Opinion

Opinion

• Column: Fatal Assumptions. The cloud meets science fiction

  Imagine if all these terrible global warming projections come true, and we're forced to up sticks and move to another planet. Naturally, the locals won't be happy, so we'll have to string them along for a while until it's too late for them to get ...  Continue Reading

• Column: Survival skills the key in a managed services world

  I found little to argue about with the story in MicroScope suggesting that resellers should consider making the shift to managed services in the face of declining hardware sales and fierce competition, writes Billy MacInnes.  Continue Reading

• Where the rubber meets the road for your cloud transformation

  In the last year or two, the industry has spent ample time investigating, pondering, and debating the impact that the cloud and IT-as-a-Service would have on the channel and the reseller business model, writes Jason Beal.  Continue Reading

• Welsh businesses could get .Cymru domain names

  Businesses based in Wales could soon be able to end their URLs with .Wales or .Cymru after.uk guardian Nominet unveiled plans to set up a top level domain (TLD) for the Principality.  Continue Reading

• A barometer of concern

  The phrase barometer is one that is bound to be used in the context of Dell's results and the state of the PC market but there is also something else happening here with financial results again becoming an important indication of the health of the ...  Continue Reading

• Reseller remakes Snakes on a Plane

  One reseller-turned-amateur pilot on the Czech Republic has come up with a novel idea for a spot of cross channel marketing activity.  Continue Reading

• Column: We should run the public sector like a Hadron Collider

  The Large Hadron Collider is a bit like our Connecting for Health programme. CERN fired billions of protons in a circuit in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the elusive Higgs Boson particle.  Continue Reading

• Want it straight, then go to the top

  Sitting down with a senior management figure at a vendor is always an interesting experience. They take your questions and respond directly and with a complete absence of waffle.  Continue Reading

• Column: Cisco's mobile predictions don't entirely add up

  Billy MacInnes takes a closer look at Cisco's latest mobility statistics that appear to suggest mobile devices will soon outnumber people.  Continue Reading

• An advantage for the channel: people do business with people

  We've all heard the adage that "people do business with people they know, like, and trust." It's not something taught in textbooks of university business classes, but anybody who has been in the business world for more than a few years certainly can...  Continue Reading

• What gets IT pros in the mood for love?

  With Valentine's Day literally just around the corner, one's thoughts naturally turn to overpriced meals served by harassed staff in crowded restaurants or, depending on circumstance, a bottle of wine and a Richard Curtis DVD.  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Pete Hill, C4L

  This week, Pete Hill, channel partner manager at colocation and hosting specialist C4L takes the hot seat for our Five Minute Interview.  Continue Reading

• Column: Get ready for the Big IPV6 Society

  Have you ever fallen victim to short keys? You know the type of thing. With one movement you highlight everything. With the next you delete it all.  Continue Reading

• Column: The positive experience driving BYOD

  BYOD is a very hot topic right now. Why shouldn't it be? After all, what company is going to turn down the chance of encouraging and supporting employees to buy their own devices for work rather than having to buy them itself?  Continue Reading

• Your role in the cloud: The virtual CIO

  Another article in a series from the Channel Transformation Alliance by Jason Beal, senior director, advanced solutions and cloud services, Ingram Micro EMEA  Continue Reading

• Column: Being rational about resellers in the cloud

  It's good to see some positive stories coming out over the role resellers and the channel will play in a cloud-based future, writes Billy MacInnes.  Continue Reading

• Column: Talking the language of the datacentre sale

  Firehost, Quantum, RiT and RSVP all illustrate the different approaches you can take to selling to tough customers like datacentre buyers. At the recent Cloud Expo show, it was impossible to avoid Firehost, whose branding was all over the place ...  Continue Reading

• The debate is over: Cloud comes through the channel

  I won't even entertain the question or participate in the debate any longer about, "Does the distribution and reseller channel have a role in cloud computing?"  Continue Reading

• Meet the author: Jason Beal

  Jason Beal, Senior Director, Advanced Solutions and Cloud Services, Ingram Micro EMEA Jason Beal has over a dozen years of experience in the IT channel in sales leadership, operations management, and services roles, along with a proven track record ...  Continue Reading

• Column: Is Britain cheapwalking into oblivion?

  British industry seems to have an almost suicidal short term fixation with being cheap. Our book publishers, for example, always gave Amazon better discounts, because it could sell more books by undercutting the book shops.  Continue Reading

• Column: Does Facebook really contribute £2.2bn to UK GDP?

