Published by: VAR MEA Magazine. For enquiries, contact Tel: +971-4-3326647 Fax: +971-4-3326621 sales@var-mea.com or info@var-mea.com www.VARonline.com

...continued on pg 4...continued on pg 4

1st June 2011Issue 137

In Focus - Mindware

Coming soon

What’s New

H A N D B O O K

Sharp Middle East has announced the expansion of its Business

Solutions Division (BSD), with an increased focus on office

automation solutions for 2011/12.

The Japanese manufacturer is also expanding its key focus

markets around the region for its BSD solutions, with a greater

breadth of coverage in the Middle East and Africa.

Sharp Middle East’s BSD General Manager, Tomoo Shimizu, said:

“The Business Solutions Division is at the core of Sharp Middle

East’s operations.

In Focus - Redington

Iomega has been more assertive in the marketplace since

its buyout by EMC over two years ago. In a conversation

with VAR Magazine, Cizar Abughazaleh, Regional

Director, Middle East Turkey and Africa, Consumer and

SMB Division at Iomega discusses the continuing invest-

ments from Iomega in its Technology and the markets.

Please discuss how Iomega has increased sales in the past year or so?Iomega’s performance has exceeded expectations over the past

several years. We have been seeing tremendous growth in the

region due to the fact that we have been investing in strength-

ening our presence in ME for the past 24 months, ...

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Cizar AbughazalehRegional Director, ME Turkey & Africa, Consumer & SMB Division, Iomega

Pursuing new

milestones

Building the

cloud

Next session on15th June 2011

Gaining groundSharp increasesfocus onOA solutions

Toshiba

Satellite P series

4 1st June 2011

our customer loyalty and team dedication along

with high quality products, technology and services

helped us to where we are today. It’s a great

opportunity to thank all who helped and supported

us as we go along in a long and healthy business

relationship.

Discuss some of the new initiatives in the retail market?Being consumer and SMB centric allowed us to be

focused and yet be creative in the way we interact

with all customer segments whether consumers,

partners or distributors. We have always wanted to

be closer to all of them, listen to them and develop

solutions that will enable them to grow their

businesses. One of our main objectives this year is

to increase awareness about the great technology

that Iomega products offer to our customers and

what it means to them in terms of cost savings,

efforts and time. We have been receiving a lot of

positive feedback about our strategy and we will

keep going on. We believe listening to the channel

and the partners will help us continue our success.

Discuss if your focus on KSA market is going to be greater this year?Saudi Arabia continues to be one of the most

important countries for us as we continue investing

in local programs and local product customisation.

We will also have a much stronger presence

supported with regular visits and events with our

partners and at the same time regular training. We

have a very focused growth plan for Saudi in the

near future.

Discuss how the EMC technology has been leveraged in the product line up from Iomega?Being able to leverage from the great investment

that EMC makes in R&D is why you see most of

Iomega’s B2B product range having EMC technol-

ogy integrated in it. And yet Iomega network

storage products are very cost effective for the SMB

segment, which makes Iomega a value solution that

saves time, efforts and money, and easy to maintain.

Are all of your storage product lines now USB 3.0 enabled?Yes, Iomega has been one of the leading pioneers in

launching a full range or direct attach storage

solutions with the USB 3.0 interface.

How are the Iomega stor centre products faring in the Business and consumer segments?The Iomega StorCenter PX range Network Storage is

a high performance business class family of desktop

devices, ideal for small-to medium sized businesses

and distributed enterprise locations like branch and

remote offices, for content sharing and data

protection. Powered by EMC storage technology

News

and with up to 12TB of storage capacity, including a

diskless option, Iomega PX series network storage

products are easy to setup and manage, and

affordable to own.

Discuss if the cloud edition multimedia drive is launched here?Iomega's Personal Cloud is a revolutionary

web-based computing architecture that connects

your Iomega network storage device to other

individuals and/or devices via the Internet. Unlike

most public and private cloud applications,

Iomega's Personal Cloud technology is completely

self-owned – the content and accessibility is always

under your control. Best of all, there are never any

usage fees or subscription charges; instead, Iomega

gives small businesses and consumers a great value

for cloud access and protection. Iomega's new

Personal Cloud is an innovative technology that

separates our network storage products from the

competition. Utilizing the expertise of EMC, the

world's leader in cloud technology, we have

transformed our next generation NAS devices into

cloud servers that users can access anywhere,

anytime. In addition, by buying two or more of our

NAS products, you can remotely backup your onsite

data to an alternate location – be it your office,

home or some other location – giving consumers

and small businesses the ideal disaster recovery

plan that's easy to implement and economical, too.

