www.bellmicro.eu ISSUE 5 Look out in this issue for: Our new vendor partnership with Parallels Software Shorty – the new c3000 BladeSystem enclosure from HP. Short on size – Big on opportunity! An update on our ground-breaking marketing tool, campaignWORKS Bell Micro’s dedicated ‘Microsoft Practice’ – helping you scope & deliver Microsoft projects Channel VOICE The Enterprise Newsletter from Bell Micro Celebrating 5 years of Bell Micro’s IBM division The new IBM PowerCentre microsite, a focal resource point for all of your System p and POWER6 requirements
Transcript
www.bellmicro.eu
ISSUE 5
Look out in this issue for:
Our new vendorpartnership with
Parallels Software
Shorty – the new c3000 BladeSystemenclosure from HP.Short on size – Big
on opportunity!
An update on ourground-breakingmarketing tool,
campaignWORKS
Bell Micro’s dedicated ‘MicrosoftPractice’ – helping
you scope & deliverMicrosoft projects
ChannelVOICEThe Enterprise Newsletter from Bell Micro
Celebrating5 years of
Bell Micro’s IBM division
The new IBMPowerCentre
microsite, a focalresource point for
all of your System pand POWER6requirements
www.bellmicro.eu
Charity Update
One of the key events in our charity calendar is a 24 hour, 54 hole
challenge that we’re inviting resellers to take part in alongside the
enterprise vendors supporting the event. These include RSA, the
security specialists, who’ve recently joined HP, IBM and Symantec
as main sponsors. Our view on this exciting challenge is perfectly
captured by ex-world champion boxer, Barry McGuigan who says:
“As a patron of CLIC Sargent I would encourage you to get involved
in this fantastic event and help Bell Micro raise much needed funds
for CLIC Sargent, the UK’s largest children’s cancer charity.”
Throughout 2008, we’re supportingCLIC Sargent, the UK’s leadingcancer charity through a fullcalendar of fundraising events.Our aim is to raise £20,000 overthe next twelve months and havegot off to a great start havingraised £3,000 in the first month.
You can keep track of our progress and events (and see how
to get involved) on the Web. Visit www.bellmicro.eu/uk/charity
to find out more.
Five years ago we lived up to thispromise by entering into a newdistribution agreement with IBM forSystem p and Storage. In the periodsince 2003 our IBM team has enjoyedhuge success. Not only were we the firstUK distributor to offer services to IBMbusiness partners, by 2004 we hadalready become the UK’s leadingdistributor for IBM System p sales andtechnical accreditation.
We don’t rest on our laurels and thissuccess continued with Bell Micro beingrecognised as the fastest growing IBM
Services Partner in 2006. During 2007,we grew our storage business significantlyand the success story went global withrecognition of Bell Micro as the world’sHighest Utilised System p distributor.
As we progress through 2008 our desire toexpand your IT portfolio continuesunabashed. The latest vendor sign-up isworld leading OS virtualisation providerParallels. At a time when all of yourcustomers are looking at efficiency in theirIT environment, it’s critical that we delivermore options around virtualisation. Wethink Parallels offer one of the besttechnology sets in this sector, offering acomplete virtualisation solution spanningdesktop, server and storage.
Of course it’s one thing for us to bringthese business relationships to you, it’squite another for you to take these tomarket quickly and cost-effectively. Tomake sure this is a realistic aim we arecontinuing to invest in our ground-
breaking marketing toolcampaignWORKS.
Now with an even more intuitive interfaceand six new campaigns for you to exploit,the best thing about this online tool is that itlets you tell your own story. We want you totry campaignWORKS as soon as possible,combining your own messages aroundskills and recent wins with the high qualitygraphics and professionally composedcopy that the application provides.
Your Bell Micro Account Manager canintroduce you to our broad vendor portfolioand plug you into the campaignWORKSresource. Please play your part in theproactivity cycle and get involved.
In our business you simplycan’t afford to stand still. That’sthe reason why Bell Micro iscontinually exploring newtechnology and vendoropportunities. We investsignificantly in identifying thesolutions that work in enterpriseIT environments, making sureBell Micro has the skills andresources in place to help youget to market first and buildgenuine competitive advantage.
John Toal, Director, Enterprise Division
www.bellmicro.eu
IBM PowerCentre is the focal resource point for all of your System prequirements. Key features include POWER6, Green IT, sampleconfigurations and a members’ resource area containing saleskits, competitive information, analyst reports, product information,announcements and presentations.
Visit www.IBMpowercentre.com today to access Bell Micro’s new‘Tree for a System p’ campaign.
As the environmental debate becomes ever more prevalent, withsociety operating in an unsustainable way, Bell Micro havelaunched the ‘Tree for a System p’ initiative. For every System pserver ordered, Bell Micro will plant a tree in the UK, assisting inoffsetting the carbon footprint.
