Opinion

Opinion

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Exinda threatens to give the Cloud a right stuffing

  Adam Davison  Continue Reading

• Negligence and dismissals

  In most cases, serious negligence could be grounds for gross misconduct. But what happens if an employee has a lucky escape and nothing results from the negligence? Will a dismissal be unfair?  Continue Reading

• Olympic Workforce?

  With the Olympics less than a year away, employers should start thinking about writing a specific Olympics policy to deal with requests for leave as well as any unauthorised absences.  Continue Reading

• More personal liability for directors

  Pre-pack sales of failed businesses are a major irritant to all concerned, not least because of the appearance that the failed business can "dump" its debt and the buyers can start the same business all over again, debt-free, under a new company.  Continue Reading

• iOS5 and iCloud upgrade is a painful process

  There was a lot of hype around iCloud and the launch of iOS5 yesterday. They were bringing lots of wonderful features for Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users, far too many for me to list here.  Continue Reading

• How would you spin the Blackberry downtime?

  It's tragic how fate is treating RIM. Blackberry was the standard bearer for mobile computing and now these difficulties threaten to destroy RIM. Even distinguished figures such as Piers Morgan are taking to twitter to condemn the service.  Continue Reading

• New bill will strengthen consumer rights

  The Government has announced that it's producing a new Consumer Bill of Rights to 'streamline confusing and overlapping legislation and regulation' and provide stronger consumer protection.  Continue Reading

• "Frustrated" IT professionals keen to switch jobs

  "Frustrated", "Numb", "Unchallenged" and "Underpaid". Those are the words used by IT professionals in Ireland when asked to describe how their job made them feel. Do their UK equivalents feel the same? ...  Continue Reading

• Blackberry outages send message on back-up strategy

  If I was RIM, I might be asking some hard questions of my IT network provider (assuming I had one) in the wake of the much-publicised outages at the Blackberry-maker.  Continue Reading

• Have we got the measure of LTE yet?

  Sometimes you know something's not right just by the name. LTE. Long term evolution. As opposed to what? Short term evolution? By nature, isn't evolution supposed to be long term anyway? You don't hear many complaining how they're hacked off with ...  Continue Reading

• Penalty warning for paper tax returns

  With the 31 October deadline for paper tax returns very close, HMRC is urging taxpayers to get their paper tax return in on time, or face a penalty.  Continue Reading

• Energy back as part of the channel pitch

  Energy seems to be growing in popularity as a buzz word again as more customers look to get their data centres running as efficiently as possible.  Continue Reading

• Just how helpful are these online communities?

  One of the best reasons for buying a Mac rather than a PC is that you get a half decent film editing suite and the nice Apple people will train you in how to use it. Superb! A one to one session with an Apple trainer is worth any number of glib ...  Continue Reading

• This new generation has got no standards!

  Many in the industry felt Britain's mobile operators over paid for their 3G licenses on 2000, writes Nick Booth. At £5 billion each in the UK, the general consensus was that Vodafone and Orange would have some serious renegotiation to conduct.  Continue Reading

• Teneo gets into African education sector

  While many channel players fundraise for health causes or local charity projects, infrastructure reseller Teneo is spreading its wings and teaming up with charity Plan UK to fund construction of apre-school facility in Ghana.  Continue Reading

• Employees get more help to quit smoking and get active

  Employee illness costs employers - and the country - a small fortune and to try to combat this, the Government is working with businesses through the 'Public Health Responsibility Deal' to help make the population healthier. So far, 285 ...  Continue Reading

• Cloud? Don't talk to me about cloud!

  The BBC will be forced to run endless repeats because of the cuts, so were told. Good. I'd love to see a repeat of a documentary from the '90s about a charming man called Alan Sugar. Particularly the bit where a member of staff asks about email.  Continue Reading

• Best value for government contracts? What about everyone else?

  Interesting to see Lord Digby Jones, former head of the CBI, calling on the government to change its procurement strategy and use "best value" rather than" best price" as the yardstick for contracts.  Continue Reading

• Buying a house could trip you up

  In September HMRC launched a joint venture with the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association. For a fee of £14, mortgage lenders can apply to HMRC with borrowers details for cross checking against income tax and ...  Continue Reading

• Cloud of misconception still haunts the channel

  Microsoft's SMB cloud supremo has strongly defended the channel against critics who say utility computing will bypass the reseller. Cloud services suffer from an image problem at the moment, he argued, and the misconceptions do nobody any good.  Continue Reading

• New IP guidance for businesses

  A new guide for businesses to make sure they don't fall foul of intellectual property laws has been launched by the Intellectual Property Office.  Continue Reading

• Jobs' genius was to force the industry to innovate

  On Tuesday this week the Apple faithful gathered in California to watch what they thought would be the unveiling of the much-anticipated iPhone 5. But they were to be disappointed.  Continue Reading

• Steve Jobs: the first business superstar?

  If you want to gain a sense of Steve Jobs' achievements, you only need to look at the reaction to his death.  Continue Reading

• Revised shortage occupation list

  The Migration Advisory Committee has advised the Government that the Shortage Occupation List should be revised to restrict migrants from outside the European Economic Area to a smaller proportion of occupations within the UK labour market.  Continue Reading

• Why can't some VARs get support from their partners?

  Whenever you chair a round table between an IT vendor and its channel partners, the same issues are raised time and again. Whatever happened to the co-op funding you promised us? Why are we always the last to know about changes?  Continue Reading

• Oracle OpenWorld not so open to Salesforce.com CEO

  Doesn't look like Oracle's OpenWorld event in San Francisco is all that open after all. What else are we to think of the bizarre story that Salesforce.com CEO Mark Benioff has had his keynote speech, due to be presented at the event today (5 October...  Continue Reading

• Be Smart

  Many employees are given smartphones by their employers. But have those employers stopped to write a policy on how these devices should be used?  Continue Reading