October 2008

www.crn.co.za

Inside
 Workgroup unleashes new
products p10>>
 Symantec’s partner
university p22>>
 Storage needs
under the
spotlight
p30>>

The distribution space takes strain >>p18

 PUBLISHER’S: NOTE

My Swan Song
A
s the once popular US R & B quartet Boyz II Men sang some years back, “We’ve come to
the end of the road,” and as I write this my last publisher’s note for CRN, it is indeed with
deep sadness that I bid farewell to the magazine and Systems Publishers as a group.
Although my departure has saddened me and surprised many in the local IT channel, I
am delighted at the fact that I am leaving the publication in the more-than capable hands of
Kaunda Chama, who is taking over from me on 1 November 2008 as editor of CRN.
Over the next few months there are going to be quite a few changes in CRN print and
online as the entire editorial team tries to adapt the print and electronic publication to suit
the ever-changing channel and IT marketplace.
These initiatives to align the print and online product will be undertaken to ensure that you
continue to get the relevant and quality news, analysis and feature articles that you are look-
ing for.
During my nine-year tenure at Systems Publishers, five of which were on CRN, I had the
opportunity to work with a number of outspoken and vociferous readers and newsmakers in
the local channel. These forthright and vocal readers and newsmakers made it known to me
in no uncertain terms what their thoughts were on a wide range of issues be it what we
reported in our magazine or some industry research we commissioned. I salute them for the
support they gave me and, most importantly, to CRN for without their criticism the magazine
wouldn’t have been the preferred channel title in SA.
Although there were other CRN readers who tended to hide behind the anonymity of a PO Box or email address, your input in the mag-
azine was equally invaluable.
So, in my swan song, I am urging you to let the entire editorial team know what you would like it to cover be it at vendor, distributor or
solution provider level.
This can only be achieved if you let Kaunda and his entire editorial entourage know what you like and don’t like featured in your
magazine.
In the 13 years of publishing in SA, CRN has provided vital strategic business and technology insights for solution providers in the IT
supply chain and we cannot accomplish this mammoth task without your priceless input.
I urge you to render Kaunda and the editorial team he will be managing the same support you have given me since 2003 when I took
over the reins from my mate and industry colleague Ben Kelly.
Goodbye and may the journey ahead be peaceful and successful.

Manda Banda – publisher

 Contents
News & Analysis
4 – What’s News

6 – Comings and goings

10 – Hi Five

12 – Demand Generator takes a look at why Land Systems

opted for Infor’s solution

12
16 – Outsourcing: A workable solution in skills-scarce

environments
CRN Contacts:
Publisher: 18 – Cover story: The ICT space takes strain as the Rand plummets.
Manda Banda
By Kaunda Chama
mandab@systems.co.za
21 – Intel launches software partner. By Dudu Shaba
Online editor:
19 – Symantec launches partner university. By Dudu Shaba
Kaunda Chama
kaundac@systems.co.za
Features 16
Journalists: 30 – Storage: Storage was once a peripheral, a mere
Portia Shaba
feature of the server. Those days are gone where you found
portias@systems.co.za
information stored in a single server. Currently, the desire to
Dominic Khuzwayo
store quantities of new data is generating demand for
dominick@systems.co.za
storage. By Dudu Shaba
Brand executive:
35 – Unifies Communications: By 2010, there will be
Hellen Murahwa 22
hellenm@systems.co.za 10 devices connected to networks for each person using

the network and in 15 to 20 years the network must accommo-

Sub-editor:
Jenny Bastomsky date a trillion devices, most of them wireless. By Dudu Shaba
jennybee@telkomsa.net.co.za
38 – Virtualisation technologies are currently being
Designer: adopted by companies in their data centres to simplify adminis-
Spencer van Graan
spencerg@systems.co.za
tration, improve resource utilisation and reduce operating

costs. By Kaunda Chama 33

Database and subscriptions:
Daisy Mulenga Product and technology
daisym@systems.co.za
46 – Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 works
copyright notice
CRN Southern Africa is published monthly by
47 – Iomega’s ScreenPlay TV Link score high
Systems Publishers (Pty) Ltd. The copyright of all
material in this publication is reserved by the proprietors,

Parting shots
except where expressly stated. The publisher, however,
will consider reasonable requests for the use of material
by others on condition that the source and author
of the report are clearly attributed. Due to the nature
of the newspaper print process, Systems Publishers
cannot be held responsible for colour variations 48 – Snapshot: Anamika Budree, Drive Control 45
in printed advertising. Printed by Ultra Litho.
CRN Southern Africa is a licensee of CMP Media LLC.

Private Bag X12, Rivonia, 2128

Corporation
Tel: (011) 234 7008 Scans in this publication have been reproduced
Fax: (011) 234 7025
Registered with the Audit 48 – Dilbert on the EPSON PERFECTiON 2450 photo
Bureau of Circulation

2 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008

WHAT’S NEWS
COMINGS
Fortuin, new HP boss
HP has appointed Oliver Fortuin MD to replace
Thoko Mokgosi-Mwantembe. Fortuin has been
& GOINGS
GM of the Technology Solutions Group at HP
SA since April 2007. Previously, he was respon-
sible for HP’s services and outsourcing business
in SA. Fortuin will also continue to lead the
Oliver Fortuin Technology Solutions Group and will report to
Ken Willett, VP and MD of HP Middle East,
Mediterranean, Africa (MEMA). “I am extremely pleased that
Fortuin has accepted this position. He has demonstrated strong
leadership and sound execution. With an excellent knowledge of
the local ICT market and his exceptional passion for customers,
this is a great opportunity for HP in SA,” says Ken Willett vice-pres-
ident and MD of HP Middle East, Mediterranean, Africa (MEMA).
New DCC storage software manager
Drive Control Corporation (DCC) has announced Anamika
Budree as new storage software manager. Budree, previously a
DCC product specialist, will be responsible for managing the
Comztek rewards resellers
Comztek has expanded its partner programme with the introduction of
PlusPoints for Microsoft Licensing purchases. Resellers will earn five
PlusPoints for every R100 spent on qualifying Microsoft Licensing prod-
ucts purchased from Comztek. The offer is only available from Comztek
and is open to its resellers in SA, Swaziland and Lesotho, who are also
Microsoft Registered Partners. David Caygill, Comztek business unit
director says: “We chose PlusPoints as a rewards system because we
believe this is one of the most innovative and inclusive partner reward
systems that exist.”
New blades from HP
HP has announced the launch of a virtualisa-
tion blade server, BL495c G5. The BL495c is
the ideal platform for virtualised environments
that require significant memory, data storage
and network connections to optimise server
performance. Rory Green, product manager,
industry standard servers HP SA says:
“Customers looking to maximise the Rory Green
4 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
storage software team. She will also run internal
training which includes identifying skills short-
ages, product marketing, sales and meeting
vendor objectives. Additionally, Budree will
focus on strengthening and maintaining DCC’s
customer-base which includes customer certifi-
cation and gaining new business for the storage
Anamika Budree software range.
DCC appoints Van Zijl
Jacques van Zijl has been appointed the new
overland storage product manager at DCC.
Van Zijl will be responsible for providing hard-
ware storage solution support to resellers which
includes stock management and pricing as well
as the necessary knowledge and expertise for
Jacques van Zijl
larger enterprise deals. The Solutions division’s
range encompasses tier 1-3 products which
allow the distributor to provide comprehensive software and hard-
ware solutions to SMEs.
performance of their virtualised infrastructure have the answer with the
BL495c. It was architected and optimised specifically for virtual
machines.” “With its memory, storage and I/O capabilities, the
BL495c is unmatched in the industry and redefines blade servers for
virtualisation,” says Green.
Microsoft goes blue
Microsoft recently unveiled one of the world’s
most advanced tracking technologies,
Microsoft BlueTrack Technology. BlueTrack will
debut in two new top-of-the-line mouses, the
Microsoft Explorer Mouse and Microsoft
Explorer Mini Mouse. Mark De Pue, platforms
engineering manager, Microsoft and co-inven-
tor of BlueTrack Technology says, “BlueTrack
Technology excels in areas where optical and
David Bohn
laser technologies are falling short. David
Bohn, senior engineering architect, Microsoft and BlueTrack Technology
co-inventor says: “With BlueTrack Technology you can rest easier about
where your mouse will or won’t track – it works just about everywhere.”