Your Tree will help to offset approximately 1 tonne of carbondioxide throughout the life of the tree. By planting your tree we
help maintain and improve new woodlands and supportthe work to provide local people with opportunities
to live healthier, more sustainable lives.
The Tree for a System p initiative, inconjunction with eForests, will provide you with
a certificate of dedication and information on where the tree wasplanted.
Register your orders at IBM PowerCentre today to plant your tree.
For more information visit www.IBMpowercentre.comor call the IBM Team on 0871 230 4500.
Access the latest promotions, sales messaging and new product information on POWER6at www.IBMpowercentre.com
Introducing IBM PowerCentre…
forestse
Our Solution DeliveryIntegration (SDI) Centre is theonly one based in the UK forIBM System p, enabling BellMicro to configure low endand midrange servers to therequired specification in-house. This capability, alongwith our UK based stockholding allows Bell Micro toservice customer needsquickly and efficiently.
In October 2007 IBM recognised Bell Micro
as having the highest utilisation rate for their
SDI centre:
‘Bell Micro have been consistent in driving
volumes through their Integration Centre
from their certification as a Solution Delivery
Integration (SDI) distributor in 2005. It is no
surprise to me that they are now the world
leader in utilising the program, it is a strong
message of Bell Micro’s focus, efficiency and
accurate inventory management.’
Clódagh Daly, Channel Logistics
Manager, IBM For more information on Bell Micro’s
offering around IBM System p please visit
www.IBMpowercentre.com or call the IBM
Team on 0871 230 4500.
Bell Micro Achieve HighestUtilised IBM SDI in the World!
What is an IBM SDI Centre and How Does it Benefit Business Partners? A staggering
result with 97% utilisation
overall for 2007. Bell Micro has
now achieved highest utilisation world
wide among 14 SDI Partners across
Europe, Asia and the Americas.
It is such a positive message for
Bell Micro and for SDI in Europe.
Well done.
Clódagh Daly, Channel Logistics
Manager, IBM.
‘‘
’’
Whether you are new to sales, experienced in sales and with a new company or ‘long in the tooth’ in your sales role, there is knowledge to be
gained. At the very least you have the opportunity to remind yourself of skills you may have forgotten… after all, most experienced sales people
have forgotten more information than new salespeople know.
There is no bachelor degree available through Higher Education despite so many people being employed as sales people. Good selling does,
however, require skill and the experienced trainers (IBM & independent training consultants) will share with you their vast knowledge and
experiences of selling within and beyond the IT channel.
The IBM Sales Academy is a condensed version of the full IBM training programme used to
educate and prepare newly recruited graduates for careers in selling. It is a modular course with
each of the 6 modules taking 1 day to complete. The modules are run in pairs at various times of
the year (please see www.maximation.eu for course dates and locations).
Although the modules do run in a logical order, it is not necessary to complete them in the order
given, or to complete all of the modules, as they are interdependent subjects. You are free to
choose how many you wish to complete whether it is 1 or all 6, wherever you feel a refresher of the
fundamentals of that topic is of value to you. For example, a brush up on Effective Proposal Writing
may be just what you need right now.
Bell Micro is very happy to be able to offer this training to you and we hope you can join us. If you
are a Sales Manager you may want to propose this FREE training to members of your sales team?
www.bellmicro.eu
Even if you are long in the tooth within your sales role you can still learnsomething new at the Bell Micro sponsoredIBM Sales Academy… and it is FREE.
The Sales Cycle The Sales Call
Winning New CustomersEffective Proposal Writing
Successful Presenting Closing
See you there!
Places are limited, so please book early.You can registerthroughwww.maximation.eu
The modules are:
The IBM Sales Academy is managed within the
Bell Micro Maximation programme and full
details of the Sales Academy can be found at
www.maximation.eu (select the IBM Sales
Academy button on the r/h side of the screen).
www.bellmicro.eu
D ATA P R O T E C T I O N
B A C K U P A N DR E C O V E RY
V I RT U A L I S AT I O NC O N S O L I D AT I O N
D ATA A R C H I V I N G /AVA I L A B I L I T Y
I N F R A S T R U C T U R E M A N A G E M E N T
T E S T I N G
S T O R A G E
T R A I N I N G
P R O O F O F C O N C E P T
D ATA M A N A G E M E N T
The Enterprise Solution Centre –Assisting partners to develop skillsand close dealsOffering a mix of both IT lab and classroomenvironments, use of the centre is free ofcharge (subject to qualification) for Bell Microchannel partners.
Both the technology and
technical support available
at the ESC aim to be
configured to match your
specific demo
requirements to maximise
the impact of the time
spent there. The ESC provides an excellent location for:
• Technical sales presentations• Testing• Training
Visit www.oneplaceforIT.com to:
• Book the ESC• View the latest equipment list and packaged demonstrations• Find out more about the vendors in the ESC• Take a look around the ESC with the virtual tour
www.bellmicro.eu
Increasingly, Microsoft technologies and solutionsare becoming core elements of the enterprise data-centre. For you this means it’s important to becomeaware of the enterprise IT opportunities Microsoftoffers and understand what value they can bring toyour customers.