You're not going to find this level of innovation or

value from any of our competitors. Iomega Personal

Cloud will be available worldwide beginning this

month with the launch of the new single-drive

Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud

Edition. Iomega Personal Cloud is also a built-in

feature in the new Iomega TV with Boxee, launching

later this year.

Do you expect 2011 to be a year of better growth? Please elaborate.Yes, we have a positive approach to the market and

our investment has continued in this region of the

world. We believe this market has a great potential

growth for us. We have the right products for the

right market, supported with resources on the

ground in most of the countries in ME.

Have you unveiled any new channel initiatives?We have just launched our PPP partners program

and we had a very good response. The ioclub

Premier Partner Program is designed to make the

channel player partnership with Iomega as

productive and profitable as possible. We know that

our ioclub Premier Partners plays an important role

in satisfying our customers’ needs, and we are

deeply committed to their success.

IomegaIn Focus

By growing our BSD team and increasing the number

of key markets it operates in, we will quickly work

towards reaching our targets outlined for this year,

especially in two of our key focus areas – Multi

Function Printers (MFPs) and Professional Displays.

Our success so far, especially with MFPs, has led us to

become a market leader in the segment, however

we see there is still much room for growth and

improvement.”

The BSD team has expanded from six to 19 people, all

working toward driving Sharp’s business solutions,

with a further six to be recruited. The members of the

team are all technology professionals with a robust

background in office automation, each with around

12-15 years experience in the field.

The core areas for the BSD in 2011 include Profes-

sional Displays which utilise Sharp’s LCD technology

to provide businesses with a full range of digital

panels and monitors. This includes the world’s largest

LCD panel, the LB-1085 108 inch display, and the 60”

PN-V601 with ultra slim bezel, allowing for seamless

screen walls to be constructed using up to 25, 60”

Cisco has trumped the competition at the recently held annual

Middle East Retail Academy (MERA) 2011 Awards after walking

away with the coveted ‘Home Networking Vendor of the Year’

award for its extensive channel development activities. The Cisco

team saw off four contenders at the leading channel awards to take

home the top prize which recognizes vendors that have success-

fully engaged their retail channels and developed win-win partner-

ships.

“Our channel partners have been instrumental in the success of our

flagship E-Series routers within the region. This award is testament

to Cisco’s efforts in spearheading various channel initiatives to

maintain its market leadership within the retail electronics market,”

said Amannulla Khan, Sales Manager, Cisco Consumer Products.

Nominations for each category of the awards were determined

using data extracted from the Monthly Monitor Report (MMR)

generated by MERA. Retail executives from all over the Middle East

unanimously chose Linksys from Cisco through a live electronic

voting process at the Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort in Fujairah,

UAE. The judging criteria was based on the vendor’s partner

engagement, channel strategy, pricing, stock management,

product evolution, margin potential, channel management and

partner programme.

Cisco has recently reinforced its commitment to home networking

with the launch of its new Linksys E-Series switches for home office

and entertainment use. The company’s ongoing channel develop-

ment programme will ensure Cisco’s partners and retailers will

replicate the success of its Linksys E-Series routers achieved

throughout 2010.

The NVIDIA Tegra 2 mobile super chip has been awarded the

prestigious Computex “Best Choice” award for Smart Handheld

Devices Innovation from the Taipei Computer Association.

“The NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor is truly a super chip,” said the jury of

the Best Choice Award. “It has ushered in a new wave of super

phones and tablet devices with never-before-seen capabilities and

experiences. We selected Tegra 2 from hundreds of entries because

it’s an outstanding technological achievement that’s impacted the

industry very positively.”

The Tegra 2 chip is built with the world’s first mobile dual-core CPU

– which unleashes the best Web experience, with up two-times

faster browsing and support for full Adobe Flash Player hardware

GPU acceleration, plus unprecedented multitasking capabilities. It

also includes an NVIDIA GeForce GPU.

Tegra 2 chip has ushered in a new wave of super phones and

tablets. This includes the LG Optimus 2X and Motorola Atrix 4G

super phones and Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)-based tablets such as

the Motorola XOOM, LG Optimus Pad, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1,

Acer Iconia Tab A500, ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, and Toshiba

Honeycomb tablet.

Cisco wins Home

Networking Vendor of the Year

at MERA 2011 awards

NVIDIA Tegra 2 Super Chip

Wins ‘Best Choice’ Award at

Computex 2011

monitors with internal zoom.