AMD announces new
virtualisation solutions
AMD has announced the availability of robust
new virtualisation solutions powered by a combi-
nation of technologies from AMD and Microsoft.
According to Imi Mosaheb, country manager,
AMD, SA, this new deployment model uses AMD
Opteron processors with AMD Virtualisation tech-
Imi Mosaheb
nology together with Microsoft Windows Server
2008 Hyper-V. Mosaheb adds that mid-market companies in particular,
which have traditionally been slower to implement virtualisation can
take advantage of the combined AMD and Microsoft product offering
to help reduce cost, complexity and energy consumption.
Acer brings P5260i to SA
Acer SA has announced the local availability of the
Acer P5260i, a new professional DLP video-pro-
jector designed to offer cable-free projection in a
range of environments. The projector offers native
XGA (1024 x 768) resolution, 2700 ANSI Lumens
brightness and a 2000:1 contrast ratio, ensuring a
clear and crisp picture even from a long distance.
The Acer P5260i supports 1080p high-definition John Geypen
video projection, allowing users to view videos on
large screens. John Geypen, business development manager, Acer SA
says, “The Acer P5260i offers convenient cable-free projecting, superb
ergonomics, ease of use and great performance at an affordable price.
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009
is here
Microsoft launched the latest generation of its
business software, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 in
SA last month. According to the company, the new
software is set to signal a new chapter in enterprise
resource planning (ERP) user productivity by
providing an easy-to-use interface and information
tailored to specific roles within a company. Jumana Jumana Helal
Helal, who heads the Dynamics business at
Microsoft SA, says AX 2009 aims to help businesses thrive in a compet-
itive global marketplace by controlling costs, managing risk and
increasing employee productivity.
Citrix unleashes XenApp 5
Citrix Systems, one of the global leaders in application delivery
infrastructure, has announced the release of Citrix XenApp 5. The
XenApp 5 is set to dramatically improve the end-user experience
and lower application management costs by more than 25 per
cent over previous versions. XenApp 5, which runs on the Microsoft
Windows Server platform, leverages all the enhancements in Windows
Server 2008 and fully supports Windows Server 2003. This enables
existing Windows Server 2003 customers to deploy Windows Server
2008 into their existing XenApp environments in any mix.
WHAT’S NEWS
Tarsus Bolsters HP
Tarsus Technologies, a value-added distributor,
has increased its focus on pre-sales competen-
cy within the HP server and storage range.
According to Greg Pothitos, general manager,
HP ESS group, Tarsus, the company’s two spe-
cialists, Gunter Kampmann and Sergio Maffia,
have a very technical background and are
highly qualified in the HP certification ranks.
Pathitos says, “When they’re not in the techni-
Greg Pothitos
cal demo centre showing resellers and cus-
tomers around the blade server and storage solutions, they’re out with
resellers at customers’ premises either assisting with a presentation or
helping with hardware configuration.”
ProScan introduces laser scanning
ProScan Distribution, a member of the ProScan
Group, has introduced the Datalogic
QuickScan L bar-code laser scanner. The scan-
ner is an affordable entry-level solution.
According to Andrew Fosbrook, group MD,
ProScan, this scanner is lightweight and small
with an ergonomic form factor, which provides
the user with ease of scanning during daily oper-
ations. He says it is suitable for retail and office
applications. “The QuickScan L reader has been
Andrew Fosbrook
designed for durability in the workplace.”
FrontRange releases DeviceWall 5.0
FrontRange Solutions has announced the availability of DeviceWall 5.0.
Kevin J Smith, vice president Products, FrontRange says, “We are start-
ing to see more and more companies introducing Windows Vista onto
their corporate networks.
“As such, it is important that they are able to apply the same security
policies created for the rest of the estate to any new PCs that are pur-
chased. By introducing support for Windows Vista with DeviceWall 5.0,
FrontRange is ensuring that investments made in security continue to pay
dividends as more Vista PCs are added to the network,” says Smith.
Cisco invests R215 million
Cisco has announced that it has invested
R215 million in its Innovation Hub
Technology Centre. The centre, which will be
based at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria, will
become the home of ICT initiatives, including
an Innovation Lab, a global Talent
Acquisition Programme, the Cisco Netversity,
an Entrepreneur Institute and a Software Steve Midgley
Development Programme. Steve Midgley,
MD, Cisco SA, says the centre is aimed at fostering and developing
skills, intellectual property, entrepreneurship and solution development
capabilities in the local ICT sector.
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008 • 5
ANALYSIS: DISTRIBUTION MOVES
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
Axis appoints new disti
Axis Communications, one of the global leaders in the network video
market, has appointed Sentronics as its distribution partner in SA.
Sentronics will join Axiz and ADI International to make up Axis’ local dis-
tribution chain. Roy Alves, country manager of Axis Communications
says: “The decision to work with Sentronics is based on its vast knowl-
edge and experience in the video surveillance space.” Bernard Senekal,
managing director, Sentronics adds, “We are delighted at the prospect of
working with Axis as its distribution partner in SA.”
Faritec buys Ubusha Technologies
Faritec has acquired Ubusha Technologies for R26 million. According to
Faritec, by bringing Ubusha into the Faritec stable the company has
effectively leapfrogged its entry into the specialised identity and access
management arena. Logan Hill, business unit manager, Security and
Availability Solutions, Faritec, says the acquisition will bolster Faritec’s
security offering and create one of the most comprehensive client refer-
ence lists in the provisioning of identity and access management solutions
in the South African market.
Government tender for Pinnacle Micro
ICT distribution house Pinnacle Micro won part of the government’s SITA
RFT153 tender for the supply of 12 Supermicro server products over six
categories. Francois Lottering, Supermicro product manager says: “Till
now the Supermicro servers were not available for government contracts
as our initial range was primarily aimed at the small business market, so
this contract win is a breakthrough for us.” “We are focusing aggressively
on government business and believe this contract will be the first of
many,” adds Lottering.
Sony, Pinnacle Micro divorced
Sony Storage and Pinnacle Micro recently parted ways. Shane
Hutchinson, product manager, Pinnacle Micro Storage says that after five
years of association, the two companies felt they have differing opinions
on technologies and decided to call it quits. “Needless to say, we have
great respect for the company’s brand and its products,” he says.
Meanwhile, Dave Kruger, country manager, Sony Storage Media says,
“Pinnacle Micro has changed its strategies and we do not align ourselves
with its new strategies. We felt that it was not best for either of us to con-
tinue our relationship.”
Red Man clinches iBurst deal
Red Man Technologies has signed a R6 million deal with iBurst. The deal
entails implementing strategic integrated business and operations support
solutions on which iBurst will manage its rapid growth in the broadband
converged communications market. Cobus McQuirk, iBurst’s head of
Information Technology says it was a strategic decision to base the plat-
form on Softline Enterprise’s suite of Sage software and commission Red
Man Technologies.
IBM accredits Faritec
IBM has awarded Faritec accreditation to sell and implement IBM
DataPower Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) appliances. Malcolm
Hart, architecture and technical strategy manager, Faritec’s Integrated
Business Solutions division, says: “This solution is ideal for any company
considering SOA as well as those that have embarked on an SOA jour-
8 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
ney. IBM DataPower takes the computationally expensive processing of
XML messages and offloads it onto a more cost-effective platform.”
Faritec has implemented IBM DataPower at two of SA’s Big Four banks,
and is in discussions with a number of large corporations in the financial
services, telecommunications and public sectors.
SAS, Tata join skills
SAS, one of the leaders in business intelligence (BI) and analytics, recently
partnered with Tata Consultancy Services. Tata, an IT services, business
solutions and outsourcing firm, together with SAS is set to deliver com-
plete and innovative technology solutions to customers. Dr Santosh
Mohanty, global head, Technology Excellence, Tata Consulting Services
(TCS) says, SAS and TCS is a powerful combination for fulfilling the
promise of business analytics and helping global companies to succeed.”
HP agrees to outsource
HP has signed a five-year technology infrastructure outsourcing agreement
with Syngenta, a world-leading agribusiness. The financial details of the
agreement were not disclosed but under the terms of the agreement, HP
will use its Adaptive Infrastructure as a service solution. This will see HP
transform Syngenta’s current infrastructure-based services into subscription
services aligned to Syngenta’s business processes. Martin Walker, global
chief information officer, Syngenta says, “We chose HP Adaptive
Infrastructure as a service so we can achieve faster infrastructure and
application modernisation with reduced risk and cost.”
New Acer disti
Acer SA has appointed TVR Computers as the distributor of its new
Acer Aspire Predator. Graham Braum, country manager, Acer SA says,
“As a company with a long history in the PC gaming market, TVR
Computers is an ideal business partner for the distribution of the Acer
Predator range. “TVR’s inventory and ordering processes are designed to
keep pace with this fast-moving market. The company is also geared to
help gamers upgrade components in their rigs as and when they want to,”
Braum says.
Sun Microsystems partners with NIIT
Sun Microsystems has partnered with Asia’s technology training provider
NIIT. The partnership is aimed at supporting the development of talent in
Africa. This initiative is part of Sun’s commitment to improving and
expanding grass-roots IT skills in Africa. Ottmar Kugelmann, chief
learning officer of Sun Learning Services for Southern and Eastern EMEA,
says, “NIIT and Sun run such programmes very successfully in several
locations around the world. We are proud to announce that programmes
are now being rolled out in Africa.”
Galdon Data takes Abnoba
Galdon Data has acquired Abnoba’s operational business for an
undisclosed amount. Abnoba is a local business process automation
company and Microsoft Certified Partner. Galdon Data, MD Garry
Ackerman says the two companies will provide a solid platform for future
growth. “Abnoba has always been competent in the sales and customer
relationship arena while Galdon Data has primarily focused on services.”
According to Ackerman, Galdon Data has always relied on business
relationships but it is very difficult to maintain these relationships and that
is now strengthened.
HIGH FIVE: WORKGROUP
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Workgroup unleashes new products

Expanding the channel

BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO

I n this month’s High Five, we look at Workgroup, a value-added IT

distributor which recently released a new range of Nuance products.
CRN spoke to Gladwell Soko, product manager, Workgroup, about
the new products and its relationship with Nuance.

CRN: When did Workgroup partner with Nuance?

GS: The distribution agreement between Workgroup and Nuance was
sealed on 1 July 2008.

CRN: How will the partnership with Nuance benefit Workgroup?

GS: We have been given the responsibility to look after SA and 16
African countries. It’s a big challenge that we have gladly accepted.
This means we will be expanding the market footprint of Nuance in
Africa as a software manufacturer and Workgroup as a distributor.
This will translate into added revenue for Workgroup.

CRN: How will these products benefit your customers?

GS: Dragon Naturally Speaking 10
With Dragon Naturally Speaking customers will be able to dictate
directly into Microsoft Word and Outlook, as well as most other
“At the moment, we are only bringing in
Microsoft Office applications running on Microsoft Windows XP, the full retail boxes and version upgrades
Windows 2000 and Windows Vista. Dragon also supports popular pro-
grams such as Corel WordPerfect, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla for Dragon Naturally Speaking 10.” –
and Firefox. You can even control menus and dialog boxes in these Gladwell Soko, product manager,
applications. Users will be able to navigate the desktop by voice:
launch or switch applications, save or print documents and more three Workgroup.
times faster than most people type. All with up to 99 per cent accuracy.

OmniPage 16
OmniPage is an optical character recognition (OCR) software. With
OmniPage 16 customers will be able to turn paper forms into elec-
tronic PDF forms and then collect the data. They will be able to batch
process forms in either PDF or printed on paper, and create a data file
that can be opened in spreadsheets and database programs. It makes
distribution of electronic forms easy.
PaperPort 11
Millions of people – including office workers, lawyers, doctors,
insurance and real estate agents rely on PaperPort to save time and
money transforming paper documents into searchable digital
documents. PaperPort enables Microsoft Windows to visually manage
paper and PDF plus over 150 document and photo formats.
PDF Converter 5
There are three different versions in the PDF Family. PDF Create 5,
PDF Converter 5 Standard and PDF Converter 5 Professional. With
PDF Create, users will be able to Create PDF files practically from all
of their Microsoft Windows applications.
CRN: How will you distribute the products?
GS: Workgroup has an existing channel of retailers nationwide that
sell directly to consumers. The Nuance range of products is retailing
through Incredible Connection, Makro, Dion, Dion Wired, Game and
other online stores. We also have specialised value-added resellers
that are targeting corporate clients. Besides these retailers and value-
added resellers, we have branches in Port Elizabeth, Durban, Cape
Town, Bloemfontein, East London, Nelspruit, Mocambique, Botswana,
Zambia and Namibia.
CRN: What are you planning for the future?
GS: We are in discussions with Nuance for us to tap into the licensing
area of the Nuance range of products. At the moment, we are only
bringing in the full retail boxes and version upgrades for Dragon
Naturally Speaking 10. We are also going to be bringing in the edu-
cation versions to cater for the educational community which will find
these products a blessing.We should be ready to launch the licensing
portal on our website by November 2008 timeframe and the educa-
tional phase around the same time.

10 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008

DEMAND GENERATOR: INFOR
SOLUTION
Infor offers Land System
OMC solutions
Taking productivity to the next level.
BY DOMINIC KHUZWAYO
I
nfor software recently proved why it says “we
make software business better,” when Land
Systems OMC, a BAE Systems company
selected Infor’s software.
Land Systems OMC, also a manufacturer
of mine-protected and armoured vehicles,
selected Infor Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) LN and Infor Product Lifecycle
Management (PLM) 8 to improve product
design and production efficiency.
Additionally, Infor was also chosen for its
deep understanding of the manufacturing
and defence industries and its ability to meet
Land Systems OMC’s specific needs for an
integrated solution that encompassed con-
ceptualisation, design, development, manu-
facture, production, re-manufacture and
global in-service support.
Gert Pretorius, Engineering and Business
Improvements Director, Land Systems OMC,
John O’Donnell, Infor, Africa
12 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
PROVIDERS
says that another key factor in the selection
was that Infor’s people showed a depth of
knowledge and experience.
“Our operations are complex due to the
development of new models and custom
projects in the same production environment
as our existing product range.”
“We must control many engineering and
configuration changes while maintaining
stringent levels of reporting to satisfy require-
ments for progress payments from our inter-
national customers. These factors place
huge demands on our systems for accurate
production planning, which requires integra-
tion between the shop floor and back
office,” explains Pretorius.
According to Infor, these solutions will
help to provide more accurate product con-
figuration, reducing the costly need to retrofit
products and resulting in better service and
faster delivery times for customers.
ERP is a single, integrated planning system
which meets the needs of a company’s
finance, customer service, distribution and
manufacturing functions. PLM allows designers
to work collaboratively to ensure they use the
right data and versions of documents to
ensure they get designs right the first time.
“The fact that the solution is integrated
means it will help to provide more accurate
product configuration information which will
reduce the costly need to retrofit products,
resulting in better service and faster delivery
times for BAE’s customers,” says John
O’Donnell channel manager, Infor, Africa.
“BAE will benefit from having an end-to-
end process to embrace new product
conceptualization, design, development,
manufacture, production, re-manufacture
and global support,” adds O’Donnell.
In addition, Softworx an EOH company
and distributor of Infor in Sub-Saharan
Africa, will provide the professional services
consulting and implementation for the project.
Jane Thomson, MD, Softworx says the
Infor solutions BAE will be adopting were
selected in a rigorous evaluation process
that included other leading industry
ERP solutions.
“The selection by BAE underscores the
suitability of the Infor solutions for this
industry. The tight integration between the
PLM and ERP solutions will ensure a quicker,
easier and more cost-effective implementa-
tion with a faster return on investment,”
says Thomson.
“BAE is a great example of this where
Softworx is providing the implementation
support for the customer.”
When CRN asked what makes Infor solu-
tions unique or strong from competitors,
O’Donnell says, it is not just the software
solutions it is the people that support them.
“While we do develop products from the
ground up, we have built our enterprise
software portfolio by acquiring most of our
solutions (35 acquisitions since 2002). We
choose products that: have rich, built-in
functionality for specific industries or business
processes; are proven in their field and were
built by domain experts that understand our
customers’ specific requirements. We then
make these proven solutions even better
through investment in development, support,
and adding services globally.”
“This rich heritage and underlying domain
expertise enables our customers to select
proven solutions that can run their entire
business, division or department from one
global partner. Many of our solutions can
be used stand-alone or fully integrated with
Infor or Non-Infor solutions,” concludes
O’Donnell.
Do you any demand generator stories to
share with us please e-mail Dominic at
dminick@systems.co.za
ANALYSIS: OUSOURCING
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Outsourcing: making good