Always committed to developing our
reseller partners, Bell Micro has created
the dedicated ‘Microsoft Practice’ as a
focal point to support margin-friendly
services sales around this vendor into
enterprise environments. For Bell Micro
this move is a logical progression, we
are a long established Microsoft
distribution partner, selling approx £75m
of Microsoft technologies into the
channel year-on-year.
We would welcome the opportunity to
discuss how The Microsoft Practice can
help you to scope and deliver Microsoft
projects. Bell Micro is already delivering
a range of channel-only services and
support to resellers around Microsoft
and can assist at any stage from
scoping to installation. We also have key
channel specific resources in place such
as our online licensing application (LDi)
to make Microsoft business more
profitable for you.
Our Microsoft resources are designed to
extend your reach around Microsoft
business. We can help you to scale up
resources when you can see the
opportunity but haven’t the resources in
house to respond. We can also help you
to scope the Microsoft opportunity, filling
in any gaps in the knowledge required to
win the business. You can also benefit
from our geographically widespread
vendor resources to make every
Microsoft site visit worthwhile.
Primarily focusing on Microsoft Server
technologies, many of the solutions that
we have worked on also relate to
emerging technologies such as MS
SharePoint, CRM and System Center
Operations Manager. Our expert teams
have hands-on knowledge of how to sell
scope and deliver any type of Microsoft
solution to ensure your implementations
are trouble-free.
More information can be found on the
Partner Services or Microsoft
microsites:
www.partner-services.co.uk or
www.reachformicrosoft.com.
Alternatively please contact your Bell
Micro Account Manager to discuss
your Microsoft options in full.
Your customers will alreadybe asking for core Microsoftservices including:
Windows 2003 serverinstallations, Exchange 2003and 2007 installs, clusteredExchange, SharePointinstallation, SQL Server 2005installs and clustered SQLServer.
www.bellmicro.eu
Short on size – Big on opportunity
Get Shorty!The c3000 answers the big questions facing your customers, how to: simplify technology, extend IT service provision, enhance
security and build flexibility into the computing environment. If your customers are talking about consolidation, virtualisation or
Green IT then Shorty and Tally should also be on the agenda.
Or get his big brother Tally for that matter. These two new c3000 BladeSystem enclosures from HPare designed specifically for SMB organisations and bring the enterprise qualities of the data-centre into any size of operation.
• Shorty extends the range of the broad HP BladeSystem solution portfolio, enabling you to increase accountpenetration and loyalty, creating a larger footprint within your customers and capturing new revenues and margins
• Not short on attach opportunity, Shorty provides you with a competitive edge and far-reaching scope to add-instorage, software, networking and services business
• Blades are also market proven as the replacement technology for today’s rack-mounted and tower servers,providing scope for long-term blade component business
• The c3000 lets you explore the power and cooling argument with customers, employing the latest HP ThermalLogic Technology and Active Cool Fans to provide smart answers to energy use
Enabling your customers to bring together their server, storage and networking needs in one infrastructure, Shorty and Tally offer an
exceptionally small footprint, with the Tally option providing deployment options for customers with no racks in-situ.
SMB customers with up to 100 servers, those looking to reduce IT
infrastructure costs and those that complain about how to manage a
complex IT environment are key prospects for c3000 business.
To help you explore the Shorty and Tally opportunity Bell Micro hascreated a range of sales support tools including:
• A racks to blades cheat sheet• Simple online sales training • Our online go-to-market tool campaignWORKS
To access these
resources please visit
our HP BladeSystem
microsite at
www.cuttingthecomplexity.com
or contact your Bell Micro
Account Manager for
more information.
www.bellmicro.eu
Storage for anysize of businessFor either your SME or true mid-size customers, HP has a new offer in storage with the launch ofnew products in the MSA and EVA product lines.The HP StorageWorks MSA 2000 family brings enterprise class features to the SME market and lets customers centralise their IT
storage, in turn leading to reduced TCO, reduced downtime and increased IT administrator efficiency. Your enterprise customers
will also find the MSA 2000 portfolio useful for remote offices and departmental or non-core storage needs.
If you are talking about storage consolidation availability or virtualisation with customers then the MSA 2000 family is now an option.
Similarly this product set integrates seamlessly with HP BladeSystem for simpler configuration and management.
Moving up the scale, the EVA 4400 bridges the gap between affordability and high performance, scalability and powerful
virtualisation capability. This product lets your customers remove the complexity of storage management to create an environment
that is simpler to maintain and cheaper to run.
Based on EVA 4100/6100/8100 architecture, the EVA 4400 offers dual-redundancy and 99.999% availability, alongside easy set-
up, instant configuration and self-repair ability. Using Command View and Dynamic Capacity Management software, the EVA 4400
means your customers can get more out their storage yet spend less time and money on it.