Managed print services and document management

are at the centre of Sharp’s printing solutions, another

key are for the BSD. These systems improve

businesses’ efficiency through careful tailoring to

each company and their print and copy require-

ments.

Focus for business printing solution is also on getting

customers in the region to make the switch from

black and white to colour machines

...continued from pg 1

...continued from pg 1

51st June 2011

Khalid Bin Waleed Road, P.O.Box No. 53583 Bur Dubai U.A.E,Tel: + 971- 4 - 393 00 38, 393 08 07 Fax: + 971- 4 – 393 07 14 Email: datasat@emirates.net.aeBranch: Tel: 971 4 3935637/ 3932889 Fax 971 4 3935638 Email: dctme@emirates.net.ae

Authorised Award Winning Partner:

6 1st June 2011

How do you propose to celebrate the company’sour 20th anniversary?We will celebrate the 20th Anniversary in

October at Gitex 2011. It will be an

important milestone for the company since

Mindware has been one of the Key player

in the IT distribution. The occasion will be

celebrated with our Partners, Vendor and of

course our employees.

Discuss the key focus areas at Mindware in terms of distribution?Mindware is organized into 3 business

units: Hardware & Components , Business

Solutions and Networking Solutions.

Mindware has always maintained a

balanced strategy between Volume

Distribution and Value Added distribution.

How much momentum do you see in the region in terms of adoption of cloud computing solutions? Which of the vendors that you are partnering with have solutions on this front?Cloud computing is a very wide topic.

What we foresee potentially is an increased

adoption of the “Private Cloud” in the

Middle-East in the coming years. Private

Cloud is an evolution of Virtualization with

much more automation and where you

provide IT as a service within your WAN. It

does provide somehow the best of both

worlds : the security associated with a

traditional datacenter with the

flexibility/scalability associated with the

“Public Cloud”. Ultimately companies here

might move to a “Hybrid Cloud” model

(using both private infrastructure for core

applications and public services for extra

capacity). Most of our “Solution” vendors (ie

: Citrix, Juniper, Microsoft,...) are aggres-

sively moving toward facilitating the

implementation of a “Private” cloud where

you need multiple software “stacks” around

a more integrated hardware, allowing

enterprises to optimize, automate and

News

MindwareIn Focus

Fujitsu Technology Solutions and Redington Value, the value added distribution division of Redington Gulf – one of the leading IT distribu-tors and supply chain solutions providers in the Middle East and Africa have signed a partnership agreement for the distribution of Fujitsu’s PRIMERGY servers and ETERNUS storage solutions in the Middle East.

Fujitsu, with its Dynamic Infrastruc-tures approach offers a full portfolio of IT products, solutions and services, ranging from clients to datacenter solutions.

Redington Value helps its partners in the channel deliver the most optimal IT solution to their customers in the Middle East and Africa. These solutions span across technology domains such as Networking, Voice, Servers, Storage, Software, Security and Infrastructure. Over 14 vendor relationships in various parts of Middle East and Africa ensure that all the requirements of the channel are met under one-roof. This is supported by in-house pre-sales expertise to support partners; regular sales/technical training and programs to benefit partners to do more business.

Commenting on the agreement, Farid Al-Sabbagh, Managing Director – Middle East, Fujitsu Technology Solutions said: “This agreement is just another step to fuel our consis-tent growth throughout the Middle East, with products such as our PRIMERGY line of x86 servers, where we have witnessed tremendous growth above market average growth rates.

Additionally, our ETERNUS storage systems provide business-critical online storage for enterprises of all sizes. With Redington as a partner, we can now provide resellers with made-to-order solutions that are Fujitsu certified, tested and cost-effective, with Plug-and-Play capabilities never before offered in the market. With extensive in country warranty and services capabilities, resellers can now confidently offer a range of the world’s most reliable IT infrastructures. ”

Ramkumar Balakrishnan, Vice President, Redington Gulf, Value Division, explains, “ Fujitsu’s range of x86 servers and storage hold world records in benchmarks, and price performance ratios. As a Value Added Distributor, we strive to offer our partners best-in-call IT products and solutions so that they could meet expectations of end customer in the region’’

The soaring demand for media tablets is not all good news for the industry as the rising consumer

interest in such devices is affecting PC and notebook sales globally. According to IHS figures, there

was a decline in the first quarter sales this year compared to the same period last year as three out

of the world’s top 5 PC makers suffered year-over-year declines in shipments during the quarter.

