the virtualised

infrastructure and its

applications are subjected to

the same threats that impact

the traditional data centre.

So as organisations

accelerate the migration of

production workloads and

mission-critical assets to the

virtualised infrastructure,

security requirements

become a strategic element

of their migration plans.In response to this

need for trusted and

proven security solutions

specifically for virtualisation,

TippingPoint is expanding

its security and management

portfolio to address the

unique requirements

of the virtualised data

centre. The TippingPointSecure Virtualization

Framework (SVF) is

designed specifically for

implementing best-of-breed

threat protection for the

virtualised infrastructure. It

incorporates the advantages

of its trusted and proven

physical data centre solutions

into this new environment

and provides the following

benefits:

Extends TippingPoints

industry-leading threat

research capabilities, breadth

of protection, ease-of-use and

automation capabilities to

include virtual infrastructure

Enables TippingPointcustomers to extend

their existing processes,


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TiPPiNgPoiNT| FEaTuRE

methodologies, tools and

knowledge to secure their

virtual infrastructure

Provides unmatched

management, visibility and

control on internal virtual

networks

Active threat blockingActive threat blocking means

that filters detect malicious

traffic and stop it before it

can compromise or damage

the virtualised data centre

infrastructure or its data

assets. Unlike detect and

alert models that require

manual intervention to

mitigate detected threats,TippingPoints solutions

enable virtualised traffic to

be thoroughly inspected up

to the application layer and

for malicious traffic to be

automatically blocked in real-

time without false positives.

The highest priority

for securing virtualised

environments is protectionof both the virtual hosts

and the virtual machines

(VMs) operating within the

hosts. TippingPoints modern

network security platform

and intrusion prevention

system (IPS) is purpose-built

to protect the virtualised data

centre from ever-evolving,

global security threats. These

threats target both the virtual

hosts and the VMs contained

within them. Together with

TippingPoint Digital Vaccine

Labs (DVLabs), its premier

research organisation for

vulnerability analysis and

discovery, TippingPoint

provides the best pre-emptiveprotection for vulnerabilities

and zero day attacks targeting

the operating system (OS),

application, services and

the most popular virtual

platforms including VMware

ESX/vSphere, Citrix XenServer

and Microsoft HyperV.

Optimised protectionFrom its many enterprise IPS

deployments, TippingPoint

has learned that no two

networks are alike and

that organisations need

solutions that can be

flexible enough to fit their

specific business and risk-

requirements. TippingPoint

has incorporated two uniqueapproaches into its Secure

Virtualization Framework

(SVF) to provide deployment

and configuration flexibility:

TippingPoint Virtual

Controller (vController)

takes advantage of the

performance characteristics

of the purposebuilt

TippingPoint N-Platform

(IPS), delivering the best

performance and accuracy

in its class for detecting

and stopping threats up to

the application layer. The

vController provides a direct

path to the TippingPoint

IPS Platform (appliance) toinspect and control VM-to-VM

communications. Using the

VMSafe API, the vController

efficiently directs appropriate

traffic to TippingPoints

appliance and its leading

threat suppression engine

(TSE) ensures the optimal

performance and control

required in the virtual data

centre. The vController and

IPS Platform also operate

in unison to support HA

capabilities, including fail over

of the vController when HA

requirements and configured

policy dictate.

TippingPoint Virtual

Intrusion Prevention System

(vIPS) builds upon thevController by providing

a purpose-built IPS virtual

appliance for deployments

where a physical IPS device

is not practical. Some

implementations where a

virtual IPS appliance may be

attractive include:

Office-in-a-box ROBO

deployments where all

workloads are virtualised

within a single, redundant

box

Disaster recovery (DR)

environments

Public cloud environments

where security is offloaded to

cloud along with production

workloadsPeak demand capacity due

to seasonality where cost

constraints dictate a lower

cost solution

Full VM isolationIn the physical data centre,

it is a common practice to

segment or isolate application

servers used in sensitive areas

such as HR applications, CRM

and their associated database

servers. Likewise in the DMZ,

systems are isolated, like

Web applications and their

associated database servers,

DNS, e-mail, etc. When these

systems are virtualised, the

need for isolation remains

- in fact, the need may be

greater since these machinesnow share the same hardware

resources.