HP Storage is a core offer at Bell Micro, please contact your Account
Manager to understand more about these products and the skills and
support we can provide to help you sell and deliver them.
More information around HP
Storage products is available at
our microsite
www.secureintheknowledge.com
www.bellmicro.eu
February 2008 saw the launch of the newHP Integrity BL870c blade, and tomaximise the value of thisbreakthrough technology HP haspackaged the system with theproven HP-UX platform and theversatile c-Class enclosure tooffer your customers 3 fantastictechnologies in one solution.
Deliver the powerful computing ability ofHP Integrity with market leadingavailability, scalability and virtualisationcapabilities alongside the familiarity andlow-cost of ownership normally associatedwith the ProLiant server family.
This combination of leading HP technologiesreally does move customers towards a trueadaptive infrastructure position by allowingenterprise class HP Integrity blades to besupported and operational in c-Class environments.
This Integrity blade solution is targeted at two enterprise areas– firstly in application environments such as applicationconsolidation, SAP and BI in data mart settings and secondlyin key verticals including: retail, distribution, telco andmanufacturing. Specifically, this technology allows customersmuch greater flexibility in their consolidation projects.
Whether your customers are looking for a large data-centresolution or a versatile hassle free BladeSystem for a smallspace, HP Integrity Blades can form part of this equation. The new c3000 ‘Shorty’ and ‘Tally’ enclosures house variedcombinations of Integrity, ProLiant and storage blades in aneasy to manage all-in-one infrastructure, whilst the c7000offers the lowest cost per blade and true data-centre features.Both offer access to market leading power and coolingtechnologies.
The solution also delivers a strong software proposition,marrying the latest HP-UX 11i v3 with a suite of HP Integrity management software covering everything from deployment toprotection and ongoing monitoring. This same software alsooffers common ProLiant and Integrity infrastructuremanagement and additional OS specific tools for the broad setof operating systems available on HP Integrity.
This is new technology from HP, make the most of thisopportunity and be the first to discuss with your customershow these three elements together can dramatically impacton their IT strategy.
HP Integrity Blade to the power of 3
For more information please contact your Bell Micro Account Manager. Information regarding HP Integrity solutions
is always available at our microsite www.questioningyourintegrity.com
www.bellmicro.eu
HP 2008 SoftwareBusiness Partner Program
In the past HP Software conjured the picture of a Partner Program consisting ofspecialist resellers, complex solution selling, upfront investment and long ROI.
This is about to change for two key reasons:
1. The Economical SlowdownWith fears of an economic slowdown, analysts continue tostate that channel partners offering software solutions withintheir portfolios are best placed to ride out a recession. If acompany is going to invest in a period of downturn this is mostlikely to be in productivity and efficiency of its existinginfrastructure through software management tools.
In fact, Gartner forecasts global spending on business softwareto grow 8.2% in 2008 to $191 billion. Twice that estimated forhardware sales (3.4% to $394 billion).
To ensure success in the future, software solutions are no longera nice to have but a mandatory requirement within any channel
partner’s portfolio!
2. New HP Software PartnerProgram
From 1st February 2008 HPcompletely revamped its
existing Software PartnerProgram. Not only have
they simplified entry,but also allowedpartners to prove thebusiness feasibilityof HP Softwarebefore investing inresources.
Consisting of fourcategories –
Implementer, Silver,
Gold and Platinum – the new program positions and rewardsbased on attaining financial and certification requirements, witheach category providing its own financial and support benefits.
Importantly, to become a Silver partner no longernecessitates investment in upfront accreditations butrather the commitment and execution of an agreedbusiness plan with specific financial measurements.
How can Bell Micro Help Develop Your HP Software Business?Year on year, Bell Micro continues to be #1 CDP for HPSoftware (by market share) within UK&I. As such we havedeveloped the experience and resources necessary to supportchannel partners entering this program, integrating HP Softwareinto their specific portfolio and maximising financial return.
Our HP Software team consists of dedicated professionals whoseIT expertise is second to none, including business development,presales, consultancy & implementation, project management,upfront warranties and contract renewal support.
Together HP and Bell Micro are providing the sales andmarketing tools, technical tools, and comprehensive trainingprograms to ensure that both existing and new partners areproficient throughout the HP Software portfolio. Claire Coughlan,HP Manager of Software Channel and Alliances UK&I, recentlyendorsed Bell Micro’s HP Software channel strategy:
“HP Software has worked very closely with Bell Micro over anumber of years, jointly developing the UK&I Partner Channel.As a Platinum CDP they have not only invested in the resourcesand skills necessary to add real value to partners but theirproactive approach has greatly helped to drive businessdevelopment within their base. The result being year on yeargrowth and over achievement of targets set by HP”
Bell Micro is currently recruiting partners and would welcomethe opportunity to discuss further the potential of HP Softwarewith your business.
For further information on how to become a HPSoftware partner please contact Martin Jackson on07767 382345 or [email protected].