More and more manufacturers are entering this market after the category was reinvented by Apple

with its now iconic iPad devices. All major mobile phone manufacturers are now in the fray includ-

ing Motorola, RIM, Nokia etc in addition to Samsung which has been one of the strongest competi-

tors of Apple with its Galaxy Tab.

It is increasingly obvious that consumers are finding media tablets as an attractive option. However

there is uncertainty as to how they weigh it as an alternative to a regular computing device. This is

therefore a period where the media tablets will see increased momentum but in the next couple of

quarters of so, users will being to look at a tablet as an additional device that extends their access to

always on connectivity but does not supplant a PC or a notebook.

Interestingly, Media tablets from the regular PC vendors haven’t made as much noise as those from

the manufacturers entering from the Mobile segment. It is reckoned by analysts that netbooks as a

category has faced the most heat from the advent of tablets. Indeed this is reflected in the

slowdown that Acer has seen in its first quarter sales as IHS reports. Acer which sells a high propor-

tion of netbook-type PCs saw its first-quarter shipments plunging by 20.4 percent to 9.2 million

units, down from 11.6 million during the same period in 2010.

It is a challenging period for the PC market in the consumer segment

especially. However demand in the commercial segment is

looking robust and by the third and fourth quarters, the industry

is expected to rebound and post healthier figures.

Editorial

The good and the bad

Fujitsu ties up withRedington

Building the cloud

Mindware is a leading value added distributor in the region. It partners with

some of the prominent brands in the technology industry. In a conversation

with VAR Magazine, Mario Gay – General Manager of Mindware discusses

some of the trends in the market as far as cloud computing goes as well as talks

about how the vendor is maintaining a balance in its focus areas

Ramkumar BalakrishnanVice President, Redigton Gulf

ultimately provide their IT “as a service” to

their internal customers.

Do you see your reseller partners getting quite active on this front?Today Cloud technology is still not widely

implemented at a global level. And while

the business benefits are big with this

model, the challenges are no small either

since it is adding extra complexity in how

you design, deploy, manage & support

your IT infrastructure. So we see here a

major opportunity for the reseller commu-

nity in the Middle-East to increase their

“value add” by building entirely new skills

around this model. And our role as a VAD

here is to support & enable those partners

in close alignment with our solution

vendors. So clearly Cloud is a significant

opportunity for the partner community.

Do you also continue to have a strong focus on hardware and component distribution? Intel has been one of our historical brand

and long term strategic Partners in the

components business; now the hardware

space has been expanded with DELL

products , Graphic Cards (HIS) and

memory Kingston.

What are the expansion plans and other initiatives in pipeline for the year?In term of products we are planning to

expand in the networking space and in

terms of market continue to foster our

presence and activity in KSA, and opening

a new Sales office in Kuwait.

How has growth been in 2010? Do you see 2011 shaping up as a year of better growth?2011 looks promising and so far has been

solid. Still there are reasons of concern

because of the liquidity crunch that is

undermining the growth and trust.

Mario GayGeneral Manager, Mindware

71st June 2011

8 1st June 2011

Redington is widely reckoned as one of the top distribution houses in the region. What do you think has helped the success story?For four years in a row, Redington has

maintained its market leadership in the IT

distribution space. This award ( VAR COC

Champion Distributor of the Year)is further

proof that Redington remains the preferred

MEA distributor among channel partners and

leading vendors. Our in-country presence, our

differentiated business model and our people

power has have helped drive this success story.

Discuss some of the significant milestones achieved by Redington in its distribution business in the region over the past year or so? Redington has witnessed several milestones in

the year gone by. The two most noteworthy

ones are the launch of the 93,400 120,000

Redington is reckoned a truly professional

distribution house and has over the past

decade or so emerged consistently among the

top distributors of the region. Raj Shankar, MD

at Redington Gulf speaks in the following

interview.

square feet Automated Distribution Centre in

Dubai and the acquisition of significant a 49.4%

stake in Arena, the second largest IT distributor

in Turkey.

Do you see the year 2011 as a year of growth or consolidation?At Redington, we expect the Middle East and

Africa markets are slated to show double digit

growth significantly in 2011. As always, we will

participate in the market growth and take

strides to gain market share for most of the

brands that we carry.

What are the key challenges that you clearly see the need to get the better of while pursuing the growth objectives in some of the GCC and MENA markets?The most important challenge is that of

managing credit. If managed well, it will offer a

significant gives a company the much needed

competitive edge and if not, it can seriously

hurt the cash flow and damage the profitability

of the company.