TippingPoint enables

traditional networks to

be segmented by putting

physical appliances

between them and, with the

N-platform, allows hosts

to be segmented without

putting an appliance infront of every connection. By

utilising the VLAN translation

features of the new platform,

IPS inspection can be

consolidated for a number

of system segmentation

boundaries.

After enabling host

isolation centrally,

TippingPoint applies that

same isolation model to the

virtualised data centre. By

tapping into the VMSafe

API, TippingPoint is able to

isolate VMs within a host

or across hosts using either

the vController to offload

inspection and enforcement,

or vIPS for inspection in the virtualised infrastructure.

All three methods, including

Unk dtct and art mds that rqur manuantrvntn t mtat dtctd thrats, TppnPntssutns nab vrtuasd traffc t b thruhynspctd up t th appcatn ayr and fr macustraffc t b autmatcay bckd n ra-tm wthutfas pstvs.


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VLAN translation for hostsegmentation; VController

for off-loaded VM and host

segmentation; or vIPS for

locally executed VM and host

segmentation, provide the

benefits of stopping threat

cross-contamination among

data centre assets, enabling

enterprises to meet security

mandates and regulatory

requirements such as PCI-DSS.

Unmatched virtualisationvisibility

In addition to the security

challenges that virtualisation

presents, one of the greatest

challenges for administrators

deploying virtualisation ismanagement, visibility and

control of the virtualised

infrastructure. Considering the

ease of creating and moving

critical applications within a

virtualised environment, this

challenge is greatly magnified

in the virtualised data centre

compared to the physical

data centre.Recognising this need,

TippingPoint has partnered

with Reflex Systems to bring

customers the visibility

and control necessary to

effectively configure, manage

and control enterprise

security effectively within

the virtualised data centre.

This is in addition to the

TippingPoint Security

Management System (SMS),

which provides a valuable tool

for configuring security policy

management, monitoring

and reporting. TippingPoints

integration with VMwares

VMsafe APIs via Reflex

Systems vTrust and ReflexsVirtual Management Center

(VMC) provides many

advantages:Automatic discovery and

graphical mapping of virtual

infrastructure topology

Supports Separation

of Duties (SOD) between

operations and network/

security teams

Security teams can monitor

vSwitch and VM changes

to identify tampering or

disablement of security

controls

Upgradeable and

compatible with full Reflex

VMC

Complete visibility and

control over entire virtual

infrastructure

Consistent security policy and

enforcementThe TippingPoint SMS is an

enterpriseclass management

platform that provides

administration, configuration,

monitoring and reporting for

multiple TippingPoint IPS

platforms.

Because the TippingPointSMS provides a scaleable,

policy-based operational model,

it enables straightforward

management of large scale

IPS deployments across

both physical andvirtualised

infrastructure.

Additionally, SMS enables

separation of duties (SOD),

which is among the most

critical elements of ensuring

secure virtual infrastructure.

SOD is maintained by

providing a unified and

centralised IPS management

platform for enforcement of

security policies regardless of

infrastructure type.

The TippingPoint SMSprovides granular traffic

inspection policy profiles,

and enables inspection of any

traffic flows according to user

requirements, including VM to

VM, and Host to Host policy

configuration. It also

enables consistent policymanagement across physical

and virtualised deployments

from office-in-a-box security

policy configurations, where

remote sites are set up by

combining required apps

and other elements into

a virtualised package, to

virtualised Web apps, to core

network deployments that

have their own set of security

configuration requirements.

This granular security

management combined with

the integrated Reflex vCenter

and available Virtualisation

Management Center (VMC)

delivers optimal flexibility,

visibility and control forcomprehensive virtualization

security management.

Persistent mobile security

A key advantage of the vIPS

is the ability to maintain

the same security policy

and IPS enforcement for

VMs as they are moved fordisaster recovery or for

other business reasons to

other hardware resources.