  What a bizarre story doing the rounds this week concerning a study by Deloitte which suggests Facebook has contributed £2.2bn to UK GDP and supports as many as 35,000 jobs, writes Billy MacInnes.  Continue Reading

• Remembering David Hurley

  It was with great sadness that we heard about the death of David Hurley, who passed away after a short illness at the weekend.  Continue Reading

• Cars rather than computers getting the ad money

  Where it was once computer adverts that grabbed the attention in the breaks in Super Bowl coverage this time around it looks set to be cars that are being plugged in the moments between the action.  Continue Reading

• Column: 2012 forecast is boils, wailing, teeth gnashing, Ethernet

  Does anyone still believe you get a bargain in the sales? Everyone knows BOGOF is a RIP-OFF. When the supermarket says you can Buy One and Get One Free, we all know they've Re-priced One to Pretend One's Free. Well thank God the January sales are ...  Continue Reading

• Super branding as all eyes focus on the last four

  There are two contests which are currently dominating the television talk shows and radio phone-ins in America. The first is the race for the Republican nomination in the race to be the candidate to run against the President in the next election.  Continue Reading

• For Kodak the struggle is to stay relevant

  Kodak is all too well aware of the changes that have happened in its natural markets that have left it now seeking bankruptcy protection. The digital revolution has not just touched its film operations but also had an impact on its printing ...  Continue Reading

• Is compliance hype a problem the channel can solve?

  One of the most challenging things about making sure a network or a business is secure is not just about products and resellers would be wise to include the people element in their conversations.  Continue Reading

• Column: Drowning in a tide of tabloid trivia

  The channel keeps showing up in the tabloid press for all the wrong reasons, argues Billy MacInnes. If there's one thing that gets the goat of people in the IT industry, it's the lack of recognition.  Continue Reading

• The year of the innovator

  Cisco UK and Ireland CTO Ian Foddering explores the findings of the firm's recent TechWatch 2012 report, and argues for new approaches to IT strategy and training. Many IT decision makers have 2012 pegged as a year in which technology can deliver a ...  Continue Reading

• The shifting channel landscape

  This comment piece, by Alan Hartwell, UK vice president of technology solutions and channels, will examine how the changing economic landscape is affecting vendor and partner relationships.  Continue Reading

• Think security as computer equipment becomes criminal target

  If you are unlucky enough to have a break-in then prepare yourself for the disappearance of your tablet, laptop, smart phone and ipod.  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Adam Winkelmann, Emulex

  This week, we subject Adam Winkelmann, vice president of international operations at converged networking vendor Emulex to our Five Minute Interview. Tell us what you do for a living?  Continue Reading

• Column: What's the problem with Booth babes?

  Browsing Twitter the other day I was astonished to see so many people attacking me. The phrase Booth Babes was even trending! At first I assumed it was one of those dreadful men  Continue Reading

• Column: Toilet paper as a storage metaphor

  It's not often we get toilet references in MicroScope, understandably so, writes Billy MacInnes. Usually, if people are talking about technology they like to make references to aerospace engineering.  Continue Reading

• Can vendor services boost reseller revenues?

  Andrew Mulholland, marketing manager at D-Link UK & Ireland, identifies how resellers can take advantage of vendors' service offerings to grow their business. It is fair to say that the channel landscape has changed significantly over the years.  Continue Reading

• Android business users get new UC functionality

  The increasing importance of Android to the business mobile experience was reflected this week with two UC vendors launching new apps for the platform.  Continue Reading

• Column: Keep your nerve in the M2M comms minefield

  As the man at the shop will have told you when you ordered your automated butler,M2M communications are going to be massive in the coming months.  Continue Reading

• The network will continue to assert itself in 2012

  In a new guest blog, Dan Cunliffe, head of BE wholesale, looks at the growing assertiveness of the networking sector at the heart of the IT proposition, and explores some of the trends that will continue to shape the industry in 2012. 2012 will ...  Continue Reading

• Column: The messy case of the recovery discs

  I find the story of Microsoft's legal action against retail giant for allegedly creating and selling over 94,000 counterfeit copies of Windows Vista and XP intriguing, writes Billy MacInnes.  Continue Reading

• Column: Why do they call it cloud

  OK, this week I'm not going to mess around. I'm going to come right out and ask the big question: Why on earth did they call it cloud computing?  Continue Reading