What are the products lines that you have slowed down on or what are the product categories that you have strengthened your focus on to meet your objectives?Value-added distribution will be a focus area for

Redington in the coming year. Going forward,

we also see prospects for growing the portfolio

of brands in the volume distribution space. We

will slow down those brands where we do not

see sufficient scale and interesting margins

though it may be tactical in nature.

Discuss some of the additional infrastruc-tural investments made in recently in terms of additional warehousing, online systems etc?The investment in the Automated Distribution

Centre (ADC) has helped to improve the

turnaround time deliveries to customers as well

as optimized costs within a short period of time.

We are planning to gradually roll out ADCs in

other markets as well, to further strengthen our

in-country proposition to our customers

presence. We have also implemented Task

Resource Management (TRM), an integrated

module of SAP. We have plans to implement

user friendly ecommerce model.

News

NETGEAR and its partner Interna-

tional Technology Services Ltd.

(ITS)completed implementation

of key wireless solutions for

leading UAE based sports equip-

ment and accessories retail

chain, Sun and Sand Sports. The

project is valued at AED 200,000

and is part of the vision of Sun

and Sand Sports to adopt and

implement new technologies

into their operations, which cost

them around AED 2.5 million.

The installation of strategic

wireless solutions will enable Sun

and Sand Sports staff to utilize

wireless connectivity for Pocket

PC PDA’s and perform key

functions like Point of Sale (POS),

and inventory (Transfer in,

Transfer Out, Demand Request,

GRN’s, and Stock Tracking).

The project was implemented over a six-week installation period and covered

Sun and Sand Sports facilities in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman and Ras Al

Khaimah. The installation included key NETGEAR equipment like the wireless

controller model WMS5316, access points device WG103 and FS 726TP

switches. These strategic devices provided each Sun and Sand Sports branch

with smooth and seamless wireless connectivity.

According to feedback received from Sun and Sand Sports officials, the

successful installation of NETGEAR’s connectivity tools has allowed its employ-

ees access to seamless uninterrupted wireless connectivity in performing key

store functions, ably resulting in faster inventory checking and barcode

product handling.

“Working with a leading solutions provider like ITS demonstrates NETGEAR’s

steadfast commitment to provide customers with effective and highly reliable

wireless and networking solutions that can altogether bolster more growth

and development into their company,” said Ahmad Zeidan, Channel Sales

Manager, NETGEAR Middle East. “NETGEAR was a strategic choice for the

showroom’s structure of thick walls as NETGEAR carries the guarantee of ‘no

dead spots’ in its area of coverage. NETGEAR has technology for dual band

frequency that ensure no interference from other wireless signals and gives

user’s ‘failure notification’ message in times of power outages or defective

operation. All units also come with a lifetime warranty offer.”

CA Technologies has announced an agreement with Microsoft to offer customers CA ARCserve data protection technology as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering using Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud platform.

The new cloud offering, scheduled for availability in the second half of this year, is part of CA Technologies strategy for bringing rapidly deployable, easy-to-own IT manage-ment solutions to market. This solution will be especially attractive in situations where conventional, internally deployed backup-and-restore systems and software implemen-tation may be less financially or operationally appealing, such as small businesses or remote offices that lack the necessary on-site IT staff.

CA Technologies use of Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform for this new solution extends a working relationship between the two compa-nies for more than 20 years.

“CA’ SaaS data protection solution is designed to help customers cost-efficiently mitigate a wide range of information risks, including

NETGEAR and ITS completedeployment of wirelesssolutions for Sun and SandSports showrooms

IBM expands Smarter CommerceInitiative for Business Partners

CA to deliver Backup and Recovery Solution

using Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Platform

Pursuing new milestones

RedingtonIn Focus

Raj ShankarMD, Redington Gulf

system downtime and catastrophic data loss across the customer’s IT portfolio,” said Walid Abu-Hadba, corporate VP, Microsoft Corpora-tion.

The new solution will be designed to meet the needs of CA Technologies and Microsoft partners—especially those who may incorpo-rate its data protection functionality into their broader cloud-based IT management offerings.

“By leveraging vendor solutions and their own expertise, partners can offer customers the ability to cost-effectively offload routine IT operations,” said Mike Crest, general manager, Data Management, CA Technologies. “The combination of our CA ARCserve technology and Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud platform will enable us to offer the partner community a scalable, feature-rich, and fully configurable resource for this growing management services market.” In the region, Mindware is the value add distributor for CA and offers all solutions from CA through its partners.