By placing the IPS within

the virtual infrastructure,

there is no break in traffic

inspection or in active

blocking of threats and no

alteration of the security

policies that have been

established for a given VM,

even as VMs are relocated.

This persistent

protection and

configuration flexibility

enables liberal movement

of VMs in the most dynamic

virtualised data centres.

It also enables rapiddeployment of VMs into

new environments.

TippingPoints DVLabs teamis the premier securityresearch organisation

for vulnerability analysis anddiscovery. The team consistsof industry recognised security

researchers that apply theircutting-edge engineering, reverseengineering and analysis talentsin their daily operations.

Among IPS vendors,TippingPoint is the undisputedleader in vulnerability discoveries.

The by-product of these effortsfuels the creation of vulnerabilityfilters that are automatically

delivered to TippingPointcustomers IPS Platforms throughthe Digital Vaccine service. The

Proven, timely threat coverageDigital Vaccine Service ensuresevergreen (always up-to-date)protection against emergingthreats. Digital Vaccinesare delivered to customersat least twice a week, or

immediately when criticalvulnerabilities emerge and canbe deployed automatically withno IT interaction required.

Digital Vaccine filtersare created to not onlyaddress specific exploits,but also for potential attackpermutations, protectingcustomers from zero-day

threats to operating systems,services, applications andvirtual infrastructure.

FEaTuRE | TiPPiNgPoiNT


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Five things notwrong with bladesDespite their obvious advantages, blades have neverreally set the market alight. Vendors love them andanalysts have been enthusiastic, but users havebeen distinctly unimpressed. Kalyan Kommuru,Product Manager Servers and Storage, RedingtonGulf - Value Division, clears the air of some myths!

Figure 1: Magic Quadrant for Blade Servers Source: Gartner (January 2011)

Objection 1: Blades are a singlepoint of failure.In fact, theres no single

point of failure if blades are

configured correctly. For

example, connecting blade

enclosures to two different

power feeds removes power

supplies as a lynchpin. No,there are still single points

of failure in blades - they

just incur acceptably low

risk. For example, the sheet

metal side wall of a blade

enclosure has no redundant

backup, but sheet metal

doesnt often spontaneously

crack or disintegrate. And

if an enclosure wall cracks,

its unlikely to cause serverdowntime. Besides, single

point of failure isnt a

compelling reason not to builda business on a technology

platform - remember the single

mainframe?

Objection 2: Blades concentrate

network connections beyondmanageable limits.Blade neophytes picture the

rear of a blade enclosure as

a rats nest of cables. Nope,

its actually very clean.

Connections are trunked, with

network routing configured

via a management app that

scales well, like through Virtual

Connect Manager or vSphere.

Objection 3: Blade servers

generate more heat than rackservers.Sometimes, but rarely, this

is a valid concern. Per unit

of compute, blades generate

less heat than rack servers.

However, since blades are

concentrated into a smaller

space, they can generate more

heat per square foot. A 42U

rack of 64 c-Class blades willlikely produce more heat than

the same rack filled with 40traditional 1U pizza box

servers.

Objection 4: Blade servers

arent green.False! OK, theyre not built

entirely from rainbows and

butterflies, but blades do

consume less power, which

means a cleaner footprint.

One great example:

Scandinavian countries have

the highest adoption rate of

blade servers of any region

in the world. Why? Because

blades are green and those

countries are highly attuned

to that.

Objection 5: Blade servers costmore than rack servers.

It depends on how theyre

configured and whats

included in the cost. At some

point of around a dozen

servers, cost for blades are

often lower than 1U or 2U

rack-mounts, but its heavily

dependent on configurationand networking costs.

HP SeRVeR| FEaTuRE


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12/24

FEaTuRE | HP SeRVeR

The blade story

for organisations that

are weighing the choice

between deploying

a large number of

servers, TCO analysis favour

blade server systems over rack-

optimised server systems for

reductions in both capital and

operating expenses.