business sense in a skills-scarce environment
BY CRN STAFF REPORTER

T here is a shortage of information communi-

cation technology skills in the South African
market. That is a fact. And it’s affecting the
optimal running of ICT departments and
thwarting ICT projects.
Under-qualified professionals and ICT
engineers are further hindering the efforts of
business and government to close the yawn-
ing skills gap, creating a resource pool of
“Although government and corporates are all too aware watered-down skills that aren’t geared for
‘real-life’ ICT crises and challenges. For
of this challenge, their efforts are not creating a big many organisations the answer to this
increasingly complex problem is to outsource
enough ‘funnel’ to support the demand for more ICT
their ICT functions and projects to a trusted
skills in the local market. However, the real issue lies in partner.
Businesses are faced with staff and skills
the ever-diminishing ‘strength’ or ‘quality’ of ICT challenges that include high staff churn,
qualifications.” – Craig Moir, RDB Consulting poaching and demands for exorbitant remu-
neration packages. In addition, a primary
reason for the distinct lack of high-level ICT
and consulting skills in SA is the ‘mass exo-
dus’ of skilled individuals to other continents.
This is according to Craig Moir, technical
director at RDB Consulting, a company that
offers professional database and operating
system support, consulting, project manage-
ment, solutions architecture and more.
He says: “Although government and cor-
porates are all too aware of this challenge,
their efforts are not creating a big enough
‘funnel’ to support the demand for more ICT
skills in the local market. However, the real
issue lies in the ever-diminishing ‘strength’ or
‘quality’ of ICT qualifications.
“An increasing number of crash courses
promise highly qualified ICT professionals
and engineers. This has been spurred by the
fact that sectors of ICT specialisation contin-
ue to fragment, forcing resources to focus
their skills development on specific areas.
This is not an appealing proposition for a
graduate who wishes to carve a career in the
ICT industry.
“Ten years ago, the qualification available
for someone that, for instance, wished to
become a programmer included identifying
whether the person had the aptitudes
required for the job and, of course, intense
Craig Moir, RDB Consulting study of methodologies – all within a struc-

16 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008


tured approach. This is lacking in the certifi-
cation curricula available today.”
A typical example is training provided by
Van Zyl & Pritchard, one of SA’s leading
training organisations. It offered, and still
does, one of the most highly regarded quali-
fications for programmers. Armed with this
qualification, individuals are never without
work for long. However, today there is an
increased demand for business-related
degrees. These have more appeal to a keen
and ambitious student force.
ICT is now one of the least ‘professional’
industries. Vendors jostle for a leading position
in the market along with short-term solution
certification and training providers. This has
led to a host of quick-fix crash courses that
provide a superficial level of competence that
cannot be compared to a formal degree cou-
pled with experience. And current software
developments are fuelling this phenomenon.
Adds Trevor Bezuidenhout, principal con-
sultant at RDB Consulting, “The emergence
of ICT solutions or applications built using
many diverse programming languages ini-
tially created complexity. However, software
development today relies on a certain
amount of ‘intelligence’ in the form of wiz-
ards that automatically complete a task or
function that would previously have required
manual skills. So, in essence, software is
replacing the need for resources that under-
stand the ‘nuts and bolts’ of technology.”
One would think that this is a positive
development but, on scrutiny, these intelli-
gent applications do not offer problem solv-
ing. Snags and hitches remain that, at worst,
lead to the complete failure of the applica-
tion. A typical product of these ‘crash cours-
es’ includes programmers that are good
front-end Java specialists but have no back-
end skills. Formal qualifications that incorpo-
rate the technical foundations of ICT have
thus become ever more important. A thor-
ough knowledge and understanding of ICT
at grass-roots level is required.
This has given rise to the ICT industry
becoming one of the least professional
industries.
Says Bezuidenhout: “Take, for example,
the formal studies and the qualification
process required in the medical, engineering,
accounting and legal professions. Many
years are spent behind books and in front of
ANALYSIS: OUSOURCING
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
lecturers to gain a solid theoretical founda-
tion that covers all – not some – aspects of
the job. An internship is then required in
order for these students to ‘marry’ their theo-
retical knowledge with practical skills, result-
ing in ‘rounded’ resources that are qualified
and proficient in their field.”
“Co-sourcing is not the panacea to the global skills short-
age. There is a dire need for a longer-term approach that
raises the bar with regards to ICT certifications and qualifi-
cations. This will assist in developing industry standards
and encourage students to pursue careers in technology.”
In comparison, a candidate wanting to
enter the ICT field can obtain an informal
qualification in 10 working days, complete
two exams and go on to climb the corporate
ladder commanding a salary on a par with
individuals that have studied for the greater
part of seven years. It is no wonder that the
ICT skills pool is not being properly
addressed.
This has given rise to the business case for
companies to outsource or co-source their
ICT projects to a professional team of experts.
The outsource advantage
“An outsourced team offers the benefits of
cost-containment through lower costs to
company and defined deliverables that are
supported by service and operation-level
agreements,” explains Moir. “In addition,
companies using these resources do not
have to concern themselves with retention
strategies and staff churn.”
The co-sourcing model is fast gaining
popularity as it addresses the problem of an
under-developed ICT skills pool in the short
term. A co-sourced service is pivotal to skills
transfer, providing ‘on-the-job’ training and
experience which bolsters the level of ICT
skills within the organisation.
Moir concludes: “Co-sourcing is not the
panacea to the global skills shortage. There
is a dire need for a longer-term approach
that raises the bar with regards to ICT certifi-
cations and qualifications. This will assist in
developing industry standards and encourage
students to pursue careers in technology.”
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008 • 17
COVER STORY: MONEY
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
As the Rand plummets
The distribution space takes strain.
BY KAUNDA CHAMA
T he last couple of months have seen world
markets experience some of the toughest
times in decades – and it has affected each
and every business sector.
CRN recently spoke to some of our key
industry people to find out what the effect
has been locally and what we can expect in
the future.
The distribution sector imports the majority
of products and components that are
supplied to resellers, and as a result of the
recent free-fall of the Rand value against
major currencies many problems have
occurred with orders placed at local
distribution houses.
Mark Lu, CEO of local distribution house
Rectron, admits that the state of the world’s
18 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
economy has brought a painful period for
companies conducting business based on
imports. He notes the speed of the plummet-
ing Rand is also quite alarming.
“The major disadvantage for local
companies is that the currency depreciated
by about 40% almost overnight, and to make
things worse the depreciation was mainly
taking place after South African trading
hours and while US markets were busy
trading,” he says.
Lu exclaims that a result of the global
financial crisis over the past month saw the
Rand devalue against major currencies by
about 50c and 70c continually over a period
of three days.
However Lu is confident that full economic

recovery should be on track by the end of the
first quarter of 2009 and the local economy
should gain strength by then.
Lu adds that the pace at which world cur-
rencies fall and recover is typical of financial
markets in crisis, as currencies fall victim to
over reaction and high emotions.
“In my opinion, this is not a train smash
and things will definitely start to normalise by
early next year,” he notes. “In 2001 the Rand
went as high as R13.50 to the US Dollar but
the currency still recovered fairly well. The
country’s economy is in better shape now
than it was then, even though the American
economy was in better shape then, but I
believe that over pessimism is unnecessary,”
he explains.
Lu’s advice is for companies to continue
with business as usual and continue to view
their business on a daily basis.
With the current state of the world econo-
my, distributors are faced with the challenge
of holding their prices as long as they can,
which is not healthy for profit margins.
“Businesses with the best strategies are
those that will manage to hold their prices for
the longest. A 40% increase is way too much
to ask the reseller or the end user to manage
at any one time, but it has to be done one
way or another,” he comments.
However, resellers and end users continue
to speculate and expect better days, while
distributors continue to bear the brunt.
“To attempt to counter this, Rectron has
cut down on the amount it imports and has
implemented a number of other precautions,
as we have accepted that recovery will
depend on how long the global economic
crisis will last,” Lu adds.
Lu says that because of stringent foreign
exchange policies in South Africa, the country
still remains some what of a ‘safe haven’. In
addition the overall effect of the crisis will not
have a major effect on hardware distributors,
he says, as the price of hardware has steadily
decreased over the past five to 10 years.
Comztek’s Financial Director Andries
Coetzee is in agreement with Lu and
comments that recent activities on the world
markets have brought many challenges not
only to the distribution space, but for all
businesses in the country, which are now
more familiar with the effects of changing
exchange rates.
COVER STORY: MONEY
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
“Many businesses have been trading for a
long time without paying close attention to
the exchange rate, but recent events have
highlighted the impact its change has on
import and export business,” he says.
“The major disadvantage for local companies is that the
currency depreciated by about 40% almost overnight,
and to make things worse the depreciation was mainly
taking place after South African trading hours and while
US markets were busy trading.” – Mark Lu, Rectron
Coetzee explains that the recent jump in
the exchange rates between the Rand and all
major currencies has had a delay effect on
project business. For example, many
businesses are currently very cautious and
are still going about their day-to-day business.
“Although the flow has slowed down, the
business tap still continues to drip. At the end
of the day once an order is placed the
liability is in the hands of the distributor or
the reseller and the volatility of the currency’s
value may initiate the delay of many large
projects,” he says.
Coetzee states that it is too early to
determine what the full impact has been on
Conztek’s business, but admits that there has
been notable impact on the technology
distributor’s revenues.
“The reality is that the Rand will become
stronger but at the same time the exchange
rate issue stays with us for quite a while. We
need to quell the high emotion that
surrounds the whole crisis,” he says.
Coetzee reveals that his company has
been forced to make certain adjustments to
the lifespan of an order. It has declined from
seven days to 24 hours because the eco-
nomic crisis has created a volatile trading
environment for local companies.
Companies such as Comztek and Rectron
have noted that their sales heads are
continually adjusting quotes to keep up with
the pace of change.
“The big issue here is not if the situation
will ever improve, it’s a matter of when it will Mark Lu, Rectron
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008 • 19
COVER STORY: MONEY
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
improve and how long it will take. The
truth is that the US economy has such an
impact on the world that when it sneezes, we
all catch colds. There is no need for doom
and gloom, things will improve in time,”
Coetzee says.
Industry expert Arthur Goldstuck
comments that import and export companies
will face the biggest challenge during this
period. Importers have to pay between 30%
and 50% more for products in the past moth
even though the actual price of the products
has not changed.
“Realistically, the Rand may come below the R10 to the
US Dollar in the short term, but the real question is how
low below that mark will it go? The last time it took up
to two years for the currency to make a reasonable
recovery” – Arthur Goldstuck
He foresees the current situation may
have the ‘Siltek’ effect, where many
businesses that depend on imports will go
out of business, as the end user customers
cannot easily cope with pricing increases
that they experience.
“With past experience as a gauge I can
confidently say that we can expect to see a
few players in the ICT industry go out of
business,” comments Goldstuck.
With the current state of affairs, exports
are looking very cheap but the counter effect
is that demand for products is declining due
to the global credit crunch.
“However, companies with compelling
value propositions could see their businesses
still boom even with the tough times ahead.
It would be an overstatement to say that a
large distributor may go under because
companies that have true value in the solu-
tions they sell, not just box movers, will sur-
vive,” explains Goldstuck.
Interestingly, he says that companies have
even moved beyond looking at the value for
money aspect because customers are
willing to pay more for solutions that ‘really
work’. At the moment customers look
beyond the products and price. Added value
and the quality of service are becoming
more and more important, especially with
large projects.
20 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
“Realistically, the Rand may come below
the R10 to the US Dollar in the short term,
but the real question is how low below that
mark will it go? The last time it took up to
two years for the currency to make a
reasonable recovery,” Goldstuck notes.
He predicts that things should start
looking better around April next year.
Meanwhile, a recent BBC report by Jonah
Fisher says that as the South African economy
has grown steadily for the past decade, there
is little temptation for SA banks to invest in
the US sub-prime market.
This suggests that the South African
economy is largely insulated against much of
the world’s financial turmoil.
“Over the past couple of years it is clear
that South African investors were likely to get
better returns here than in the overseas
market,” says Goolam Ballim, Chief
Economist from Standard Bank, and quoted
in the article. “So consequently, our financial
system has stayed stable and secure.”
It is no secret that the Rand is a volatile
currency and, in recent weeks, slumped
to its lowest levels since 2001 against the
US Dollar.
The BBC report claimed that when
financial crises take place it is often
emerging markets such as South Africa that
feel the pinch as foreign investors shift their
money to safer havens.
The reality is that for ordinary South
Africans the impact of the financial
crisis is likely to be higher inflation and
unemployment.
While encouraging exports, a weaker
Rand means that all imports into South
Africa cost more. With the Government
committed to targeting inflation this could
also mean another rise in interest rates from
a current benchmark level of 12%. For the
many South Africans with loans or credit this
is bad news.
In addition, steep falls in commodity
prices may also mean redundancies at South
Africa’s mines as global demand falls and
production becomes uneconomic.
Unemployment rates of over 25% could be
set to rise again.
“With commodities like platinum down
over 60 percent, many projects may be put
on ice,” says Chris Hart of Investment
Solutions. “As that happens we’ll see
economic growth take a real hit.”