1 Software solutionsare now a mandatoryrequirement.
2 HP has simplified entryinto its new SoftwarePartner Program.
3 Bell Micro has theskills and resourcesto drive ChannelPartners sales cycle.
Over time, it’s easy for things to grow apart – take for instance yourcustomers’ IT infrastructure and the HP Services they have in placeto support it. They are likely feeling the pain of agreements that haveevolved with the business at a tactical level and now are mismatched
with their IT needs, costing them significant time and money. Read onto find out how Bell Micro Vendor Services can help you turn mismatch
into opportunity.
www.bellmicro.eu
There are a variety of reasons why this service mismatch can occur;• Systems themselves change and evolve typically growing with the business• Your customer may have outsourced IT in the past • Their IT team skills may have changed over time and they now have skills in-house that are also covered in a
support contract• Customers may be consolidating hardware and software with an overall change in the infrastructure requiring support
Mismatched?
The picture is further complicated since many customers employ acombination of three core HP Services offers – ‘Break-fix’ forhardware, ‘Telephone Support’ and ‘Licence to use/Media’ forsoftware. Within these services there are further options aroundtimeframes where your customers can choose options for cover byhours in the day and days in the week.
It is unlikely your customers will have a clear picture of what is supported and what is not, with hardware for instance supported bya 2-year agreement and the related software only covered for one year.Or worse still the software isn’t supported at all, yet they think it is.
In any event the HP Services agreements in place simply don’t keep up with the complex reality of the IT infrastructure leavingyour customer typically over or under provisioned for HP Services.
Mismatch is out, normalising is in?To counter this complexity Bell Micro advocates a process of‘normalising’ HP Services agreements, mapping the services in-situagainst the cover actually required and moving towards simpler,optimised HP Services. Bell Micro and HP can help you scope HPServices in your customer environments, working with you to auditthe current topography and eliminate unnecessary service costs.
For you HP Services is a strong commercial proposition, offeringenhanced margins, a better quality and trusted service provision toyour customers, to build both loyalty and simple to forecast annuity
revenues. As hardware margins continue to diminish, HP Servicesprovide genuine scope to replace this revenue with a solid platformfor future activity.
Talk to your Bell Micro Account Manager about HP Services andfind out more about how HP and Bell Micro are already workingwith channel partners to build this business.
You can also find more information at www.partner-services.co.uk
The Green Computing debate continues to gather momentum, with this in mind, we have commissioned an independent research report that
looks at how widely green initiatives are being implemented across UK businesses; and what the key factors are in this space that are yet to
be addressed. Entitled “Passing the Green IT Buck” the research looks at the opinions, and uncovers the concerns, of senior IT decision
makers across the UK as well as identifying how far UK businesses have come in successfully addressing Green issues.
If you are looking for campaigns that deliver the right solutions to customers, with a positive environmental
angle, we are confident that Bell Micro now has a “Green opinion” in the market that positions
your business and Bell Micro as a knowledgeable channel partnership on this matter.
Watch out for further information on the findings coming your way early April.
www.bellmicro.eu/campaignworks
Newly updated, with a more innovative look and feel, campaignWORKS lets
you talk to your customers about issues like: consolidation, virtualisation and
Green IT. You can use the copy we have pre-written for you but of course
you have your own story to tell so campaignWORKS lets you edit every word
of the direct mail piece or e-shot you create.
Now you can cover even more ground as we have launched new campaigns
for: High Availability, Data Management, Compliance, Systems Management
and Disaster Recovery. You will find product campaigns online too, a new HP ‘Shorty’ c3000 blade enclosure campaign launched
February 2008.
Tell customers about your recent wins in consolidation or the extensive skills you have in-house around virtualisation. You may
have a specific offer around technology such as a successful workshop you run or an insightful white paper you can offer to
customers. Whatever you have to say, campaignWORKS lets you get the message out.
It’s important that you stay in touch with your customers on aregular basis. Not just by telephone or sales meetings, but makingsure they see your involvement in the big issues driving technologyin hard copy or online. Our web-based marketing toolcampaignWORKS lets you do just that, simply and cost effectively.
Get the me
www.bellmicro.eu/campaignworks
campaignWORKS provides you with a wide choice of professional
design templates to choose from, ensuring your communications have
impact and represent your business effectively.
campaignWORKS gives you flexible options for delivery too. With a direct mail
item you can have either a PDF file for use as soft copy, or get your local printer to
print them, or you can use a complete print and fulfilment service online with campaignWORKS, just provide the data.
Your eshots can also be provided as html for you to send, or you can broadcast online. With full statistics provided
afterwards giving detailed ROI – again just complete your e-shot online, provide the data and pre-select the date and time
for release.
If you would like to know more please visit www.bellmicro.eu/campaignworks
or contact your Bell Micro Account Manager for more information.