IBM has announced an expansion of its Smarter Commerce initiative to help Business Partners seize the growing market opportunity created by shifting buying patterns brought on by mobile and social computing. In addition to sales, marketing and technical guidance, Business Partners can qualify to earn incentives of up to 50 percent of the software sales transaction and receive zero percent financing.

IBM is making it easier and more cost effective to offer Smarter Commerce solutions. IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative delivers software and services to help companies transform their business processes to more quickly respond to shifting customer demands in today's digital marketplace.

IBM is investing in its ecosystem of partners, delivering the right set of skills, technical support, development resources, and industry expertise that will allow them to expand their capabilities to more effectively fulfill client demands. The first stage of this initiative will focus on business partners with skills in retail, telecom, banking and consumer products industries.

Through IBM’s Smarter Commerce for Business Partners, partners can qualify for an assigned IBM relationship manager to provide day-to-day support, business development funds to invest in marketing and events, and attend IBM business development workshops and assessment tools to develop customized client requirements.

Business Partners can also qualify to receive special financing incentives. IBM Global Financing (IGF) will offer partners zero percent, 12 month interest-free financing, to those partners enrolled in the IBM's Software Value Plus Business Partner Program.

Ahmad ZeidanChannel Sales Manager, Netgear ME

91st June 2011

10 1st June 2011

111st June 2011

VAR MagazineEmpowering and educating the channel

VAR Magazine is the fastest growing channel magazine in the MEA region. VAR MEA Magazine, which has completed over 125 issues of print, is the leading channel magazin in the region. Over five years and more, the magazine has become the preferred mode of communication with the channel for many leading vendors, distributors and resellers. VAR Magazine is presented in an easy to read print format, one of the reasons for its endearing appeal. It has deep and wide channel

penetration in terms of its distribution, a feature well recognized by the industry.

VAR MEA magazine has introduced several expan-sion initiatives including the exciting bilingual VAR Arabia. www.varonline.com, an interactive portal for the channel, was launched towards end of 2009 and has a fast growing readership in the channel

VAR Arabia - A bilingual magazine for KSA IT channelWith the monthly VAR Arabia edition, the magazine extends its value proposition to benefit the Saudi Arabia ICT channel. The VAR Arabia print edition has a specific focus on the large strategicmarket of Saudi Arabia and is in line with the commitment of the VAR team to meet the expectations of a larger local IT channel readership across the Middle East. The intent is to deliver a product that builds on the strengths of VAR magazine with a strong editorial focus as well as providing unique value to advertisers.

Milestones of VAR Magazine

• VAR MEA Magazine was founded on Sept. 18th 2005 for providing better, in-depth & sustained communication across the MEA IT channel.

• Over the past 5 years and 125 plus issues, VAR has successfully informed and executed channel centric communication like product launches, call to action campaigns, special offers, etc.

• 1st to launch a channel magazine in eBook format

• With over 5000 resellers in OGCC having access to the magazine, the VAR Advantage delivers wide and deep penetration into the channel for advertisers.

• VAR Value fortnightly e-newsletters re-launched in January 2010

• First to launch channel awards in the region. The awards ceremony for the 4th edition of the VAR Choice of Channel Awards was held on the 21st of March at the landmark Meydan hotel in Dubai.

VAR Magazine’s vision of being a most reliable information media for the IT resellers in the region is backed by the executionfrom a team that has over a decade’s experience working closely with the channel. For VAR, the greatest success has been in

winning trust from the region’s channel and the magazine will look forward to emulating that with its KSA edition.

For sales enquiries, contact sales@var-mea.com For subscription, contact subscribe@var-mea.com For more details, contact info@var-mea.com

12 1st June 2011

Authorized Partner

Rising Technologies LLCP.O. Box 45766, Khalid Bin Waleed Road, Opp. Highland Hotel, Bur Dubai - UAETel: +971 4 3939201, 3939202 Fax: +971 4 3939203, E-mail: risetech@emirates.net.ae

131st June 2011

What’s

HP t5565z Smart Client

Key features:

CA ARCserve D2D

For more details, log on to www.mindware.ae | ca@mindware.ae | +9714-450 0600

For more details, log on to www.toshibame.com

Key Features: Key Features:

Toshiba Satellite P series

Sonicwall NSA E8510

Kingmax ED-01 USB 3.0 Flash Drive

For more details, log on to www.sonicwall.com

For more details, log on to www.hp.com

For more details, log on to www.kingmax.com.tw

For more details, log on to www.ts.fujitsu.com

Key Features:

Key Features:

Key Features:

• Toshiba announced new models of its Satellite P series (Satellite P750 3D/ P755 3D and the Satellite P770 3D / P775 3D) that come with integrated 3D active shutter technology. • The 3D laptops bundled with 3D active shutter glasses will be available during the second quarter of 2011 in Europe, Middle East and Africa. • The Satellite P series 3D laptop models let users enjoy 3D movies and games in first-class quality on the stereoscopic 39.6cm (15.6'') TruBrite HD 3D (Satellite P750 3D / P755 3D) or 43.9cm (17.3'') TruBrite Full HD 3D (Satellite P770 3D / P775 3D) displays. • They all offer a rich 3D gaming and 3D movie experience in crystal-clear quality with a frame rate of 120Hz, dedicated 3D graphics and the support of NVIDIA 3D VisionTM featuring a pair of 3D wireless active shutter glasses. • The Satellite P770 3D and Satellite P775 3D both feature an integrated 3D web camera, with a set of two cameras, that allows users to enjoy video chats in 3D. • The Satellite P750 / P755 3D and the Satellite P770 / P775 3D are able to convert 2D movies into 3D to expand the number of movies and clips that can be viewed in 3D. • They support streaming of 3D content via HDMI to a connected stereoscopic 3D-TV to watch movies or to play games on a larger screen. • The 3D movies can be played back from either a 3D DVD or a Blu-ray 3D DiskTM.

• The Network Security Appliance (NSA) E8510 provides 10Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) connectivity in a compact, 1U rack mountable form-factor to accommodate security, performance and power efficiency requirements of modern high-capacity networks. • The appliance is powered by SonicWALL’s SonicOS 5.8firmware, which offers latency-free intrusion prevention and anti-malware protection. • SonicOS 5.8 features application intelligence and control functionality for granular control over application traffic and bandwidthin real-time. • With the ability to block or throttle application usage on a user or group level, and its compact form factor and affordable price, the E8510 is an ideal solution for corporate, healthcare and education deployments.

• The HP t5565z Smart Client is a uniquely intelligent zero client delivering new levels of simplicity and value in thin computing. • The HP t5565z features auto-sensing technology that adapts to your environment.• You can choose to deploy or repurpose the HP t5565z in Citrix XenDesktop environments with support for HDX, or choose VMware View or Microsoft Session Virtualization via RDP 6, for a brilliant user experience.• HP Smart Client intelligence is automatically inherited from the preconfigured host server in the data center.

• Simply connect the HP Smart Client to the network and a user monitor, and you’re on.

• Connect to the latest in display technology with native dual-digital monitor support or connect to an analog monitor using the included DVI-I to VGA adapter.

• Standard configurations include 6 USB 2.0 ports (two are located in a secure USB compartment), a serial port, a parallel port, and a power cord retention slot.

• The new LIFEBOOK P771 is a fully specified high-end business notebook with the stamina for all-day working.• From its small size and weight of just 1.3 kg to its long battery runtime and flexible modular bay concept, every aspect of the LIFEBOOK P771 is designed to meet the high demands of road-warrior mobile power users.• The Fujitsu LIFEBOOK P771 achieves battery runtimes of upto 18 hours thanks to combining the latest generation Intel chipset technology & ULV (ultra low-voltage) processors.• It features an energy-efficient notebook design that includes optional SSD (solid state) hard drives, and an optional second battery fitted in the modular bay.• Versatility is a hallmark of the LIFEBOOK P771, with a modular bay that can accommodate a removable DVD drive, a second battery, or simply a weight saver.

• KINGMAX has recently released its new SuperSpeed USB 3.0 flash drive, the ED-01 which supports data transfer rates of up to 5Gbps.• The contoured design of the ED-01 boasts delicate and sleek curves, perfected with leather-like texture and a glossy metal trim, adding a sense of chic style.• Adopting the USB 3.0 UFD Single Chip controller, the ED-01 USB 3.0’s system is more stable and backward-compatible with USB 2.0.• Whether data is HD movies, photos or large presentation files with rich media, ED-01 will complete data transfers in an extremely short period of time.