Intel launches software partner program
The first of its kind in SA open to independent software vendors and companies.
BY DUDU SHABA
I
ntel Corporation has launched the Intel
Software Partner Program in SA. The
programme is open to independent
software vendors and any software company
developing commercial applications for Intel
platforms and technologies.
Wolfgang Petersen, SSG director, Europe,
Middle East and Africa says that the main
factor behind launching the worldwide
programme is to provide software companies
with the business, technical and sales
marketing benefits to help them optimise
their software applications on Intel-based
systems, and then go and sell.
“The other driving factor is that SA has
high growth in IT, and in the number of
trained and educated software developers
as well as an IT economy that sets the
benchmark for the entire region. The Intel
Software Partner Program is a venue for
collaboration between the hardware and
software communities that results in innovative
solutions,” he says.
Devan Naidoo, country manager, Intel
“Partners can make the most of their membership by
creating a project plan to align their product
development work for a specific Intel platform technology,
such as multi-core, mobility, virtualisation, ultra mobile
and manageability. – Devan Naidoo, Intel
Corporation SA says that the partner
programme is unique in that it offers benefits
such as Intel roadmaps, industry research
that to date is not offered by competitors,
rebates on purchased systems, a wide array
of technical tools, and a calibre of sales and
marketing resources that are not matched
elsewhere, free of charge to members.
According to Naidoo, any ISV developing
software based on Intel technologies and
ANALYSIS: INTEL
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
platforms is encouraged to become a
member of the Software Partner Program.
Once the companies have joined, he
explains that there are many ways in which
they can participate, including:
CEOs can plan and strategise with access
to industry and market trends and previews
of Intel technologies and roadmaps.
Technology and engineering managers
will find tools and resources to enable the
applications and can participate in the
developer communities to seek answers to
technical and programming questions, share
best known methods and gain valuable
programming insights from peers.
Marketing staff have tools, resources and
opportunities to reach new customers.
Naidoo adds that partners can make the
most of their membership by creating a
project plan to align their product
development work for a specific Intel
platform technology, such as multi-core,
mobility, virtualisation, ultra mobile
and manageability. Devan Naidoo, Intel
benefits,” he comments.
Peterson goes on to say Intel has no
planned activities for resellers as yet;
however, it promotes its software partners in
a Solutions Catalogue.
“It is a great place for SMB resellers to find
applications that are optimised for Intel systems,
thus providing a better software and hardware
experience for their customers,” he says.
According to Peterson, 2009 will see a
major focus on visual computing and new
Peterson says that Intel has so far registered variations of mobility, specifically mobile
more than 14 000 software partners world- Internet devices.
wide and nearly 50 have joined from SA “Members can expect a wealth of
since the launch of the programme. opportunity in both of these areas by
“We believe that the programme has working alongside Intel. Additionally,
relevance for the majority of software members can look forward to participation
companies. So, if you consider that SA has in the Intel Business Exchange, which is an
over 1 000 software companies today, we online channel designed to sell software to
would like to see the majority enrolled and channel organisations and SMB customers,”
taking advantage of the programme’s he concludes.
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008 • 21
ANALYSIS: SYMANTEC
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Symantec launches University for Partners

Empowering partners to build more complete Symantec solutions.

BY DUDU SHABA

T he knowledge level of Symantec partners will

improve as they now have access to live
classroom training, hands-on labs, on-
demand eLearning and expert mentoring
through the Symantec University for Partners
that was launched this month.
The Symantec University for Partners is a
newly expanded training and enablement pro-
gramme designed to offer partners a broad
portfolio of resources and accreditations.
The programme will be released globally and
is available to all members of the Symantec
Partner Program,” he says.
Smissen adds that partners will benefit
from expanded training and broadened
enablement solutions, which include more
intelligence-focused tools, resources and col-
laborative platforms.
Symantec’s training includes product and
role-based curriculum designed to improve

“We will continue to build out our courses and accredi-

tation for Symantec products. We will also add more
peer-to-peer communication through Partner Technical
Forums with more languages for countries to access this
great resource.” – Mark Smissen, Symantec

Mark Smissen, Symantec

Mark Smissen, commercial manager,
Africa, Symantec, says that the university has
been created for all Symantec partners as a
centre of learning and excellence. “Symantec
University for Partners provides resources to
increase knowledge of Symantec’s broad
range of products and solutions to reduce
the sales cycle and help partners to build
solutions for their customers more effectively.
partners’ knowledge of Symantec products
and their ability to sell, service and support
them, directly benefiting their customers. He
says that partners will also be able to collab-
orate in live peer-to-peer discussions with fel-
low sales engineers, solutions architects and
professional service consultants using the
Symantec Partner Technical Forum. He adds
that Symantec technical tools and documen-
tation will provide partners with the intelli-
gence to help design and deploy Symantec
solutions more effectively, provide customer
support and generally increase their value to
customers with improved service offerings.
“No certifications are offered, only accred-
itations, role based accreditations specifically.
The Symantec University offers focused > p24
ANALYSIS: SYMANTEC
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
>> p22 product- and role-based
training,” says Smissen.
To those partners who do not have
“Interested partners need to be members of the
Symantec Partner Program, and have access to
PartnerNet from where the Symantec University can be
accessed. Overall, partners will benefit from broader
and deeper training to increase the sales cycle as
well as find cross-selling opportunities.” – Mark
Smissen, Symantec
physical access to the university, the university
is also e-learning based, making it readily
available on a 24-hour basis.
“As such, this requires partners to have
access to PartnerNet and be members of the
Symantec Partner Program,” he explains.
Symantec has also announced the
Symantec Technical Forum, which was
launched in South America in April this year, is
now also available to local Symantec partners.
Smissen says the forum is an expert com-
munity which includes Symantec personnel,
partner sales engineers, solutions architects
and professional service consultants who will
be involved in the following activities:
 Finding answers to pre-sales technical
questions
 Share best practices
 Deliver more robust Symantec solutions to
customers
 Establish partners as experts
 Learn about solution opportunities and
vertical applications
 Access real-world business scenarios
“Interested partners need to be members
of the Symantec Partner Program, and have
access to PartnerNet from where the
Symantec University can be accessed.
Overall, partners will benefit from broader
and deeper training to increase the sales
cycle as well as find cross-selling opportuni-
ties,” says Smissen.
With Symantec University for Partners, Smissen
says the company will help partners to create
comprehensive solutions to help their customers
secure and manage their information.
“The programme provides a clear
learning and training path to improve
partner productivity and enable them to
better serve their customers. We plan to
take feedback from our partners and
make improvements as needed to ensure
we’re consistently improving the partner
experience. We’ll continue to build out
our courses and accreditation for Symantec
products. We’ll also add more peer-to-
peer communication through Partner
Technical Forums with more languages for
countries to access this great resource,”
Smissen concludes.
 Distributor Guide 2008
Company Telephone Address Branches Website Tech support Specialist
name distributor
Accsys 011-7198000 PO Box 1166, Gallo Gauteng, Cape www.accsys.co.za PeopleWare Payroll,
(Pty) Ltd Manor, 2052 Town, Port HR, Time &
Elizabeth, East Attendance, Access
London, Durban Control
ASBIS Africa 011 848 7000 134 Lechwe Street, Midrand www.asbis.co.za Yes Yes
(Pty) Ltd Midrand, Corporate
Park South,
Randjespark X74

Axiz (Pty) Ltd +27 (0)11 237 7000 International Business Western Cape, www.axiz.com Axiz distributes a wide range of IT products and
(Head Office) Gateway Park, Corner Kwazulu Natal, offers a comprehensive suite of services to
support these products to give our Reseller
New and 6th Roads, Eastern Cape, Partners the best possible support. Fault reports
Midrand, 1635, South Free State and and returns with hardware and software. FTP
Africa Associated support. Telephonic support. Vendor links support
companies in on Axiz pricelist. Returns policy. Warranties.
Botswana, Specialist distributor
Namibia &
Acer’s range of notebooks, LCD and CRT monitors, desktops and projectors,
Zambia Aerocool chassis, ASUS’ range of motherboards and optical products, Axis –
professional network video solutions (security), Axiz branded flash memory cards
– SD cards; miniSD and microSD Transflash cards; MMCmobile and CF cards,
Axiz branded notebook locks, Axiz branded carry cases, Axiz desktop, Belkin
range of accessories, Duxbury range of networking, Genius’ range of peripherals,
HP’s range of notebooks, handhelds, PCs, servers, networking and storage
products, Hynix Semicondutors, HTC’s handhelds, Intel’s range of microprocessors,
motherboards, servers and networking equipment, Kingston’s memory for
servers, PCs, notebooks, printers and electronic devices, Lexmark’s range of
inkjet, laser, multi function printers and dot matrix printers and consumables,
LG’s monitor and optical products, Matrox range of graphics cards, MGE Office
Protection Systems’ UPS power solutions, Micromark Lighting and Security
range, Microsoft’s DSP operating systems, application, software products,
keyboards and mice, Microsoft consumer productivity experience products
(keyboards & mouses, web cameras and games for windows, Microsoft software
for personal and business computing, Olympus XD cards, Samsung hard disk
drives, monitors, optical drives and solid state disks, Seagate hard disk drives,
Sony USB storage devices (memory stick), Storage devices, Targus’ range of
notebook carry cases and accessories, XFX range of graphics products

Big 5 086100big5 46 Monte Carlo Crescent, Durban and www.big5.co.za full backup service, warranties, spare
Distribution Kyalami Business Park, Cape Town parts, and technical training
Kyalami, JHB

Duxbury 011 351 9800 Block 2, Riveria Office JHB & CTN www.duxbury.co.za Support at all stages of the sales and Data Networking,
Networking Park, 66 Oxford Road, implementation process. Pre- and – Wireless, Mobility
Riveria, 2193 post technical support plus ongoing and Convergence
telephonic technical support Technologies

Edutain 011 450 4168 AMR Office Park, Bedfordview www.edutain.co.za Over the phone and carry in (Pre- and Educational and
Distribution Building 2, Concorde Post sales) video editing
East Road, Bedfordview software