With regard
to campaignWORKS, the new-look
campaignWORKS is very user friendly and
the increased feature-set made putting the
campaign together very straightforward. We believe
the content of the campaign is informative, concise
and of a length to ensure that the reader’s interest is
maintained. The printed version of the postal campaign
was very professionally produced and we have already
received positive comments from recipients.
In summary, campaignWORKS turned a
potentially difficult marketing campaign into a
simple and speedy process.
Steve Foley, Managing Director,
Envision Technologies.
‘‘
’’
essage out!
www.bellmicro.eu
Data storage crimes can cripple your businessMany SMB and mid-sizedorganisations have been leftexposed by their data protectionsolutions. Steve Murphy, UKManaging Director for Hitachi DataSystems, suggests some questionsIT managers should be asking theirstorage vendor and technologypartners in order to avoidunnecessary complexity, cost andrisk to valuable data.
Data and information is increasingly vital tothe success and growth of any business,whatever its size. Technology has advancedto the point where protecting your dataneed not be complex or cost prohibitive anda scalable and cost effective solution is nowa reality for SMB and mid-marketorganisations.
The usual suspects associated with dataprotection are data loss; no back-up; failedrestore; and system down time. These are allsituations that companies of all sizes workhard to prevent, but in many instancescustomers are being sold over-priced, over-complex solutions which leave businessesexposed in one or more of the following ways:
• businesses’ applications are at risk eitherbecause the specific application is notsupported or it is required to be offline inorder to back-up the related data.
• businesses are left coping with expensiveand unreliable backups due to poorprocesses, poor scalability and a relianceon tape.
• businesses face avoidable managementcosts because they have been soldmultiple back-up and data protection
products in order to accommodate anevolving spectrum of data
protection needs.
Organisations, especially SMBs, are notalways aware that this need not be theirreality. An affordable, unified data protectionsolution is an option which will be goodnews for customers with an under-performing solution as well as thosecompanies which faced with complexityand over-priced solutions suffer frominaction and have no data protectionsolution in place.
(extract from an article by Steve Murphy, UK Managing Director, Hitachi Data Systems)
Losing 24 Hours of Datais a Real Possibility forSome Businesses
Failure to provide adequateprotection for Microsoft-basedenvironments and key applicationsis commonplace. Currently, IT mayneed to take Exchange, SQL Serverand SharePoint applications offlineto run their back-up routines. Toprevent user downtime, IT isrestricted to single nightly back-upsbut in the event of a systems failurethey could lose up to 24 hours worthof critical data.
SMBs should not have to settle forless than a solution which offersback-up capability for liveapplications with no down time andconsequent interruption to day-to-day business. Businesses shouldlook for a solution which usesgranular policies to simplify andautomate otherwise complex back-up operations.
To view this article in full pleasevisit www.bellmicro.eu/uk then goto the Enterprise/HDS/News sectionor contact your Bell Micro AccountManager for more information onHDS products, services andsolutions.
D I S T R I B U T O R A U T H O R I Z E D
www.bellmicro.eu
For IT professionals whoface the daily dilemma ofdoing more with less,
delivering innovative solutions in a short amount of time and with a small and oftenshrinking budget, is a difficult and time-consuming process. But those professionals whovalue performance and reliability would do well to look at Red Hat.
Both Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat EnterpriseAdvanced Platform include fully integrated server and storagevirtualisation, coupled with high availability clustering*capabilities – providing critical technologies together in a singleand easy to manage solution.
With Red Hat virtualisation, processing and data resources(servers and storage) are grouped into a single resource pool.Virtual servers and storage can then be allocated in just a fewseconds, as business demands dictate. This allows ITmanagers to quickly deliver more to customers, while gainingcontrol of costs.
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform delivers thebenefits of virtualisation within all aspects of the IT environment.It provides everything needed to create the virtual enterprise ina single package, and the robust environment supports serversof any size with an unlimited number of virtualised guests.
This fully integrated, ready to go virtualisation means there isno need to go anywhere else for additional products – savingboth time and money.
The Red Hat difference
The Red Hat portfolio blends three critical primary technologiesin order to provide the most effective and innovativevirtualisation solutions on the market. These technologies offer:
Server virtualisation: Allowing a single server to host multipleoperating systems, run multiple versions, and provide multipleperformance and security settings, all running on the same server.
Storage virtualisation: Allowing multiple guests, running on thesame or different servers, to access and share logical storagevolumes and file systems; so storage environment for everyguest remains consistent, regardless of where it is running.
Virtualisation management: Allowing the management of allaspects of a virtualised system including the virtualisedguest environment.
Red Hat providesall the answers
This year’s hottest ticket
If you want to find out more, go alongto the Red Hat and JBoss PartnerSummit, running from 2nd-4th April. As the most comprehensive event sincethese two heavyweights joined forces,the agenda promises the latesttechnologies, strategies, best-practices,hands-on training sessions and industryinsights – something for everyone.
Taking place in sunny Malaga, theevent will also help you to benefitfrom joint marketing programmes andprovide everything you need to besuccessful in driving more Red Hatand JBoss business in 2008.
