Opinion

Opinion

Desktop PCs

• Sir, the computer ate my homework

  When I were a lad it was a question of using the old "dog ate my homework" line, or in the case of one classmate to try and explain why he had chucked his bag into the river.  Continue Reading

• What next for B2B biz as DSGi brand kicked into touch?

  DSG International is no more after the proposed name change to Dixons Retail was overwhelmingly voted in by shareholders.  Continue Reading

• Reasons for mobile working keep stacking up

  A few years ago those selling mobility solutions could be found clinging on to events like the Buncefield gas explosion and the Cockermouth floods as evidence for the need to have a friendly remote working policy.  Continue Reading

• Time to dust down the phrase 'digital lounge'

  Catching up with the Apple announcements last night was a little bit like stepping back in time and taking a trip down memory lane to the turn of the century. Back then the world was divided into the lounge and the study, with the TV living in one ...  Continue Reading

• Oracle partner deadline looms

  Oracle has maintained a vow of silence despite (or because of) the recent changes to its channel and appears unlikely to break this for at least the next six weeks.  Continue Reading

• Banking on some positive seasonality

  With September almost here it's time to put the trunks away in a drawer, deflate the lilo and put the sunglasses back in the case. If the British weather isn't enough of a reminder summer is over and there's some serious work to be done.  Continue Reading

• Not feeling guilty about a Monday lie-in

  At the end of a phone call about some embargoed news that comes out on Monday I had to mention that it's a Bank Holiday. There was a pause as those on the line, both calling in from different exotic places overseas, struggled to understand just why ...  Continue Reading

• Bell and Avnet's BBQ bonanza

  Bell Microproducts UK boss John Toal has committed to naming his management structure and key personnel by the end of this month, earlier than the deadline for EMEA set by the regional bigwag Graeme Watt.  Continue Reading

• Oracle to cut Interface Solutions from channel say sources

  The rumour mill has been going into overdrive that current Oracle Sun distributor Interface and several other newcomers that were vying for the contract have not made the grade.  Continue Reading

• Kelway boss Doye on the run

  Kelway chief executive Phil Doye is participating in the London Triathlon this Sunday on behalf of Breakthrough Breast Cancer but has left it a bit late in the day to raise money, a point he acknowledges.  Continue Reading

• Recycling sector mourns passing of WEEE Advisory Board

  The benefits of the WEEE Advisory Board (WAB) in helping government make sense of the European directive far outweighed the £20,000 it cost the taxpayer to fund the group every year, according to sources familiar with the situation.  Continue Reading

• SEC airs Dell and Intel's dirty laundry

  For years the industry questioned how the unstoppable Texan juggernaut Dell was a dead cert to meet quarterly expectations on Wall Street, and now we have the answer - with a little help from its friend Intel.  Continue Reading

• An open approach to a distribution review

  It might have taken seven months but there has been an openness during the McAfee distribution review that has been refreshing. In several briefings the UK and Ireland channel director Jill Henry talked about the aims of the review and then ...  Continue Reading

• When is a threshold not worth having?

  When you hear things about Symantec reducing its threshold on its SME specialisation from $100,000 to just $10,000 it makes you wonder why you bother having a threshold at all.  Continue Reading

• Large project cull in public could be good news for SME dealers

  The Department for Health (DfH) has finally broken its silence over the recently ended £80m Enterprise Wide Agreement licensing deal with Microsoft. "The DfH has already invested so that NHS Trusts are able to have access to the latest ...  Continue Reading

• The iPad is already carving out share in the business space

  One of the findings of an extensive SAP survey into the way CIOs are using software was the number of users that are already viewing the iPad as a business tool. SAP found that 7% of mobile workers are using it even though it has only been on the ...  Continue Reading

• Gove's BSF errors do little to give confidence

  In the spirit of transparency and openness that Nick Clegg keeps going on about let me start by stating that I'm no fan of the education secretary Michael Gove. Tempted to go further and reveal I can't stand the man but for the sake of balance let's...  Continue Reading

• Channel could get some business in a limited online world

  As the latest text came through from one supplier offering unlimited broadband at home my eyes were caught by a blog post from the founder of Thinkbroadband.com who was discussing the same subject.  Continue Reading

• Mid-market competition hotting up

  The current mantra in the software industry around the mid-market is putting increasing pressure on those channel players that are being directed towards that slice of the customer base by vendors.  Continue Reading

• Are things getting back to a seasonal pattern?