ESQUIRE 0861 70 00 00 71 Landmark Avenue, Headoffice www.esquire.co.za Telephonic, web-based, online A wide range of
TECHNOLOGIES Esquire Lifestyle Park, Midrand: JHB, computer hardware,
Kosmosdal, Ext.1, Durban, Cape accessories, periph-
Samrand, JHB, South Town, PE, erals and digital
Africa Nelspruit lifestyle products
Vendor agencies
AMD, INTEL, CANYON, PRESTIGIO,
SEAGATE, HITACHI, QLOGIC, ECS,
KINGSTON, KINGMAX, INNOVISION,
EVERKI, TRIPP-LITE, MICROSOFT,
BROTHER, QUANTUM, PROMISE
Acer, Aerocool, Asus, Axis,
Belkin, Duxbury, Genius, HP,
Hynix, HTC, Intel, Kingston,
Lexmark, LG, Matrox, MGE,
Micromark, Microsoft,
Olympus, Samsung,
Seagate, Sony, Targus, XFX
TallyGenicom, Citizen,
Godex, Fujitsu, Sangoma,
Metrobility, Junghanns,
Lantronix, Cyclades
Bridgewave, Colubris Networks,
Enterasys Networks, Duxbury
modems & routers (incl 3G, Edge
and HSDPA), HP Procurve, Mitel,
Netgear & Proxim
Magix, Cyberlink, Pinnacle,
Macroworks, Edupro, Eurotalk,
Shoolworks, Nasou
Benq, Sony, Kworld, Kingmax,
Manhattan, Intellinet, Jetway, Iris, Point
of view, Zykon, Hercules, Thrustmaster,
Seiko Precision, Altec Lansing, Shiro,
Chronos, Apollo, Unique, Hitachi, Tahua
technology, AC Unico -CCTV Camera
Product Certification /
availibility Training
Accredited Payroll Administrator
Certificate & Diploma, product
training, industry seminars &
workshops
E.g. off the shelf availability. Axiz is to complete its ISO cer-
tification by extending its
Immediate availability of
all high run rate inventory ISO9001:2000 to the entire
items, lead times of organisation as well as adding
between 2 and 10 days ISO14001 environmental and
depending on the product. ISO18001 operational health
and safety certifications.
Specific product and technical
training delivered to Resellers
by Product Marketing team.
Ex-Stock Product training - technical
and sales
Off the shelf Duxbury Networking offers a full
range of ITA accredited generic
networking training courses, as
well as product specific training
including Colubris, Enterasys and
Proxim certification courses.
Excellent Offer training and workshops
Yes Internal and external train-
ing for Esquire's reseller net-
work
Partner programmes Dealer
Financing
Intel, IBM, Sybase, SAP Bus One No
No
Business training and certification via the Ledibogo Partner Financing is available
Programme: The Axiz Ledibogo Business Partner Programme subject to Resellers
provides Axiz Reseller Partners with an opportunity to participate
in a broad-based business development programme, as well as meeting the criteria of
a range of modular, specialised courses that address individual the Axiz credit policy.
needs. World-class, competency-based material has been selected
to provide partners with additional skills to build their businesses
resulting in increased opportunity and growth for all parties. The
Ledibogo Business Development Programme provides an
opportunity for small to medium sized companies to participate
in a carefully selected range of modules which address the basic
needs of a business. Businesses are required to commit owners
and/or senior employees over a period of 6-8 months in order to
particiate in the programme. The Ledibogo Skills Development
Programme offers a range of individual training courses ranging
from interpersonal skills to management training. These courses
are available to individuals within Axiz Business Partner
organisations. All courses delivered through the Ledibogo
Businees Partner Programme are Services SETA accredited and
NQF aligned; and are financially subsidised by Axiz.
Terms offered to those
resellers whom qualify
otherwise COD accounts
available
The Duxbury Networking Partner Programme Terms offered
(DuxBux), Colubris Authorised Partner (Terms and
Programme, Enterasys Partner Programme, HP Conditions apply)
Partner Programme, Netgear Powershift Partner
Programme and the Proxim Partner Programme
Standard payment
terms
 Distributor Guide 2008
Company Telephone Address Branches Website Tech support Specialist
name distributor

Ingram "Jhb: 011 553 2600 32 Milky Way Johannesburg; www.ingrammicro.co.za Pre- and post-sales support Distributor of compo-
Micro CT: 021 527 3970 Avenue, Linbro Cape Town; nents and other tech-
South Dbn: 031 533 9700" Business Park, Durban nology products to
Africa Frankenwald; Gauteng VARs, system builders
and integrators, and
manufacturers through-
out sub-Saharan Africa

The Linux +27 11 801 5965 Cnr Bosbok and Kelly Johannesburg www.linuxwarehouse.co.za Pre-sales support: Enterprise OSS
Warehouse Roads, Randpark Ridge 011 801 5995. Production support (Open Source
ext 58, Johannesburg, provided by vendors: Software)
2154, South Africa http://www.linuxwarehouse.co.za/support

Phoenix JHB: 0861 PHOENIX, 5 Wessel Road, Rivonia, Johannesburg, www.phoenixsoftware.co.za Pre- and post- tech support. sup- Best of breed
Software 0861 7463649, +27 Johannesburg, 2128 Cape Town port@phoenixsoftware.co.za software incl. retail
11 803 5437; CTN: box, OEM, volume
+27 21 487 4640 licensed,
client/server and
ESD.

Tarsus 011 531 1000 Technology Park, Maree JHB www.tarsus.co.za Pre- and post-sales support Value-add distribu-
Technologies Street, Bramley Park 021 527 3900, tor of leading hard-
Cape Town 031 ware brands to the
267 8660, Southern African IT
Durban 041 reseller channel
365 425, Port
Elizabeth
+264 61
222413,
Namibia +267
3939581,
Botswana
+230211919
0, Mauritius

Comstor (011) 233 3333 No 6 Cambridge JHB & CTN www.comstor.co.za Yes Convergence, full
Commercial Park, 22 Durban spectrum of ICT
Witkoppen, Paulshof,
south Africa

Westcon (011) 233 3333 No 6 Cambridge JHB & CTN www.westcon.co.za Yes Convergence, full
Commercial Park, 22 Durban spectrum of ICT
Witkoppen, Paulshof,
south Africa

Scantec (011) 233 3333 No 6 Cambridge JHB & CTN www.scantec.co.za Yes PoS, Auto ID, RFID
Commercial Park, 22 Durban etc
Witkoppen, Paulshof,
south Africa
Vendor agencies
AMD, Asus, Seagate, Microsoft,
Intel, LG Electronics, 3Com,
Iomega, Kingston, Imation,
Samsung, Sony, Targus, HP Tape
Drives, Promise, PC Peripherals
Red Hat, JBoss, MySQL,
Scalix
Ability Office, Adobe, Aspyr Media,
BluBox, BulkSMS, Corel, Cosmi
Corporation, Cyber Acoustics,
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Exspect,
Feral Interactive, Individual Software,
InterVideo, Iolo, ISL Light, Lavasoft Ad-
Aware, Macware, Nero, Nova, O & O
Software, Onspeed, Paragon Software,
Parallels, PC Tools, Pinnacle Systems,
Prosoft, Punch Software, Reallusion
Roxio, S-A-D GmbH, Smith Micro, Sony
Creative Software, Steganos,
SummitSoft, Transparent Language,
Ulead, Webroot, WinZip, X-oom
APC, Acer, Cisco, HP, IBM,
Lenovo, LG, OKI, Samsung,
TallyGenicom, Targus and
Wyse Technology
Cisco and Linksys.
"Avaya, Juniper, Nortel, 3Com,
Checkpoint, Quintum , Vasco, Safeboot,
Extreme, Patchlink, StoneVoice, Citrix,
Nokia, SpectraLink, PowerDsine, APC,
Symantec and VMware."
"Motorola, Zebra, Magtek,
Honeywell, Toshiba and
Honeywell Batteries."
Product
availibility
Ex Stock
48 hours from placing of
order
Immediate for stocked
items. Collection from
Johannesburg or nation-
wide delivery. Lead time
varies for licensed and
special order items
according to vendor policy.
Ex-stock
Mainly run rate products
and also have access to
the Westcon group's (inter-
national) warehouses
"Westcon Academy offers
sales and/or technical
certifiaction for 3Com,
Juniper, Avaya, Symantec
and Vmware."
Mainly run rate products
and also have access to
the Westcon group's (inter-
national) warehouses
Certification /
Training
Provided by vendor training partners
Training & product information available
Vendor training and Channel Business
College (www.channelcollege.co.za)
Westcon Academy with Torque IT offers
Cisco Certification and Westcon Academy
offers Linksys sales and product training
Westcon Academy with Torque IT offers
Cisco Certification and Westcon Academy
offers Linksys sales and product training
"Westcon Academy offers Zmotorola and
Zebra sales certification."
Partner
programmes
Iomega Ioclub, Seagate
Partner Program; Microsoft
Partner Program; Intel
Channel Partner Program
Provided by vendors: Red Hat
(various Business Partner levels);
JBoss Certified Systems
Integrator; MySQL Gold Partner
The Tarsus Partner Programme
which encompasses the
PartneRewards Loyalty
Programme, Channel Business
College, Tarsus' BEE Programme,
Channel Capital, The Tarsus
Foundation, pre- and post-sales
support and logistics
One Voice, One Defence and
Cisco and Linksys programmes
Convergence Point and Vendor
programmes
Vendor programmes
Dealer
Financing
Standard payment
terms
Available on successful
application and credit
request
COD (EFT/Cheque). Terms
on application.
Credit terms and accounts
are offered to all resellers.
Finance offered through
Channel Capital
Yes-Westcon Finance
Yes-Westcon Finance
Yes-Westcon Finance
STORAGE FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

The need to store large

amounts of data
Customers want more capacity, scalability, security and improved value.

BY DUDU SHABA

S torage was once a peripheral, a mere fea-

ture of the server. Those days are gone
where you found information stored in a sin-
gle server. Currently, the desire to store
quantities of new data is generating demand
for storage. Also, the nature of the storage
environment has changed radically, it is now
characterised by unprecedented growth in
the volume of data to be managed. In addi-
tion to that, the growing value of data to the
enterprise and storage networking has
become obvious.
Rather than acquire a solution that con-
sists of a portfolio of solutions that focus on
storage and management alone, Anamika
Budree, manager, Storage Software
Products, Drive Control Corporation believes
that businesses must look for a fully integrated
solution that uses a single storage engine,
has a unified administration console and an
adaptable security subsystem that can
provide a flexible framework to deal with the
issues that pervade the management of
corporate data.
According to Manfred Gramlich, storage
lead, Sun Microsystems. South Africa, the
storage market continues to grow and
present new challenges as customers demand
more capacity, scalability and security from
storage solutions, while simultaneously
demanding improved value.
Sun Microsystems believes that an open
approach to development will help to rapidly
tackle the challenges facing storage, especially
the lack of applications in the space,” he says.

Drivers
Gartner has identified the following charac-
teristics of the storage services market that
will contribute to the growth rates presented
in the forecasts below.

 Through 2011 worldwide external con-

troller-based storage revenue growth will
be 6.5 per cent. Network-attached stor-
age and unified storage growth will be
15 per cent. Content-addressed storage
will grow at a 15.5 per cent compound
Manfred Gramlich, Sun South Africa annual growth rate (CAGR) during the

30 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008

STORAGE FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
same period. Storage resource
management software growth will be
nearly 8.6 per cent during the same
period, with hierarchical storage
management and archiving growth at
more than 30 per cent.
“The storage market continues to grow and be presented
with new challenges as customers demand more capacity,
scalability and security from storage solutions while
simultaneously demanding improved value.” –
Manfred Gramlich, Sun South Africa.
 Terabytes of storage shipped will grow
58 per cent year over year through 2011
(see “Forecast: External Controller-
Based Disk Storage, Worldwide, 2007-
2011”).
 Cost-reduced fibre channel host bus
adapters and fabric switches will enable
small and midsize businesses (SMBs) to
deploy external controller-based disk
storage attached to an Internet Small
Computer System Interface-based stor-
age area network infrastructure more
broadly.
 Managing heterogeneous storage con-
tinues to add complexity to data centres.
The lack of software management tools
is driving opportunities for storage pro-
fessionals’ services.
“The market is seeing a strong drive towards disk-based
storage solutions. The reason is this type of storage
solution is free from dependency on hardware
components making it less likely to crash or fail.” –
Adrian Hollier, Comztek.
 Information life- cycle management and
data classification will continue to be
major storage initiatives over the dura-
tion of this forecast.
 Concerns about government regulations,
customer or partner requirements will
continue to drive demand for storage
32 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
professionals’ services, such as storage
and security assessments, process and
personnel assessments, infrastructure
review, and design and compliance
readiness.
 The requirement to comply with govern-
ment regulations or industry standards
also has an indirect effect, as storage
managers tie projects that have had diffi-
culty getting approval to “compliance” to
get more ready access to funding.
 Power consumption and environmental
concerns are major drivers in services
related to data centres.
What’s new?
According to Adrian Hollier, channel man-
ager, Comztek, the market is seeing a strong
drive towards disk-based storage solutions.
The reason, he says is this type of storage
solution is not dependant on hardware com-
ponents making it less likely to crash or fail.
Another trend in the storage market, he
adds, is the proliferation of non-proprietary
storage solutions.
“End-users are constantly looking for the
most cost-effective and easily manageable
products when implementing any new
solution and it is no different with the
storage solution they choose. Non-
proprietary storage equipment is much
cheaper than proprietary equipment. It is
also easier to integrate non-proprietary
solutions into existing IT infrastructures.
Users are increasingly becoming aware of
this and requesting non-proprietary storage
solutions,” he comments.
Hollier goes on to say that Internet-based
virtual storage is still a relatively new phe-
nomenon in SA.
“With Internet-based storage, data is
stored on a virtual hard-drive on the Internet
instead of physical equipment. Even though
the technology is progressive and useful, it
has not really taken off, especially in SA.
There is speculation, however, that with
cheaper, uncapped broadband destined to
hit our shores in the near future, Internet-
based storage will become more appealing
to a lot more businesses and individuals,”
he comments.
Manfred Gramlich, storage lead, Sun
Microsystems South Africa, believes that
OpenSolaris is proving a highly effective
storage platform.
 STORAGE FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

“It has new and updated storage features

with other storage technologies such as
Storage Archive Manager, Honeycomb fixed
content management, Availability Suite, iSCSI
and more,” he says.
He adds that OpenSolaris is now being
embedded in storage appliances or used on
hybrid server and storage devices to manage
very large collections of data.
“Given the nature of open source devel-
opment and the transparency it brings, devel-
opers are able to access code and quickly
address problems, make changes or imple-
ment new features. By making Sun’s tech-
nology available to the open source commu-
nity, technologies are improved to the benefit
of all and the ability of OpenSolaris to man-
age very large data stores effectively is testa-
ment to this,” he comments.