For details about how Bell Micro can help you grow youropen source business, visit www.redhat-portal.com today
*Red Hat Enterprise Advanced Platform only
www.bellmicro.eu
Thin-ProvisioningReal-life examples of reducingstorage footprint.Thin-provisioning is a technology that isrevolutionising storage management andenergy savings – businesses of all sizes aretaking advantage of the cost savingbenefits of virtualising and consolidatingtheir storage. It’s software that producesdramatic results, in radically lowering bothTCO and carbon footprints. Normallytechnology of this level is only availablethrough purchasing expensive storagearrays and disks, but one vendor, DataCore,has revolutionised the concept and madethin-provisioning an open network-basedservice that works with nearly all storagebrands and devices. Network based thin-provisioning automatically and non-disruptively allocates physical storagecapacity to application servers only when itis actually used. This dramatically improvesstorage utilisation and reduces the totalnumber of disk drives required. Thesoftware installs on any available standardWindows server in minutes.
Paul Vernon, Head of IT at internationalmusic publishers, Boosey & Hawkes,noted there had to be a better way toreduce his storage footprint;- “We recognised that direct attachedstorage had distinct limitations.Constantly resizing and reallocating diskspace and purchasing additional diskswas becoming an ongoing challenge.”
Boosey and Hawkes reduced their over-allocation of disks through adoption ofthin-provisioning software from DataCore.Put simply, their SANmelody softwarepresents pre-defined virtual volumes froma central storage pool to needyapplications, while the capacity isallocated automatically when reallyneeded. The change for Boosey andHawkes was significant as Paul notes:“The ability to have flexible managementto expand disk space has been aGodsend. Several times in the year wehave to resize and increase volumes –
something that with our old directattached storage would have been muchmore difficult, costly and timeconsuming”.
It’s not just a reduction on the wallet thatcustomers experience. Adopting thin-provisioning actively helps reduce carbonfootprint. Not a case of ‘green washing’,but a case where true energy savings ofup to 50% can be achieved using fewerdisks – through reductions in space,power and cooling costs of fewerphysical disks and arrays. There’s also areduction in the amount of new storagethat needs to be purchased – bad newsfor hardware suppliers, but good news forlandfills and pressed budgets. Thin-provisioning software provides up to 50%improvements in capacity utilisation,thereby reducing the total amount ofstorage that must be purchased andallowing previously redundant storage tobe utilised. Mike Duxbury, SeniorNetworking Specialist at VolkswagenFinancial Services noted, “Cost benefits(of thin-provisioning) are significant andfor us outweighed the cost of theSANmelody solution after three months.”His team was also able to redeployexisting storage arrays and use bladeservers with half the price tag oftraditional servers.
When it comes to manpower savings,thin-provisioning again kicks in,automating and simplifying unnecessaryprovisioning steps. This instantaneousprovisioning of storage capacitysignificantly reduces disk administrationburden and time management andeliminates application service disruption.
Great news for Mark Aylwin, IT SupportTeam Leader, at manufacturing giantTruck-Lite Europe, who notes that throughhis thin-provisioning software,“Management has been handed back intoour control, flexibly and agilely usingresources to gain higher storage capacity.”
Thin-Provisioning promotes energyefficiency and saves money. Customerscan even access a 30-day free trial bysimply downloading:www.datacore.com/download.asp
This issue of Channel Voice examines theversatile, hardware-independent, thin-provisioning storage virtualisation softwarethat is radically reducing the storage hardwareburden across UK SMBs.
Thin-ProvisioningReal-life examples of reducingstorage footprint. This issue of Channel Voice examines the
versatile, hardware-independent, thin-provisioning storage virtualisation softwarethat is radically reducing the storage hardwareburden across UK SMBs.
To find out more aboutrecommending thin-provisioningand storage virtualisation solutionsthat work on any physical andvirtual machine (VM) contact yourBell Micro Account Manager or visitwww.datacore.com. We are activelyrecruiting virtualisation partnerswho want to recommend TotalEnterprise Virtualisation and gainrich margin, account penetrationand dramatically shorten salescycles whilst robustly supportingdesktop and server virtualisationimplementation projects.
www.bellmicro.eu
Bell Micro is delighted to announce a new vendor partnership with ParallelsSoftware, a worldwide leader in virtualisation and automation software acrossall major hardware, operating system and virtualisation platforms.
Bell Micro and Parallels can help you become a complete virtualisation solution provider to your customers.
Virtualisation is more than just Hypervisor technology, there are different types of Server virtualisation technologies available for each scenarios’
consolidation requirements:
• Hardware Virtualisation – Hypervisors (multiple OS – performance loss)
• OS Virtualisation – Containers (single OS – Native performance)
Parallels Virtuozzo Containers provides OS level server Virtualisation solution with the highest levels of efficiency and manageability for the
enterprise so will complement your existing Virtualisation portfolio and help you provide the best consolidation solutions.