• The battle of the business operating systems

  Dave Everitt, general manager EMEA at Absolute Software, looks at the changing OS landscape and assesses the future prospects. The landscape for IT departments in 2011 is changing dramatically. A significant change- and challenge- will be what has ...  Continue Reading

• Column: The dark side of crowdsourcing

  We are indebted to the tireless investigators from the University of California, Santa Barbara who have doggedly trawled Chinese crowdsourcing websites and uncovered a multimillion-dollar industry.  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Neil Hollister, CRYPTOCard

  Tell us what you do for a living. I'm the CEO of CRYPTOCard, which means I balance evangelising authentication-as-a-service and then ensuring that our company continues to do it better than anybody else. Why are you the right person for this job? I ...  Continue Reading

• SLA multiplication - why managing your SLAs matter

  It was interesting, albeit unsurprising, to hear that IT departments are reading the riot act to Cloud providers when it comes to SLAs.  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Richard Roberts, Cisco

  This week, MicroScope questions Richard Roberts, recently named Cisco UK and Ireland partner organisation lead. Tell us what you do for a living lead the Partner Organisation for Cisco in the UK & Ireland.  Continue Reading

• Column: Being Frank about the lack of support

  It's lunchtime and the phone rings. I take a cursory glance at the caller ID as I lift up the handset. It starts with the numbers 0099 and is followed by a load more that I don't register before I press the answer button. The line is bad. "Hello," I...  Continue Reading

• Column: Solving the mysteries of Twitter

  If you give people something interesting, they'll follow you. They'll respect you. When you become really useful to them, they will start to take a personal interest in you  Continue Reading

• Helping customers avoid information overload

  In today's modern world, information floods in to companies in a number of different forms. Data from emails, invoices, purchase orders, and so on, all needs to be captured in order for a company to have a complete overview of transactions that have...  Continue Reading

• Column: You wait ages, then two bandwagons come at once

  In this week's column, Nick Booth must choose between two very different bandwagons... First came the dotcom boom. And I did nothing, because I didn't learn how to write HTML quickly enough. Then came the mobile apps wave.  Continue Reading

• Column: Take customer ties to new levels in 2012

  Billy MacInnes sees cause for optimism in Gartner's predictions around cloud and BYOD. Earlier this month, Gartner unveiled its predictions for the next few years and there were no prizes for guessing the two trends which dominated the list: cloud ...  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Paul Dobbs, Intact Software

  This week, MicroScope puts its questions to Paul Dobbs, UK channel manager at Intact Software.  Continue Reading

• Column: Why do you want to go and get 'VARs in Your Eyes?'

  Like everyone in the channel who's got an eye on the next big thing, I'm looking forward to Discovering Start-Ups 2011 on December 8th Resellers always welcome the chance to work with new partners. For startups, it's a good chance to find some VARS.  Continue Reading

• Security always seems to start with education

  Back in the days when all that really mattered was plugging your firewall in and switching your anti-virus on there were still plenty of people who could not be bothered to protect themselves.  Continue Reading

• Norton gets the cycling bug with Tour channel promotion

  This blog has been used before as a platform to point out the growing love in the channel for two wheels and clearly Norton has picked up on the trend as well. The security vendor is encouraging resellers to sell its products with a promotion.  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Amanda Dunn, PEER1 Hosting

  This week, MicroScope's Five Minute Interview turns its spotlight on Amanda Dunn of PEER 1 Hosting. Tell us what you do for a living work as the Business Development Director for EMEA at PEER 1 Hosting.  Continue Reading

• Column: Not all hackers are smart

  Technology, as we all know, is "an enabler" that can bring a lot of benefits. And 26 year old Hungarian Attila Nemeth (what a great name), was keen to demonstrate just what a great enabler it could be by using his talent with computers to get some ...  Continue Reading

• Managing the data deluge

  All too often, storage is simply taken for granted. After all, the price of storage has dropped from approximately $100 in 1997 to around $0.10 last year.  Continue Reading

• Cloud rains pennies from heaven

  A lot of people in the channel look at cloud storage as a commodity sale: an end user wants to offsite a whole load of data and every couple of year's bumps up their capacity.  Continue Reading

• Column: We need better IT training. Geoff Hurst told me that

  One should never name drop - the Queen told me that- but I was talking to Sir Geoff Hurst and ex-England international Gareth Southgate on Sunday...  Continue Reading