Compliance issues
Hollier says that regulatory and compliance
issues have not really had any meaningful
impact on the storage requirements of busi-
nesses in SA. According to him, storage
requirements in this country are still driven by
what individual organisations perceive to be
important instead of what the law prescribes.
“This mind-set might change as more
businesses face stiffer penalties for non-com-
pliance, but until then, individual business
people will continue to decide what’s impor-
Adrian Hollier, Comztek.
tant to them with regard to storage,” he says.
According to Gill, as organisations global-
ly move towards better corporate governance
practices, they are forced to consider many
“These are the cornerstones of any forensic audit when
things with regard to storage such as confi- looking at data storage. Confidentiality is usually man-
dentiality, integrity and availability.
“These are the cornerstones of any foren- aged at an application level, as is integrity of data but
sic audit when looking at data storage. availability is a great place for any storage vendor to add
Confidentiality is usually managed at an
application level, as is integrity of data but significant value to their customers’ business practices.”
availability is a great place for any storage
vendor to add significant value to their cus-
tomers’ business practices,” he says. the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX); there are
Jim Holland, Axiz product manager, HP thousands of regulations that affect data stor-
ESG, says that worldwide talk about data age, backup and protection across a range
storage compliance and corporate gover- of industries. In spite of the many regulations,
nance regulations has overwhelmed organi- there are no mandates or guidelines that dic-
sations of all sizes and has made them more tate implementation. I believe that the key to
accountable for the data they collect and many compliance issues is to define a policy
store. Another consideration in the scramble based on business and legal concerns, and
to comply is how to do so in an environmen- then to implement that policy in the IT
tally friendly manner. department. Without the policies, the storage
“It’s not just the major regulations, such as people are in a vacuum. It’s not their call to

CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008 • 33

STORAGE FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
determine the legality of data storage,”
says Holland.
Cost
Holland says that one way in which IT
departments have been increasing control
over their costs and infrastructure is through
centralisation and standardisation.
“The market is seeing a strong drive towards disk-based
storage solutions. The reason is this type of storage
solution is free from dependency on hardware
components making it less likely to crash or fail.” –
Adrian Hollier, Comztek.
He comments that centralised storage
architecture is a viable solution to increasing
capacity efficiently with minimal disruption to
production systems. Holland says that
although server consolidation using virtuali-
sation has been prevalent over the past cou-
ple of years, merging of scattered direct-
access storage into a unified infrastructure
has been a quieter trend.
“Originally enabled by dedicated, high-
performance storage area networks (SANs),
centralised storage has evolved to include
Ethernet-based network-attached storage
(NAS) servers and tiered storage, incorporat-
ing lower-cost, near-line arrays and archival
backup devices, all lumped under the file
area network (FAN). I advise small business-
es considering a move to centralised storage
to first examine the concepts, technologies
and tools underlying storage consolidation
and the business rationale, benefits and
potential problems associated with centrali-
sation,” he comments.
Budree believes that storage costs, capital
and operational, are ever-increasing. He
says that this is due to the increasing growth
and diversity of data. Further exacerbating
this, he says is the additional requirement to
retain data, largely driven by compliance.
“This is forcing IT managers to create
strategies that decrease storage expenditure.
To do this, IT managers need to understand
what makes up the total cost of ownership
of the storage infrastructure yet this creates a
challenge of sorts.
The actual storage hardware is in most
cases the easy component to calculate, but
34 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
when it comes to the softer costs such as
administration and litigation penalties, it
becomes trickier. In addition to cost savings,
there are also other issues that need to be
considered, creating a requirement for intel-
ligent storage solutions,” he says.
Rather than acquiring a solution that con-
sists of a portfolio of solutions that focus on
storage and management alone, Budree
suggests that businesses look for a fully inte-
grated solution that will save costs and uses
a single storage engine, has a unified
administration console and an adaptable
security subsystem that can provide a flexible
framework to deal with the issues surround-
ing the management of corporate data.
When selecting a solution, Budree sug-
gests that users should look out for key fea-
tures that include:
 A unified storage system for email mes-
sages, content management or collabo-
ration systems.
 A single point of administration for all
archiving targets which reduces manage-
ment costs.
 A flexible rules engine to customise data
retention rules according to business needs.
 An integrated Active Directory
security/authentication system ensuring
better security and access control.
 Minimising the impact on production sys-
tems by not applying application logic
on the file server and only requiring a
retrieval agent.
 Advanced monitoring and reporting
enabling quick, high-level insights into the
status of the storage management system.
 Data compression and single-instance
storage technologies to control the
growth of storage costs.
Technologies such as file versioning and
pruning to keep file numbers to a minimum.
The Future
Holland says that it is important to bear in
mind that as the world becomes greener so
will the data centre. “Everyone is trying to
reduce power consumption in the data cen-
tre, which has its benefits on both the bot-
tom line and the planet. Companies will be
looking to minimise their footprint, which will
probably lead to the continued increase in
technologies like virtualisation. Businesses
will also look for applications that streamline
operations for greater efficiency”.
 UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

United Communications
a tool for growth
Better communication means improved performance.

BY DUDU SHABA

B
y 2010, there will be 10 devices connected
to the network for every person using the
network. In 15-20 years-time the network will
need to accommodate a trillion devices,
most of them wireless. About 2, 8-billion
mobile phones are already in use with another
1, 6-million being added every day.
This is according to Mike Zafirovski,
Nortel CEO and President. He states that
most organizations are faced with challenges
of doing things faster and secondly on
streamlining the unstoppable move to more
mobile and remote working.
Zafirovski says that the two trends are
inextricably linked, and the glue that is
increasingly binding them is a set of tech-
nologies that comes under the umbrella of
unified communications.
He defines unified communications as a
combination of telephony, customer relation-
ship and supply chain management, and
personal productivity tools such as a diary,
email and instant messaging.
“Much of the early impetus for unified
communications has come from the tradi- Reshaad Ahmed, Cisco
tional workplace. Instead of running separate
voice systems and data networks, companies “According to a white paper published by
are combining the two on a single network Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group
so that voice calls are carried digitally and (IBSG), the vendor’s global strategic consulting
can be handled more intelligently,” he arm, the possibilities of the Connected Republic
explains. go beyond e-government’s original goal of
improved service delivery and could even her-
The Connected Republic ald an age of democratic renewal where peo-
Reshaad Ahmed, Senior Manager, Cisco’s ple, not bureaucracies, call the shots.
Internet Business Solutions Group believes The Connected Republic 2.0 shows how
that technology is now leading to profound network technology is already persuading
and positive societal change, a society where governments and their departments to
citizens collaborate freely and overcome the become more responsive, flexible and
limitations of monolithic bureaucracy and accountable. The technology that brought us
top-down government. Wikipedia and Skype can also provide citizen
Ahmed compares unified communications to empowerment,” he says.
the concept of the Connected Republic. In his view, the Connected Republic is a

CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008 • 35

UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS FEATURE
SOLUTION
model that invites citizens and the public
sector to change the way people think about
technology, society and government. He
says that it replaces a rigid, top-down, uni-
directional model of communication
between the centres of power and the public
with a multitude of two-way conversations.
“In the same way that the highly interac-
tive Web 2.0 model is replacing broadcast
media as the paradigm of choice, a new
generation of technologically savvy citizens is
refusing to be passive, isolated consumers of
media. Instead, they are active participants.
The Connected Republic seems full of
promise. The network will take centre stage
to become the platform for productivity and
social inclusion,” he says.
Hubert Wentzel, Divisional Director, EOH
Consulting, says companies today need bet-
ter tools to help their people meet the
demands of the always on, always connect-
ed nature of business. He says that
improved communications is part and parcel
of this rapid globalisation.
Bandwidth in its basic form is a commodi-
ty which is still expensive in SA, Wentzel says.
“ISPs and consumers alike are seeking the
value-added services of network monitoring,
management, e-mail hosting, spam filtering
and URL filtering etc, out of their contracts.
And, as it is a commodity service, the con-
sumer can easily move from one ISP to the
next, hence the ISPs all desperately trying to
tie consumers in to value-added services.”
Wentzel says converged communications
is a hot topic in boardrooms today. Not only
does the advent of more converged suppli-
ers make switching and changing a reality,
but factors like ever-increasing energy costs
make unified telecommunications that much
more attractive.
Benefits
Zafirovski believes that a converged network
provides the backbone for a range
of business benefits that are enabled by
unified communications. He states that the
principal ones already in everyday use are:
 Unified messaging -People working at a
normal desktop computer can have a
single inbox of all their email, voicemail
and fax messages. This allows them to
gain more control of their incoming mes-
36 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
PROVIDERS
sages and priorities them properly.
Messages can also be forwarded easily
to co-workers.
 Direct dialing and personal voice mail-
An intelligent phone system offers fea-
tures such as the ability to set up confer-
ence calls using a handset, a computer-
ized phone directory and quick dialing
by clicking on the screen.
 Integrating customer data with voice
communications – This allows customer
records to appear automatically when a
call is made or taken.
Zafirovski believes that much time is wast-
ed trying to juggle various communications
types, but with a unified inbox it is possible to
click on the name of the email sender and
reply with an Instant Message, voice or video
call instead of replying by email, with your
PC or notebook connected to the telephony
system. He says that this is the first step in
reaching someone in which the system will
ascertain which medium is best to contact
someone, be it email, instant messaging,
cellphone or landline, amongst others.
“Unified messaging also has an important
role in tackling the modern scourge of inter-
ruptions and information overload. Filters
can be set to prioritise emails from certain
people, or allow only voice calls to be taken
from a certain group.
“Better communication means improved personal and
organisational performance. By combining all modes of
communication into a single interface, unified commu-
nications delivers unmatched convenience and the
assurance that the message is delivered, whether it is a
voice call, an email, a fax, or a video exchange” –
Werner van der Merwe, nVisionIT.
Calls can be set to route to another staff
member. People working to deadlines often
need to allow some incoming communica-
tions and not others. Putting tools in place
to help this can eliminate unnecessary dis-
tractions, especially for managers looking
for some productive time in the day,” he
says.
In addition to that, Zafirovski says that
Unified Communications is proving a valu-
able asset to people who work away from
the office.
“For home workers, one ambitious goal is
to establish exactly the same communica-
tions access as they would in the office,” he
remarks.
Another factor, he says, is that smaller
organisations are starting to deploy these
systems partly because it is not necessary to
integrate all communications.
“One option is to give employees access
to their office unified messaging system and
other workplace software via secure connec-
tions, and to keep voice communications
separate on a conventional telephone line
or mobile phone,” he comments.
Presence
According to Zafirovski, one of the most
exciting aspects of Unified Communications
is known as ‘presence’. With this, he refers
to the status of another person in an organi-
zation or group of contacts, and shows if
they are available and, if so, by what means
they can be contacted.
“It is an everyday function for people who
use instant messaging, who in the contact
list are online and who can be contacted in
real time,” he explains.
He says that more sophisticated presence
in unified communications can show the
devices people are using, whether the person
is at their desktop, if they have their mobile
phone turned on, and if they are free or busy
in a meeting. Those with GPS equipment can
even show where people are physically located.
He states that there are numerous appli-
cations for presence, but ultimately, it means
reaching the right people at once rather
than by trial and error which is one of the
major bottlenecks in many businesses.