Blade server systems are

all about exploiting the

economies of scale when

deploying servers in volume.

Analysing data provided by HP,

IDC validated the nature of theexpected cost savings:

* From a capital expenditure

point of view, hundreds of

independent rack servers

require thousands of

repetitive parts. This need is

apparent when integrating

servers with LANs and,

particularly, SANS. Without

a shared backplane, each

standalone rack server

requires adapters, cables and

supporting switches - there

is no economy of scale as the

number of servers grows.

The blade server system, with

its integrated backplane,

consolidates LAN and SANaccess and thus requires far

fewer interconnecting cables

and devices.

* From an operating

expenditure point of view,

further economies of scale

emerge. Reductions in power,

cooling and data centre space

accumulate to lower facilities

cost by an estimated 25%. Mostimportantly, the cost of initial

system deployment drops

dramatically as the software

combines with the blade server

system to automate system

installation tasks. Moreover,

consolidated networking for

LANs and SANs reduces the

number of cable pulls. Thus,

installation tasks that once tooka few hours per server can be

accomplished in a few minutes

per blade. In addition, costly

tasks such as running hundreds

of cables disappear entirely.

In this context, IDC believes

that the HP BladeSystem c-Class

is an important platform for

IT organisations to evaluate

when weighing the relative

TCO associated with building

out server and infrastructure

resources. With next-generation

HP Thermal Logic technology toreduce energy consumption and

improve cooling efficiency, the

HP BladeSystem c-Class helps

to alleviate power consumption

limitations that are emerging

in some datacenters. HP

Virtual Connect architecture

streamlines LAN and SAN

connectivity and expedites the

provisioning process.Built-in HP Insight Control

management improves the

ability of system administrators

to deploy systems rapidly,

catalog blade system resources,

provision infrastructure and

monitor overall system health.


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13/24

HP SeRVeR| OFFER

P4300 OFFER

Whats insidE thE bOx:


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14/24

CaSE STuDY | CiSCo

The National

Industrialization

Company, also known

as TASNEE, is the

second largest petrochemical

producer in the Kingdomof Saudi Arabia. The

manufacturer converts

natural gas and crude

distillates into a variety of

petrochemical products,

which, in turn, are used to

make consumer goods.

IT and communications

play an important role in

supporting these operations

by enabling effective

collaboration between product

development, manufacturing,

sales and marketing and

distribution teams.

However, aging telephony

systems and networks were

struggling to keep pace

with a rapidly changingand expanding business.

This IT model was also

ImprovingmanufacturingagilityCisco Collaboration Solutions provides majorpetrochemical producer in Saudi with an oasis of

financial and operational advantages.

becoming difficult and

expensive to manage. The

company would often have

to spend money on extra

cabling and rely on third

parties to manage services,such as voice and video

conferencing.

Therefore, as

well as improving

communications and

access to information

for mobile workers, the

company needed a new

model that would help

accelerate growth and

the adoption of new

technologies. TASNEEs

vision was to create a

borderless organisation,

where employees could

see each others real-

time contact status, set

up a virtual meeting and

share their workspace,regardless of the users

device or location.

TASNEE used Cisco

Unified Workspace

Licensing to procure a

broad range of Cisco

Unified Communications

applications and services

on a pay-per-user basis.

This integrated suite of

solutions includes Cisco IPTelephony, Unity Unified

Messaging, Unified Presence,

IP Communicator, Mobile

Communicator and Contact

Center Express.

The project, implemented

by Cisco partner EBTTIKAR,

will provide 1,200 users with

the ability to communicate

using any device (desktop,

phone, or mobile device) andany method (voice, video,

e-mail, instant messaging,

Pacn cabratn and cmmuncatns at thhart f ur nw iT md mans w ar bttrpacd t rspnd t th chann rqurmnts fth busnss. - Abdulgader Al-Harthi, CIO, TASNEE


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15/24

CiSCo| CaSE STuDY

Customer Name: Th Natna industrazatn Cmpany (TASNee)

Industry: ManufacturnLocation: Kndm f Saud ArabaNumber of Employees: 1,200

Business Impacteasr t cabrat n ra tm acrss mutp wrkspacsFastr ransatna rspnsvnss and dcsn-makn

Mantnanc and mb ca savns

At a glance

quickly and easily. These

virtual meetings can be

used to share and edit

documents, demonstrate

products, deliver compelling

presentations or to support

training programmes. Unity

Unified Messaging hasstreamlined communications

further still by enabling

e-mail, voice and fax

messages to be accessed from

a single inbox, anytime,

anywhere.