• Like deduplication, Block Level Infinite Incremental Backup is a patent- pending technology that uses less storage space, performs backups faster and puts less of a load on your production servers. • Disk-to-disk backups are based on CA’s block-level I2 Technology that has been designed to intelligently manage backing up only blocks of data that have changed since the last backup and presenting a consolidated point-in-time view of the protected volume for multiple recovery types.• Provides a single user interface to help protect virtual servers as well as physical servers, saving training time and simplifying operations. • Block-level I2 Technology helps reduce backup time, storage space, network usage, workload on the production servers and recovery time for virtualized servers.• One snapshot helps ensure recovery of the data in the most efficient manner.

Fujitsu LIFEBOOK P771

ology

14 1st June 2011

151st June 2011

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The five-year compound annual growth rate for computer

HDD revenue will stand at 3.5 percent by the end of 2015,

when revenue is expected to reach $32.1 billion.

As the traditional media for data storage, HDDs continue to

command a vast user base in both the consumer and

enterprise segments. Nonetheless, the share of HDDs in the

overall storage space has eroded in recent times because of

competition from other forms of storage media and assorted

market forces.

On one front, rival storage such as flash and solid state drives

have eaten into traditional HDD strongholds, showing up in

devices like lightweight notebook computers, smart phones

and tablet devices. More important, the hegemony of PCs has

been usurped as consumers increasingly use tablet devices

and smart phones to browse the Internet,

download and stream video, and share

content. Tablets, in particular, have taken away

large chunks of the personal PC market by

gobbling up consumer dollars originally

intended for laptops and netbook

computers—translating into lost sales for the

HDD industry as a result.

On another front, HDD revenue growth has

slowed as manufacturers introduced lower-

priced drives with higher area densities—the

upshot of constantly improving and evolving

technology becoming more affordable over

time.

A third factor that has slowed HDD growth is

more efficient cloud storage. As consumers

and corporate entities replace local storage

and look to the cloud—where data is stored

Battered by various factors including the rising sales of tablet

devices, the hard disk drive (HDD) market for computers will

slow in 2011, with revenue growth this year 3 percentage

points lower than in 2010, according to new research from IHS

iSuppli.

Revenue for computer HDDs, including drives for PCs and

corporate or storage servers, is projected in 2011 to reach

$28.1 billion. But while this is 4.1 percent higher than the $27.0

billion of 2010, the anticipated HDD growth this year almost

halves the 7.0 percent expansion posted by the industry last

year. And except for a growth spike in 2013 that will result in a

4.5 percent increase of the market, HDD revenue will continue

to show ever-smaller increments of growth in the years to

come—slipping to a 3.9 percent expansion in 2012, 2.8

percent in 2014 and 2.1 percent in 2015.

Hard Disk Drive Market for Computers to See

Lower Revenue Growth in 2011

through networks, either privately or publicly—HDD makers

lose another important piece of their market.

HDD revenue for computers in the second quarter of 2011 is

projected to reach approximately $6.9 billion, IHS iSuppli

research indicates. Depending on economic conditions,

revenue during the period could be up 2 percent from the first

quarter, unlike last year when the second quarter lost momen-

tum after the first.

Nonetheless, the HDD space continues to suffer cannibaliza-

tion from tablet devices as well as other market-stifling factors,

including excess inventory due to weak demand as well as

worries on component shortages stemming from the Japan

quake disaster in March.

The one bright spot during this period remains the strong

orders from the enterprise segment, driven by increasing

demand for corporate PCs, server and storage virtualization,

and the building of a cloud-based infrastructure by corpora-

tions.

Like the HDD space, the optical disk drive (ODD) market for

computers will rise by approximately 2 percent in the second

quarter this year to $3.0 billion. Although they are an integral

part of standalone consumer appliances such as players and

recorders for DVDs, Blu-ray discs and compact discs, ODDs for

computers will suffer a revenue decline to $12.2 billion in

2011, down from $12.7 billion last year. In the wake of tight

supplies of components like ODD controllers following the

Japan disaster, sales volumes for ODDs are projected to be low

for the short term. Moving forward, the computer ODD market

will continue to decline as less content is distributed via

compact discs and as content is made available instead for

downloading online.

Global PC Hard Disk Drive Revenue

Forecast (Billions of US Dollars)

Source: IHS iSuppli May 2011

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

$34.0

$32.0

$30.0

$28.0

$26.0

$24.0

$22.0

$20.0

16 1st June 2011

Published By: VAR MEA Magazine - P. O. Box: 121075, Dubai - UAE. Tel: +971-4-3326647 Fax: +971-4-3326621 Email: info@var-mea.com

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