Voice Ready Partner
Programme
As it ushers in its unified communications
solutions centred around Exchange 2007
and Office Communication Server, Microsoft
is steadily building capacity within its partner
base to deliver on what is, for the vendor, a
new dimension, voice. Among the first South
African solution providers to complete the
company’s Voice Ready Partner Technology
Adoption Programme, multiple Microsoft
Gold Partner nVisionIT has invested in what it
believes is a new wave for improved business
performance.
“Better communication means improved
personal and organisational performance,”
says Werner van der Merwe, head of
nVisionIT’s infrastructure services team.
“By combining all modes of communication
into a single interface, unified communica-
tions delivers unmatched convenience and
the assurance that the message is delivered,
whether it is a voice call, an email, a fax, or
a video exchange,” he says.
The Voice Ready Partner Programme, says
van der Merwe is a competence assessment
and training programme which was conducted
recently with Microsoft. “Adding voice to the
communications mix is something relatively
new in the Microsoft world, so getting the
appropriate knowledge and experience to
deliver solutions which encompass this mode
of communication is obviously important,” he
notes. “Voice is also a service which must be
delivered with the highest levels of reliability
and performance.”
With its unified communications solution
encompassing several technology elements
including Exchange 2007, Office
Communications Server, Outlook 2007 and
Office Communicator 2007, van der Merwe
says the programme covered configuration
and implementation of these elements to
ensure optimal usage of all the features of
the solution.
As one of only a few companies in South
Africa with this certification to date, he
believes the opportunity for unified communi-
cations solutions in the enterprise is growing.
“The traditional PBX has reached the limits of
its capability, while the cost for such devices
remains very high. The drive today is towards
integrated communications capabilities which
not only deliver a lower cost of deployment
UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
and ownership, but also substantially
improved convenience,” he says.
“Noting that nVisionIT itself is using
Microsoft Unified Communications solution,
he says the company has entirely dispensed
with a PABX. “Using this solution in our own
company has demonstrated the full experi-
ence of the benefits. We are federated with
Microsoft South Africa and some key clients
and make all communications with these
organizations using Office Communicator,
that includes phone calls, video calls, and
instant messaging, using only a data
connection,” he says.
“The Connected Republic 2.0 shows how network tech-
nology is already persuading governments and their
departments to become more responsive, flexible and
accountable. The technology that brought us Wikipedia
and Skype can also provide citizen empowerment” –
Reshaad Ahmed, Senior Manager, Cisco.
According to Zafirovski, we are still in the
early adopter phase of unified communica-
tions. He states that a survey of IT decision
makers at UK businesses conducted by the
SAS Group, found that just 14 per cent of
firms are currently using a unified communi-
cations system of some sort. Nonetheless, 42
per cent of respondents said they are now
planning or considering a deployment.
The survey also found that 94 per cent of
the firms surveyed now employ mobile work-
ers, compared with 69 per cent in 2007. The
number companies employing home workers
are also increasing, rising from 55 per cent
of companies in 2001 to 77 per cent during
the same period.
In SA, although unified communications is
just emerging, the adoption rate is increasing
due to the perceived maturity of the technology,
and the need for more communications
technology tools to be more easily available.
For future, this is an indication that more
businesses will adopt unified communications,
especially 2010 being one of the most
influential factors.
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008 • 37
VIRTULISATION FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
The Virtulisation
business case
Simplifies processes and generates revenues.
BY KAUNDA CHAMA
V irtualisation technologies are currently being
adopted by companies in their data centres
to simplify administration, improve resource
utilisation and reduce operating costs.
A good number of solution providers are
also turning to server virtualisation, one of
the fastest growing segments in the IT mar-
ket, as an excellent revenue generator.
“In virtual set-ups it’s easy to create a standby for all
the business servers, and if set-up correctly, virtual
environments are much easier and quicker to recover
when disaster strikes. Managing security in virtual
environments is also simplified thanks to the single
fail-over point.” – Herman van Heerden,
Starship Systems
Virtualisation has produced benefits on
the data centre side, and now companies
demand that resellers assist and apply the
same technology to their desktop computers.
In fact this concept has led to the develop-
ment of the VMWare Virtual Desktop
Infrastructure.
While virtualisation is the next big thing,
solution providers must look beyond the
offering from VMware, Citrix and Microsoft.
There are other vendors emerging on the
scene and they include: Endeavors
Technologies, Leostream, MiniFrame, Pano
Logic, Parallels, Virtual Iron and Vkernel.
Ulrich Weigel, EMEA Director of Security
Management Practice at NetIQ, says that
primary advantages of virtualisation include
cost savings and increased hardware
resource utilisation, therefore moving over to
virtualisation is an easy choice.
Herman van Heerden, Starship Systems However there are potential drawbacks
38 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
and management issues and in some cases
organisations simply apply the same best
practices they have defined for physical
machines. In other cases virtualisation raises
new issues.
Management challenges
Weigel continues that the benefits of virtuali-
sation and the ways in which it helps to sim-
plify IT operations come at the cost of vari-
ous management-related challenges.
Some issues that must be addressed when
supporting a virtualised infrastructure are:
*Virtual machine sprawl
 Organisations starting to support virtuali-
sation technology very quickly find them-
selves supporting large numbers of virtu-
al machines throughout the environment.
As end-users and systems administrators
can quickly and easily create new virtual
machines, IT teams often find themselves
supporting hundreds of new operating
systems (OS). The difficult task is keeping
track of these virtual machines and
ensuring that they meet IT standards.
*Heterogeneous environments
 The main benefit of using virtual
machines is the ability to deploy many
types of OS platforms and environments.
Although this can help to support legacy
workloads, it forces IT departments to
support a much broader variety of sys-
tems. IT teams need the tools and exper-
tise to ensure that all their guest OSs are
properly secured and configured.
*Lack of IT management
 The process of deploying new physical
machines involves purchasing hardware
and physically deploying the systems into
VIRTULISATION FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
a production data centre. This ensures
that IT experts are involved in production
deployments. However new virtual
machines can be created and deployed
within a matter of minutes but often new
virtual machines are deployed without IT
oversight. This results in a proliferation of
systems that might not meet IT security
policies and management best practices.
Migrating to a virtual
environment
According to Weigel effective deployment is
crucial to successful virtualisation manage-
ment. He cites one approach is to move
existing workloads into a virtual machine, a
process commonly referred to as a physical-
to-virtual (P2V) conversion. Another option is
to create new virtual machines into which
applications and services are installed.
Regardless of which approach they choose,
organisations must keep several manage-
ment issues in mind.
Ulrich Weigel, NetIQ
40 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
These include:
*Capacity planning
To meet business and technical requirements
IT departments must first determine their cur-
rent and future infrastructure needs, such as
how many applications can be supported
given the current hardware configuration
and take into account the need for planning
for future purchases.
Each service or application will have
unique hardware resource requirements
therefore performance characteristics must
also be considered. Even in small environ-
ments this information may be difficult to
manage manually.
*Determining optimal virtual
machine placement
When deploying virtual machines organisa-
tions must be able to identify which host sys-
tems are the most appropriate. When system
resources are under-utilised they will leave
potential capacity untapped. However sys-
tems which are over-utilised results in perfor-
mance or availability problems. So the goal
is to combine workloads based on ‘compati-
ble’ resource requirements, for example a
CPU-intensive workload should be com-
bined with one that primarily requires disk or
network resources.
Traditionally virtual computing environ-
ments were relatively immune to data
breaches, spam, viruses and other Internet
threats, but it isn’t likely to remain that way.
Says Weigel: “Cyber criminals continually
evolve their methods of attack and it seems
that every attempt we try and protect our
networks and data merely encourages hack-
ers to new and greater heights.”
Currently virtualisation is fairly new but the
host operating systems used in virtual net-
works are up-to-the-minute and more
secure than the operating systems working in
most businesses.
“For example the LINUX kernel and
VMWare combination we use in our deploy-
ments are very secure. The Windows Server
2008 operating system from Microsoft is
also brand new and has fewer known vul-
nerabilities than its predecessors,” says
Herman van Heerden, Managing Director at
Starship Systems, a technology company
specialising in the provision, implementa-
tion, maintenance and support of virtualisa-
tion technologies to small, medium and
 VIRTULISATION FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

large businesses in South Africa.

He says from a security point of view one
of the main advantages of virtualisation is
that industry-standard virtual machine tools
‘sandbox’ the guests systems, ensuring that if
one system is compromised then it does not
influence the others.
“Virtual business server’s operating sys-
tems are also independent of the host serv-
er’s operating system. This means that you
can run a very secure, resilient operating sys-
tem on your host machine without worrying
too much about the vulnerabilities of your
business servers.
“In virtual set-ups it’s easy to create a
standby for all the business servers, and if
set-up correctly, virtual environments are
much easier and quicker to recover when
disaster strikes. Managing security in virtual
environments is also simplified thanks to the
single fail-over point,” says van Heerden.
However he reveals that the single fail-
over point in standard virtual set-ups can
also have a negative effect from a security
standpoint.
Van Heerden says: “As with physical infra-
structures, there are security risks and chal-
lenges associated with virtual environments.
Oliver Fortuin, HP
But if it is set-up correctly with the necessary
security precautions in place, they are no less
secure than physical infrastructures.” “But there are software tools that let organisations reap
Steve Buck, Edgetec MD agrees that virtu-
the benefits of virtualisation without increasing the cost
alisation is developing into big business.
“Everywhere you look in the industry the or complexity of infrastructure management.” – Oliver
report card is good – virtualisation works and
it will be one of the top technology drivers in
Fortuin, HP SA
the future.”
He says that it is becoming a top priority
because of the specific pressures CIOs and trol back to IT management. While users
their IT departments currently face. “In fact have welcomed the easy and relatively free
it’s amazing that virtualisation did not availability of commodity servers, which have
emerge sooner,” he notes. proliferated like mushrooms in most large
According to Buck most people today organisations, this situation has brought
associate virtualisation with VMWare but vir- chaos to IT. In a decentralised world it is diffi-
tualisation has been around for almost half a cult to bring about order and control and
century. It was in use internally at IBM in the plan for any return on investment and sweat
‘60s and has been commercially available assets, so the total cost of ownership is
from IBM since 1972. reduced.
Quite simply virtualisation helps to consol- Little wonder then that CIOs around the
idate many individual small servers onto one world are embracing virtualisation with enthu-
larger server, easing management and using siasm, making it one of their top priorities.
system resources more efficiently, and allow- According to Oliver Fortuin, MD of HP SA,
ing them to be prioritised and allocated to virtualisation is like a see-saw- as hardware
workloads as and when required. costs are reduced, administrative costs rise;
In essence, virtualisation can restore con- as workloads and computer resources

CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008 • 41

VIRTULISATION FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
become more efficient, the overarching
infrastructure becomes more complex.
He says that if organisations don’t
embrace the administrative complexity that
All resellers out there should grab this opportunity as this
is potentially bigger than anything the ICT industry has
seen in a long time. The bonus is that it is not just hype
it actually delivers true value to customers for a change.
virtualisation brings, they may never realise
the cost savings, performance gains or effi-
ciencies that these technologies deliver.
“But there are software tools that let
organisations reap the benefits of virtualisa-
tion without increasing the cost or complexity
of infrastructure management,” he says.
The Balancing Act
A recent IDC white paper sponsored by
HP, reports: “Virtualisation is having a
profoundly positive impact on the ability of IT
organisations to respond to business
demands; the agility that the infrastructure
provides for faster deployment of IT services.
However the management of both physical
and virtual infrastructures is an important
area of investment to ensure availability,
problem identification and resolution, and an
IT service perspective.”
Like other IT innovations, virtualisation
brings its own patchwork of specialty manage-
ment and configuration tools. This leads to an
explosion of new and disconnected manage-
ment tools that create silos within silos.
IDC believes that IT organisations must be
better prepared for and invest in manage-
ment for the growing problem of VM sprawl
that spans server, storage, desktop and
application environments.
The IDC white paper further states: “As vir-
tualisation adoption continues to grow, IT
executives must place a strategic emphasis on
management to accelerate and extend the
benefits of virtualisation over the long term.”
Fortuin says that to realise the full poten-
tial of virtualisation technologies, organisa-
tions must overcome the lack of infrastruc-
ture visibility, incongruent tools and higher
management costs they often introduce,
which means administering virtual and
physical resources uniformly.
42 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
“Solutions include Business Service
Management (BSM), IT Service Management
(ITSM), Business Service Automation (BSA)
and Quality Management (QM). These
enable IT teams to allocate technology
spending and resources based on business
priorities; automate key processes across IT
strategy, applications and operations; and
measure technology effectiveness and
efficiency from a business perspective,”
he explains.
Fortuin insists that in reality a seamless
solution enables IT to transform virtualisation
from a tool into business technology without
increasing the cost or complexity of infra-
structure management.
Meanwhile HP’s recent research reveals
that while 86 percent of technology decision
makers have implemented virtualisation pro-
jects, the vast majority of respondents expect
to virtualise just 25 percent of their technolo-
gy environments by 2010.
While many of those surveyed anticipate
reaching 75 percent virtualisation of their
total environments, only one third of
technology implementers recognise
virtualisation as a valuable business tool.
While two thirds relegate virtualisation to the
role of technology enabler.
“Virtualisation is a powerful step in trans-
forming IT,” says Fortuin. “To do it right
means successfully managing and automat-
ing mixed physical and virtual environments.
HP delivers the industry’s broadest portfolio
for virtualised environments, covering appli-
cations and operations management, infra-
structure and client architectures.”
He notes that HP’s approach to virtuali-
sation is focused on removing the technolo-
gy inhibitors that reduce virtualisation’s
impact on the business. It highlights how
applications and business services can per-
form well regardless of where and how they
are hosted, networked or managed.
On the desktop side, Citrix Systems recently
announced a solution designed to provide
highly scalable secure access to virtual desk-
top infrastructure (VDI) environments.
The latest version of the company’s popu-
lar solution now includes integration with
Citrix XenDesktop, which allows an organi-
sation to deliver virtual desktops securely to
thousands of end users based on their
unique identity, location and security status.
Unlike traditional virtual private network
 VIRTULISATION FEATURE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS

(VPN) and network access control (NAC)

solutions, which control access solely to the
network, the solution provides intelligent
access directly to approved applications and
desktops through its SmartAccess technology.
This is an increasingly important requirement
as data centre resources are more virtualised
and physically separated from end users.
Citrix believes that by providing highly
scalable secure access for virtual desktops, it
makes it easier for IT organisations to realise
the enormous benefits of security and cost
reduction from centralising applications and
desktops in data centres. It then delivers vir-
tually to end users in any location.
“The new release of Citrix Access Gateway
for XenDesktop solves a thorny issue that
enterprises face today. Enterprise customers
may now restrict the access and use of
desktops and approved applications from a
central location, without network reconfigura-
tion or end client software changes,” says
Nick Keene, Country Manager of Citrix XenDesktop configuration tasks. In addi- Nick Keene, Citrix SA
Southern Africa. tion, new standalone MSI packaging for
“By integrating scalable secure access with Windows simplify and automate client
the Citrix XenDesktop product line, we have installation by enabling administrative
simplified the control of critical data centre deployments through available standard
resources without compromising security,” software deployment tools.
he says. At the end of the day resellers should also
look out for associated technologies starting
The new Citrix solution does this by intro- up around virtualisation like Platespin and
ducing the following key features: Visioncore. These companies provide a
1. Gateway’s SmartAccess technology number of additional services on top of the
allows IT departments to provide access virtual stack and provide massive value to
to specific applications and data based end users who want to migrate to a virtual
on the user’s identity, location and results environment, require robust DR management
of an end point analysis of the client
device. Extending this capability to virtual “By integrating scalable secure access with the Citrix
desktops makes it easier for corporations
to move to a delivered desktop model XenDesktop product line, we have simplified the control
without compromising security or end
of critical data centre resources without compromising
user experience.
security.” – Nick Keene, Citrix SA
2. Adding a highly scalable Access Gateway
appliance in front of virtual desktops in the
data centre dramatically enhances an and are looking for performance manage-
organisation’s ability to deliver XenDesktop ment of their virtual infrastructure down to a
securely to thousands of XenDesktop rough level.
users, regardless of how far away they are It is an exciting time, revolutionary in
from corporate headquarters. a way. All resellers out there should grab
this opportunity as this is potentially bigger
3. New Access Gateway configuration wiz- than anything the ICT industry has seen in a
ards simplify and accelerate deployment in long time. The bonus is that it is not just hype
a virtual desktop environment by automat- it actually delivers true value to customers for
ing several commonly performed a change.

CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008 • 43

ANALYSIS: FINANCE
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
End to end BI: How long
is a piece of string?
Manages costs and increase employee productivity.
BY CRN STAFF REPORTER
V
ying for a bigger slice of the business intelli-
gence (BI) pie, the main contenders in the
market are diversifying their offerings to
bridge the gaps in their portfolios and pro-
vide holistic, end-to-end BI solutions that can
be marketed to a wider customer base.
“But defining an end-to-end BI solution is
like defining the length of a piece of string,”
says Paul Morgan, managing director of
ASYST Intelligence, a focused provider of BI
and data management solutions to medium
and large enterprises in SA.
“It all depends which vendor you talk to. A
solution dubbed as end-to-end by one ven-
dor might be entirely different to the end-to-
end offering of another and, on closer
inspection, neither could meet the end-to-end
BI needs of a particular business.”
Generally speaking, BI comprises a broad
spectrum of applications and technologies for
gathering, storing, analysing and disseminat-
ing information to facilitate better, more
informed business decision-making.
That’s why vendors offering capabilities
across this broad spectrum can easily lay claim
to providing an end-to-end or holistic solution.
But Morgan says companies looking for
an end-to-end solution should not be blind-
sided by an impressive catalogue of tools or
products that broadly cover all aspects of BI.
“End-to-end does not necessarily mean the
same thing to every business. While one busi-
ness’s definition of end-to-end may be a set
of lower-end BI tools that can be deployed
across all of its divisions, from sales and sup-
ply chain to finance. Another company’s defi-
nition of end-to-end BI might be a set of
tools that deliver normal reporting, data qual-
ity and dashboard capabilities right through
to more sophisticated and advanced analyti-
cal capabilities.
“How a company defines its end-to-end BI
44 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
requirements can depend on its level of BI
maturity. In the early days, end-to-end may
have referred to a solution that addressed the
length and breadth of its BI requirements but
as it becomes more ‘BI mature’ its end-to-
end requirements become more sophisticated
and deeper. That’s when end-to-end refers to
the depth of capabilities its BI solution, or set
of solutions, offers.
“When looking for an end-to-end BI solu-
tion, companies must have a clear picture of
what their immediate BI requirements are and
what they are expected to be five years down
the line. This will ensure that, at the end of
the day, they have an end-to-end solution
Paul Morgan, ASYST Intelligence
that meets both the length and depth of their
BI requirements,” says Morgan. other BI tools to meet the full scope of their
This he says is important even for a busi- requirements later on,” says Morgan.
“There are certain issues and problems that can only be
addressed with niche solutions. In these instances it is
essential that companies select a solution that not only
meets the depth of their BI needs now but is also flexible
enough to be integrated with other BI tools to meet the
full scope of their requirements later on.” – Paul
Morgan, ASYST Intelligence
ness which, for the moment, has very specific He concludes: “Companies must be careful
and sophisticated BI requirements but, may to evaluate BI solutions according to their abil-
want to extend BI beyond analysts and data- ity to meet their specific needs rather than the
miners to users lower down the hierarchy and ability of the vendor to provide a bouquet of
across all departments later on. broad BI capabilities. A long list of impressive
“There are certain issues and problems features does not necessarily mean that the
that can only be addressed with niche solu- solution can deliver on a company’s BI goals.
tions. In these instances it is essential that “Like the lengths of pieces of string, end-
companies select a solution that not only to-end BI solutions can vary quite dramatically.
meets the depth of their BI needs now but is It’s about deciding from the outset how long
also flexible enough to be integrated with your piece of string needs to be.”
 Reviews by: Kaunda Chama
Highly Recommended
Dragon voice recognition software
Naturally speaking.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking is arguably the best voice recognition
software available today.
First introduced in 1994, it competes with any of IBM’s solutions
and expertly converts speech to text.
In this age, when many of us boast a typing speed of up to
90 words a minute, nothing beats software that magically turns
dictation into text.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking software takes no more than five
minutes to install all 205 megs. In addition, the software comes
with a digital Dictaphone and head set complete with a built in
microphone that plugs directly into a PC.
Impressively once installation is complete, the software package
offers a scan of your documents to learn a little more about your
writing habits. It also has the capability to scan your email.
The software requires the user to read text aloud so it can
analise their voice and learn speech patterns, which takes about
15 minutes.
As an initial test users must verbalise punctuation and insert
short pauses to separate phrases or sentences. This can be done at
normal talking speeds and one just needs to enunciate words more
carefully than usual.
This software does not just recognise words, but also speech
46 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008
patterns and context. It recognises words and speech patterns in a
“standard English” accent and to get the best results we recomend
that one puts in more time practicing with the package.
The software can also compensate for background interference
to some extent by readjusting audio levels, but it is not recomended
to try recording in noisy places. NaturallySpeaking gives the user
control over their PC when it comes to controlling mouse movement,
menu navigation and access to advanced scripts and macro creation.
But there are some things that are easier to do manually. Such as
moving the cursor to a different part of a text, capitalising words or
changing the format and presentation of text after it’s been typed.
Even though the software allows for editing like this to be done
verbally, it does work out easier to simply click the mouse a couple
of times.
At the end of the day most users will be pleased with Dragon
NaturallySpeaking solution even if they have tried competitor
solutions from the likes of IBM.
I recommend this solution to people who take dictation or do
lots of typing. It can also be used effectively by the disabled or by
people that have difficulty typing such as carpel-tunnel sufferers. Or
simply fast thinkers may also benefit – those who think faster than
they type.
 Reviews by: Kaunda Chama
Iomega ScreenPlay TV Link
A hard drive’s best friend.
If a few years ago people found it hard to visualise a hard drive that
connects directly to a television and has playback functionality. It first
launched the ScreenPlay hard drives and now Iomega has once
again surpassed itself.
The ScreenPlay TV Link now allows users to turn any harddrive
into a ScreenPlay.
This small gadget is no bigger than a packet of cigarettes and is
compatible with most popular audio, video and image formats. It is
easy to setup and comes with a standard ScreenPlay remote control.
The ScreenPlay TV Link also offers an easy way to watch digital
video files without the need for a PC to link the TV and hard drive.
Unlike many solutions on the market that need some networking
expertise for set up to pull digital content from networked hard
drives, this is indeed a simpler answer; it connects to any open
composite, component or HDMI (High Definition Multimedia
Interface) input on a television.
The concept of TV on demand means that devices such as the
Iomega ScreenPlay TV Link will become increasingly relevant in
the future.
For those that do not have the luxury of HDMI the ScreenPlay TV
Link package comes with composite or component breakout cables,
as well as a SCART adapter and other power adapters.
Highly Recommended
The most impressive thing about this device is that it keeps within
the ScreenPlay tradition – being extremely simple to set up and users
need only one of the breakout cables to connect the device to a
television set and get started.
Even with its positive traits, one of the things that bothered me
most is that users can find themselves in a tangle with all the various
wires protruding from the box and also that such a small box needs
a power supply; but I guess the vendor has a good reason for
making it this way.
However it does come with an easy to use IR remote control. The
remote handset is extremely responsive and controls every aspect of
the device. It is quite slim and has a practical layout that allows it to
fit comfortably in a users’ hand.
The ScreenPlay TV Link supports almost any USB hard drive or
flash drive on the market. It also manages, through its USB port, to
provide power for most of the bus-powered drives and there is no
need for two separate power supplies.
Switching between devices is equally seamless as it is a plug and
play device where users can take out one drive and swap it for
another. Once another USB source is attached to the TV Link,
filenames and folders on the drive will display on the main screen
for the user.
The ScreenPlay TV Link supports a wide range of audio file types
including MP3, AC3, WAV, WMA and OGG and the audio play-
back screen displays a standard time code.
For video files there is support for MPEG-1-, MPEG-2-,
AVI-, VOB- (DVD), MPEG-4-, DivX-, and XviD-encoded movie files.
VOB support is offered so that homemade DVD are able to play
complete with menus.
Essentially the ScreenPlay TV Link should satisfy any desire for on
demand multimedia content without the need to connect a TV
to a computer.
CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008 • 47
PARTING: SHOTS

DILBERT www.dilbert.com by Scott Adams

S n a pshot
Company: Drive Control Corporation
Position: Manager: Storage Software
Best personal achivement: Work in progress – family
Management style: I have a very hands-on manage-
Anamika
ment style, I believe in role and job responsibility. Budree
Most admired company: Google
Most admired executives: Trevor Manuel and his ability to understand that
long-term benefits can only be obtained through short-term sacrifices.
Best IT product: Garmin
Most pressing local business issues: Inflation targeting…is it working?
Key to success: Communication and mutual respect are the key ingredients
for success.
Favourite car: BMW MX
Your car: Toyota Yaris
Favourite authors: Deepak Chopra
Where do you live: West Rand
Birthplace: Durban
Hobbies/sports: Crosswords and outdoor activities
Favourite periodicals: Financial Mail
Pet hates: Dishonesty and failure to take responsibility

48 • CRN SOUTHERN AFRICA • OCTOBER 2008