Additional benefits

to TASNEE include the

elimination of the on-site

private branch exchange

maintenance costs and a

reduction in the companys

mobile phone expenses. The

latter as a result of Cisco

Mobile Communicator and

Wireless IP phones which

are being used to help drive

employee mobility and

flexibility throughout thecampus.

Short Message Service,

conferencing or fax).

This highly collaborative

environment makes full use

of the companys internal

network. For example,

with Unified MeetingPlace

Express employees canset up and attend voice,

video and Web conferences


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16/24

Cisco Collaboration Solutions.

Collaborate with Confidence.

Cisco collaboration solutions are changing the way

your customers communicate and collaborate.As a Cisco partner, you are uniquely

positioned to provide a broad range of industry

leading solutions to meet your customers

communication challenges.

Strengthen your role as a trusted advisor to your

customers, by introducing Ciscos collaboration

solutions today. Improve your customers

Interactions and enable them to connect,

communicate and collaborate like never before.

For more information, contact

[email protected]


17/24

NCoMPUTiNg| GREEN iT

8

50 million PCs

consume an

immense amount

of electricity and

most of it is provided by

burning fossil fuels. This

process emits pollutants,

sulfur and carbon dioxide

into the atmosphere. These

emissions cause respiratory

disease, smog, acid rain and

global climate change.

From the largest scale -

the earth - to the smallestscale of a classroom or an

office, the environmental

Lowering the

environmentalimpactTodays PCs are far more powerful

than the earliest room-filling computers.They also use less electricity. Arguablythe first general-purpose computer,ENIAC drew roughly 150,000 watts ofelectricity. By comparison, todays PCsconsume about 110 watts. That seems

small. But there was only one ENIAC andthere are 850 million PCs in use today.

impact of todays PC

architecture is a huge

and growing problem.

Unfortunately, the impact

is largely unaddressed and

often unrecognised. In

addition to massive power

use, tens of millions of PCs

are disposed of in landfills

and garbage dumps around

the world contaminating

the soil with toxic e-waste

substances like mercury

and cadmium.NComputing is an

architecture that changes

the green equation.

NComputing systems are a

major leap forward in green

computing and, today, more

than 15,000 organisations inover 80 countries have used

NComputing to slash their

carbon footprint and electric

consumption.

The NComputing solution

is based on a simple fact:

todays PCs are so powerfulthat the vast majority of

applications only use a small


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18/24

GREEN iT | NCoMPUTiNg

fraction of the computers

capacity. NComputings

virtualisation software and

hardware tap this unused

capacity so that it can be

simultaneously shared by

multiple users.

The NComputingvirtualisation software

works on a standard

It also consumes very

little power - 90% less

energy per user.

PCs typically consume

between 110 to 200 watts

of electricity. In contrast,

NComputing access devices

consume next to nothing.

In fact, NComputings

L-series devices consume 5

watts per added user and

the X-series consume just

1 watt per added user. So,

if you replace seventy PCs

with ten PCs attached tosixty NComputing X-series

access devices, you would

save over 10,000 kilowatt-

hours (kWh), which

translates to over 1 metric

ton of CO2 emissions per

year.

However, air

conditioning is the hidden

environmental cost. A

single PC generates more

heat than a 100 watt

light bulb. A classroom,

computer lab, or office

with PCs warms up very

quickly. In fact, PC-filled

work areas almost always

have to be air conditioned,

which raises electricitycosts and requires large

capital expenditures to

buy, install and maintain

them. In comparison, a

room equipped with PCs and

NComputing access devices

generates 90% less heat and

does not require additional

air conditioning.