• Column: We're not all homogenised yet

  Most of us who work in the IT sector or who write about it, tend to think that technology has a homogenising effect on cultures and people, writes Billy MacInnes.  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Henry West, Eclipse Internet

  In the first of our new Five Minute Interviews, Henry West, head of reseller channel at business ISP Eclipse Internet, takes a turn in the redecorated MicroScope confessional.  Continue Reading

• Unified Storage: An ideal offering for the growing business

  Paul Routledge European storage business development manager at D-Link, takes a look at the benefits unified storage can deliver for a customer.  Continue Reading

• Playing catch-up to the BYOD security threats

  The debate about how to offer security and allow employees to bring their own devices is a live one causing plenty of head scratching as Ryan Farmer, Senior Resourcer, Acumin Consulting, finds out.  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Mark Edge, A10 Networks

  MicroScope puts its questions to Mark Edge, EMEA sales director at network optimisation firm A10 Networks. What is the best/worst advice you have received and from whom?  Continue Reading

• Is your data secure in the cloud?

  One of the main concerns from end users about cloud storage is its security.  Continue Reading

• Channel must get on top of new mobile compliance rules

  Avaya worldwide channel vice president, Jeremy Butt, examines new regulations on mobile communications handed down by the FSA, and considers the channel impact. This week marks an important date for the Financial Services industry and indeed for ...  Continue Reading

• A growing managed services opportunity

  One of the classic lines that is often used in a channel conversation is about services. Vendors tell resellers to do more of them, distributors look to support them and customers will pay for them.  Continue Reading

• Column: Would you rather have world peace, or an iPad 2?

  In the first of a new series of columns for MicroScope.co.uk, Billy MacInnes tries to make sense of a glut of surveys on the tablet market.  Continue Reading

• Column: SAP gets starry-eyed at SAPPHIRE NOW conference

  Last week Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) gave the performance of his life, as himself, playing the role of a big fan of SAP!  Continue Reading

• Five minute interview: Bill Roth, LogLogic

  MicroScope puts its questions to Bill Roth, chief marketing officer at Log Logic. What is the best/worst advice you have received and from whom? Best advice: Never take a job with "Special Projects" in the title Worst Advice: Take the job that pays ...  Continue Reading

• Combating the unintentional software pirate

  Is the United Kingdom a nation of accidental pirates? The findings of the 2010 Business Software Alliance (BSA) Global Software Piracy Study released earlier this year searches for the answer.  Continue Reading

• Column: Bad things often come in threes

  Nick Booth wonders what redundant resellers should do next.  Continue Reading

• The channel's love of two wheels is spreading

  The more conversations I have with channel bods the more cyclists come out of the woodwork. It really does seem to be the sport of choice for those trying to keep trim while avoiding the demands of team sport schedules.  Continue Reading

• GFI might just have the answer to clearing out the clutter

  In a chat with anti-virus specialist GFI Software the vendor was talking up its latest product release Vipre 5.0 and pitching a function that sounds like an idea that is too good to be ignored by the rest of the software community.  Continue Reading

• Avaya fires (and misfires) on opening day of 2011 VAR show

  Almost a year ago to the day I painted a mental image that those of us who have met Avaya worldwide channel boss Jeremy Butt would possibly rather forget.  Continue Reading

• Health and safety or you pay

  The Government is planning to give the Health and Safety Executive a legal duty to make a cost recovery from organisations and businesses who are found to be in breach of health and safety law.  Continue Reading

• The cloud goes to Hollywood

  I love the way IT is immortalized on the big screen. In the early days of the computer's film career, it usually had a support role.  Continue Reading

• Can Logica and CityMeetsTech create a culture of innovation?

  Logica recently held an event that asked: Has Britain lost its way as an innovator? How do we reclaim our position? While Logica tries to wrestle with that problem and create an innovation culture, there's another battle going on a mile or so down ...  Continue Reading

• Digital Marketing

  In the seven months since March 2011 when the Advertising Standards Authority gained a remit to oversee digital advertising and marketing (in addition to the original print media remit), a huge number of complaints - some 5531 - have been lodged ...  Continue Reading

• Bucking the trend in tough times can bring its own problems

  If you talk to people at Citrix you can't escape the impression that whatever the conditions elsewhere in the industry or the wider world, life is pretty good at the vendor right now.  Continue Reading

• Has technology really levelled the playing field?