  In the good old days there used to be a seasonality to the channel that meant that any week now things would start to grind down for the summer.  Continue Reading

• The channel is set to be the mid-market saviour

  Sitting down with the CEO of KACE, the systems management specialists recently acquired by Dell, we got to that part of the conversation where he asks if there are any trends that I've picked up on.  Continue Reading

• Former Morse boss Phillips on the hunt for new role

  Following its acquisition by 2e2, Morse CEO Mike Phillips has joined the ranks of industry veterans that are currently out of work, but in his case at least the hiatus is likely to be broken in the not-too-distant-future.  Continue Reading

• HP wins place on Desktop 21

  HP and the other major vendors frequently talk about the need for resellers to get involved in selling services given the perpetual decline in hardware margins.  Continue Reading

• Can you have your cake and EET it?

  Some people - well me - are calling EET Nordics "the Acer of the distribution world". Well at least half of the equation is right. It runs a very low cost operation, employing seven staff in the UK and running a central warehouse ...  Continue Reading

• Will Intel have the last laugh?

  The embarrassing public court cases facing Dell and Intel will come as scant consolation to the hundreds of national system builders whose demise was sped up by the alliance between the two firms. But they might provoke a wry smile.  Continue Reading

• A special mention for teachers

  Having taken a day's leave to accompany my youngest son on a school trip today to the Natural History Museum can I just say to anyone in the channel who has family working in the teaching profession give them a big pat on the back.  Continue Reading

• French AV market surrenders to Midwich

  "Not bad for a bunch of carrot crunchers" was the phrase used by Midwich boss Nick Culley to describe its geographical expansion beyond Norfolk and into mainland Europe.  Continue Reading

• Jobs steals the show again and Apple needs him to do it

  There is something almost pop-starish about Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple.  Continue Reading

• The opportunity of a streaming World Cup

  The media loves to label things as firsts or 'the most important since' and the treatment of the World Cup will be no different. Back in the days of the web's infancy the Olympics from Atlanta were dubbed the first internet games and that claim was ...  Continue Reading

• Learn from the FA about how to make a major announcement

  If you wanted a demonstration of how not to share an event it was the way the England squad was announced today by the FA. I write 'announced' but at the time of writing it has still not be officially released.  Continue Reading

• Bye bye BECTA, baby bye bye

  The channel is digesting - and will be for the next month - the ramifications of the Government's decision to axe BECTA but after the dust settles, will the industry really be worse off or did the quinoa justify its existence?  Continue Reading

• Why the decision to close BECTA reminds me of HCI

  Those who remember the moment when the announcement was made that the Home Computing Initiative (HCI) was going to be canned will also be acutely familiar with the chaos that followed it.  Continue Reading

• Childhood dreams and sports sponsorship

  Sometimes you wonder whether a sponsorship deal has been struck to fulfil a childhood dream of a CEO or marketing director or simply to widen the public awareness of a brand.  Continue Reading

• This means we have to suffer more politics and uncertainty

  So what the commentators and political pundits thought might happen has and we are now enjoying the first hours of a hung parliament for the first time since 1974.  Continue Reading

• You can find plenty of World Cup fever in distribution

  If there is one sector of the channel that gets more excited about the world cup than perhaps any other it has to be distribution.  Continue Reading

• Jobs will have to convert the floating buyer

  So the iPad has already hit the 1 million sales mark making it a more successful launch than the iPhone. Steve Jobs, head honcho at Apple, must be very pleased and perhaps a little relieved.  Continue Reading

• Hello and welcome

  The best way to start a blog is for the author to set out the aims and ambitions and to try and tempt you into sticking with reading with it. For those of you who don't know me my name in Simon Quicke, hence the play on my name in the title, and I'm...  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Martine Dodwell-Bennett, Steljes

  MicroScope puts its questions to Martine Dodwell-Bennett, group sales and business development director at Steljes What is the best advice you have received and from whom? "You should only ever hire the best people. If you have any doubts at all, ...  Continue Reading

• Building IPTV opens new opportunities for resellers

  Growing consumer familiarity with and access to high-quality digital TV and video drives expectations for these technologies in public, work and school environments.  Continue Reading

• Encryption hardware a data lifesaver

  The first thing most of us do when we get into a car is put on a seatbelt. Whether we are driving or just along for the ride, it is so important that it is the law in the UK. We don't plan to have an accident but, just in case we do, we are ...  Continue Reading