Electronic waste is a

large and growing problem

throughout the world.

People rarely think of their

PCs in the same way that

they think of other toxic

waste, but while electronic

waste represents only 2%of trash in landfills, it

represents 80% of the toxic

waste. NComputing greatly

reduces the magnitude of

this problem.

In sheer weight, PCs

generate much more waste

than virtual desktops. A

typical PC weighs about

21 pounds (9.5 kg); an

NComputing access device

weighs about 1/3 of a pound

(0.15 kg), for a 98% reduction

in electronic waste.

An NComputing access

device also has a much

longer useful life than a PC.

When a shared PC is replaced

with a newer one, the PCmay go to a landfill, but

the NComputing users can

Share 1PC with up to 30 users with NComputing virtual desktops

Windows or Linux1 PC.

Each users monitor,

keyboard and mouse

connect to the shared

PC through a small and

durable NComputing access

device. The device itself

has no CPU, memory, ormoving parts, so it is easy

to deploy and maintain.


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NCoMPUTiNg | GREEN iT


19/24

NCoMPUTiNg| GREEN iT

keep their access devices

and enjoy the boost in

performance from the new

PC. So whereas PCs might

be upgraded every three

years or so, access devices

could easily last five yearsor more. With less frequent

turnover, less equipment

If NComputing systems

were used instead (at a

ratio of six access devices

to each PC) there would be

substantial immediate and

long-term environmental

benefits. The impact on the

environment of adopting

NComputing solutions

would be enormous. Energy

use would decline by over

120 billion kilowatt-hours

(kWh) per year, or about

83%. The electricity usage

decline would save nearly15 million metric tons of

coal each year and would

ends up in landfills.

NComputing access

devices are also compliant

with RoHS regulations,

which restrict the use of

lead and other harmful

metals.Over 850 million PCs

are turned on every day.

A majr cst f runnn an ransatn cms frmsupprtn th PC nfrastructur. Vrtua dsktpcmputn basd n NCmputn savs mny up

frnt and vr tm.

eliminate the need for 120

megawatts of coal power

capacity. CO2 emissions

would decrease by 96

million metric tons. This

is equivalent to planting

nearly 460 million trees.

Disposing of NComputing

devices (0.33 lb each), rather

than disposing of an equalnumber of PCs (21 lbs each)

would save over 6.7 million

metric tons of e-waste.

And that is just for the

PCs in use today. There are

another billion users who

will join the digital world in

the coming decade. So to get

a feel for the ultimate global

impact of NComputing, just

double all of the numbers

above.

You may not control

millions or even thousands

of seats. But even if you just

control a few hundred, you

can make an impact. For

example, 500 seats would

save over 70,000 kWh andreduce 9 metric tons of CO2

emissions per year. At the

end of the useful life, you

will have to dispose of only

one metric ton of e-waste

instead of five metric tons.

Using NComputing

is obviously globally

responsible. But it is also

locally responsible - to

your budget. Because of

the extreme reduction in

electrical consumption,

the devices can pay for

themselves just by lowering

your electricity bill in as

little as a year. To find

out how much you would

save, use the calculatorat ncomputing.com/

greenadvantage.


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iNTERViEW | FUJiTSU


20/24

iNTERViEW | FUJiTSU

Firstly,can you give us

an update of the stepsyouve taken to enablebusiness development

by your channel across theMiddle East recenrly?

We have taken a series of

steps to ensure that our

partners have the

best possible

support

The channel strategyFarid Al-Sabbagh, MD at Fujitsu Technology Solutions ME, discusses recent changesin the companys support for its channel partners across the region.

structure to close deals.

Ill just mention a few of

our initiatives. Firstly,

we provide our partners

with on-line training and

certifications

most of

which

are completely free of

charge - this allows partners

to grow their business with

minimum investment from

their end. There has been

a substantial investment

in training face to face

as well and we have now

covered 100% of our

Enterprise Partners

with necessary

certifications for offering

Enterprise Solutions.