  Wouldn't it be great if you could go online and shop around for a better deal on your energy minister? Well, sorry, that's just not going to happen. It doesn't work like that, sir.  Continue Reading

• EU Common Sales Law

  According to the Law Society, the European Commission is expected to issue a proposal for a Common Sales Law that would cover the whole of the EU.  Continue Reading

• Desktop virtualisation is not so easy PC

  Having attended VM world and Citrix Summit in the space of a week, one of the main impressions I came back with was that for all the talk about desktop virtualisation over the past two years or so, it is turning out to be a bit more complex and ...  Continue Reading

• How HulloMail could have prevented phone hacking

  Our reader has contacted us about our phone hacking story... It seems there is a better way to confound Piers Morgan and his like from hacking into your mobile messages.  Continue Reading

• Tribunal claims on the wane

  According to a recent set of statistics published by the Ministry of Justice, Employment Tribunal claims over the period April 2010 to March 2011 are down by 8 per cent to 218,100. Not bad at first glance. However, when compared to 2008/9's figures,...  Continue Reading

• Could Nortel have been an Apple killer?

  Could Nortel have had a piece of Apple? Could it have killed the iPhone before it was a glint in Steve Jobs' eye?  Continue Reading

• Troops to deploy IBM SmartCloud in big data battle

  With the economy putting us on a warfooting, big corporations now need to arm the workers a bit better. After all, they're the ones who will be doing all the fighting.  Continue Reading

• GoTradeLive gives SMEs a level playing field

  A new trading system for SMEs could help them cut costs and boost their revenue without having to make any investment.  Continue Reading

• Ministers urge businesses to tackle employment red tape

  The next stage in the Government's Red Tape Challenge has kicked off and businesses are now being asked to tackle employment related law, bureaucracy and red tape.  Continue Reading

• Could Facebook kick-start the British economy?

  Don't laugh, but there's a theory that Facebook, Google +, Twitter, ShinDig and the like could help kick start the British economy. Well Facebook could. Thanks to Moonfruit, a web publisher, you can start your own shop there.  Continue Reading

• Microsoft's Android patent bonanza

  Here's an interesting stat: according to Microsoft, it now has patent agreements with OEMs that account for over half of all Android devices. Including its latest deal with Compal, Microsoft has patent agreements with 10 Android device makers.  Continue Reading

• Unfair dismissal rule changes

  Changes to the rules on unfair dismissal rules are to be brought in by the Government. Under the new rules, from 1 April 2012 the qualification period for the right to claim unfair dismissal will be extended from one to two years.  Continue Reading

• How can the user herd survive the difficult crossing of the IT landscape? It's in their App-DNA

  IT users are a bit like wildebeest. Regular as clockwork, they are forced to migrate across harsh territory as their own environment becomes increasingly hostile and unable to support the population. So, like it or lump it, they are forced into a ...  Continue Reading

• Claranet takes blame for new Big Brother website

  I want to applaud Claranet for its honesty, earlier this week the managed services provider gamely owned up to having provided web services to Channel 5 for the latest disastrous series of Big Brother, which let's be frank, had pretty much run its ...  Continue Reading

• Plans for two new Enterprise Zones

  The Government has asked the Lancashire and the Hull and Humber Local Enterprise Partnerships to develop proposals for two new Enterprise Zones following the recent announcement by BAE Systems about their sites in Brough, Warton and Samlesbury.  Continue Reading

• Not everything is virtual at VMworld

  As more than one observer has already remarked, this year's VMworld Europe event in Copenhagen was occasionally like a conference in reverse.  Continue Reading

• Day 1 at IP Expo. What might have happened.

  This column couldn't get to IP Expo yesterday, because it was at the launch of Moon fruit's new Guerilla Shop Building service, which was being introduced by Emma Jones, the alpha woman who runs Startup Britain, and she is someone you don't say no ...  Continue Reading

• Changes aim for swifter justice over workplace deaths

  The Government is seeking more health and safety prosecutions before Inquests with changes to an agreement - the Work-Related Deaths Protocol - between those who investigate and prosecute work-related deaths.  Continue Reading

• Ethical hacker is top attraction at IP Expo

  Moths are so finely tuned to the ultrasonic calls of predatory bats that the nerve cells in their ears are activated by displacements of the eardrum the size of a small atom, according to new research from the University of Bristol.  Continue Reading

• Don't quote me

  Executive pay has never really left the spotlight. However, in today's straightened times, it's a very hot topic especially as executive pay of quoted companies is rising much faster than the pay of workers.  Continue Reading