It enables large organisations to consolidate multiple servers onto fewer physical servers, creating more flexible, scalable, easily managed IT
infrastructures and reducing energy consumption.
The two diagrams below show the hypervisor or hardware Virtualisation technology in comparison to OS Virtualisation.
The hypervisor model has a base layer (usually a thin Linux kernel shown here as a hypervisor or standard OS) that is loaded directly on the bare
server. To allocate hardware and resources to the virtual machines, all of the hardware on the server must be virtualized. The next layer up shows
each chip, board, etc. must be virtualized so that it can be assigned to virtual machines. Once in the virtual machine itself, there is a complete
copy of an operating system and finally the application or workload.
The OS Virtualisation model is streamlined for the best performance, management and efficiency. At the base resides a standard host operating
system, in the case of Virtuozzo Containers that includes Windows and Linux. Next is the Virtualisation layer with a proprietary file system and a
kernel service abstraction layer that ensure isolation and security of resources between different virtual environments. The Virtualisation layer
makes each virtual environment appear as a standalone server. Finally, the virtual environment itself houses the application or workload.
For more information please contact our Parallels specialist Mervyn Hall via [email protected] or telephone 07921 493242.
Working inParallels To bring you more
choice in virtualisationand automation.
Finding great staff is never aneasy task, harder still in the fast-moving and competitive ITmarketplace where the right skillsare hard to find. New people needto make an immediatecontribution and recruitmentmistakes can prove costly.
Desperatelyseeking: IT staffThe Bell Micro Security Academy programme has a range of training courses for sales people,enabling them to acquire critical skills around a number of vendor products and solutions. Thisprogramme ensures that a constant supply of skilled security consultants is available, allowingthem to confidently build larger security businesses.
Bell Micro Security AcademyThe Security Sales Academy consists ofa half day overview of general securityissues, followed by two streams ofspecific solutions for both Enterprise andSMB partners. These aim to increase thenumber of skilled security sales people inthe marketplace. The Academy has beendesigned and organised in partnershipwith several leading security vendors to:• develop a sustainable and profitable
security business• build their organisations’ security sales
expertise• maintain healthy profit margins• obtain access to exclusive campaigns
and offers from vendors
Who should attend?Existing sales staff with NO previoussecurity experience. The sales peopleattend the Bell Micro office in Chessington,familiarising themselves with the offeringsfrom our leading security vendors. They willbe supported after the course via accessto security product specialists and thepossibility of co-op marketing assistancefrom Bell Micro and the vendors.
Following the training, the participatingresellers will have regular access to BellMicro’s product management team and
pre-sales consultants. Also, partners who fully embrace the programme bysending more than 3 sales people will beinvited to participate in exclusivemarketing and lead generation campaignswith the vendors involved.
The next Security Sales Academytakes place on 8th and 9th April. To book your place or for moreinformation about the Security SalesAcademies visitwww.bellmicrosecurity.co.uk or [email protected]
www.bellmicro.eu
See us on stand F230at Infosecurity 2008Bell Micro has a complimentary security portfolio that provides
best of breed products across the IT Security market. With this
in mind, Bell Micro will be exhibiting at this year’s Infosecurity
Exhibition on stand F230. Infosecurity Europe is Europe’s most
comprehensive convergence of information security
professionals. The event delivers an audience hungry for
education and information on how, what, why and when to
purchase the products on offer. It also offers vendors the
platform to evolve current or create new channel relationships.
• Reduces data-center and IT staffing by deploying a turnkey, easy-to-use appliance
Inbound and Outbound protection in one comprehensive appliance
• Reduces load on email servers by controlling all incoming and outgoing mail in one best-of-breed appliance • Reduces costs by combining email security functionality into one best-of-breed solution from one vendor
Designed for high availability with global scalability and unmatched processing speed
• Peace of mind that your messaging network will be secured, no matter how large your enterprise is, how many facilities and users you have to protect, and what new threats come down the road
Positioned at the corporate gateways
• Prevents attacks before they reach vulnerable email servers; ensures that no attacks will infiltrate the network or users
• Saves costs on hardware, bandwidth and networking infrastructure • Gateway protection doesn’t interfere with users’ normal business
functions; no end-user training required ensures faster adoption
IronMail® delivers a centrallymanaged, integrated, best-of-breed messaging gatewaysecurity appliance for enterprisesof all types and sizes. Find outwhy IronMail is the messagingsolution of choice for over 57% of the Fortune 500.
www.bellmicro.eu
How to get in touch25 Wellington Business Park, Dukes Ride,
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T: 0871 230 4800 F: 0871 230 4848
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T: 020 8286 5000 F: 020 8286 5056
New startersMartyn Foster HP Account Support
Emiliano Giavanonni Open Storage Marketing Manager
Julia Mallpress Software Purchaser
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Cherie Smith Order Management Account
Manager
Sean Travers Warehouse Team Leader
Edward Cohn Business Development Executive
Ian Keir Security Support Consultant
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