Any other practical steps?

Fujitsu has set up demo and

POC centres in both the UAE

and KSA, which will allow

customers

to preview

our range of

solutions,

as well as

partners

to conduct

trainings as

necessary.We have also

implemented

a new


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FUJiTSU | iNTERViEW


21/24

FUJiTSU| iNTERViEW

communications programme

using a dedicated Partner

Portal as well as c-tec,

Fujitsus specialist technical

on-line community. And we

have invested in personnel,

bringing onboard dedicated

partner managers -

Enterprise Sales Managers

- in countries across the

region, who today are

helping resellers close deals.

What about your overallpartner programme offeringand commitment to the channel,

market development initiatives

and so on?In 2010, Fujitsu announced

the launch of its SELECT

Partner Program to the

Middle East market, with the

main aim to help partners

grow their business. Within

the programme, partners

are encouraged to acquire

the SELECT Partner

Certification types that suit

them best or even upgrade

to become a SELECT Expert

to benefit from even more

advantages and support.

How does it work?

The Partner level offers

a wide range of benefits

including on-line training

and privileged access to

price lists and marketing

tools. Partners simply have

to register themselves on

the Channel Partner Portal

and have sold at least

one of Fujitsu products

or solutions within the

last six months. Then

SELECT Partner level

gives partners access to

additional benefits such as

a dedicated SELECT Partner

Manager, sales incentivesand advanced technical

resources. It requires

certification in server and

storage and/or mobility

products and solutions, and

the completion of a business

profile. A SELECT Partner

can also apply to become a

SELECT Expert by specialising

in Server Infrastructures

(Server Certification (Expert)in advanced installation

and configuration of Fujitsu

servers and blade servers);

Storage Infrastructures (Storage

Certification (Expert) around

powerful Fujitsu storage

solutions); and Solution

Infrastructure (Data Solutions/

Office Solutions Certificationaround Fujitsu virtualisation

and automation technologies).

So SELECT Expert is Fujitsus

highest partnership level? Yes,

it offers a range of exclusive

resources including tailored

lead generation, additional sales

and technical resources, and

invitations to special events.

Any other important steps by you

for the channel over the last year?I would like to begin by saying

that our partnership with

Redington Value is an important

step towards our commitment

to the Middle East channel. We

expect resellers to have access to

the latest generation of serversand storage products which are

attractively priced. Importantly

for us, we now cover all

warranty calls on-site for servers

ourselves, in the UAE and KSA.

Hence partners can straightaway

commit direct company support

for the products they sell, on-

site. As an added incentive

to our partners, we have also

conducted several innovative

demo programmes that allow

partners to increase revenue by

providing potential customers

with a first-hand experience of

our products benefits. Increased

sales through our inventive

demo programmes for our

partners also means additionalincentives and bonuses from

Fujitsu.

i wud k t bn by sayn that ur partnrshpwth Rdntn Vau s an mprtant stp twards

ur cmmtmnt t th Mdd east chann.


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THE BiG CONNECT - SNaPSHOT


22/24

THE BiG CONNECT SNaPSHOT

redington eVents:

THE BiG CONNECTfay 6-9 2011daa, s laka

Ths annua ducatna, markt stratsn, ntwrknand raxatn athrn f th rns tp HPNtwrkn chann partnrs saw 35 ky partnrs frm

acrss th rn (xcudn Saud Araba, whr partnrs hdthr wn B Cnnct ast octbr) t mt t undrstandHP Ntwrkns radmap fr th yar ahad, dscussth ntwrkn markt n vra trms and ca trnds,

dscuss what thy ndd n trms f supprt bth frm HPNtwrkn and Rdntn Vau and cmpar apprachs tth markt.

A wth n: ncrasn busnss and th quaty f srvct custmrs

Hwvr, thr was as tm t acqur crtca marktsks such as phant rdn and fr wakn!



23/24

For more information or to place an order for HP Networking

please write to [email protected]


24/24

the value plus quarterly 2011

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