The Value Plus Quarterly 2011

the
valueplus
presents
May 201 1
05 08 11 14 17 20 Aastra TippingPoint HP Server Cisco NComputing Fujitsu
q u a r t e r ly
A speciAl publicAtion from redington gulf VAlue diVision
HigHligHTS:
NComputings green future? Fujitsus changing channel strategy
Cisco brings benefits for petrochem player TippingPoint secures the data centre
HP: Time to look again at blades?
COMMUNICATE FOR SUCCESS
redington is a Value Added distributor for the following brands across the middle east and Africa
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08
CoNTeNTS
04 Ramkumars Blog 05 Cover Feature: Aastra 08 Feature: TippingPoint 11 Feature: HP Server 14 Case Study: CISCO
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17 Feature: NComputing 20 Interview: Fujitsu
from the director:

deAr pArtners
e closed yet another year of solid growth for the value division on March 31st 2011, thanks to the tremendous support received from each one of you who trusted us with your valuable business. In our evolution to become a better value added
distributor and be more relevant to your business, we made some key investments which have begun to show positive results. Our continued focus to invest in resources in-country has enabled us to be present as a Value Added Distributor across 14 countries in the Middle East and Africa. Proof of Concept centres in KSA and Nigeria are operational where you could bring your customers to experience some of the technologies they plan to adopt. We have recently
signed partnership agreements with Aastra, NComputing, Fujitsu, Tripplite and Symantec to enable you to offer more technologies and a broader choice to your customers. Feel free to share your thoughts on how we can improve our services, please write to us on valueplus@ redingtongulf.com Yours truly
Raj Shankar Director, Redington Gulf
RamkumaRS BLOG
The brand centric versus customer centric approach

kind of an environment has a long lasting effect on his ability to survive the highly competitive market ahead. Let us analyse the benefits of being technology/brand agnostic : Allows you to have a more open conversation with customers As end customers perceive the channel partner to be giving the best of breed solutions, they are in a position to have a more open conversation with their customers. Ramkumar B, Vice President, Value Added Business, Middle East & Africa, solution to this paradox. Redington Gulf The technology is evolving at a rapid pace and different vendors are taking different his is a topic which approaches to solve a common is a constant debate problem. I am sure all of you in the minds of any would be following the latest partner whether to announcements made by be aligned to just one vendor different vendors on how to or specific technology platform approach the data centre. or be brand agnostic and take We have at least five world a customer centric approach. class vendors with end to end As we see the landscape of solutions who have their own vendors evolving and more and approach to solutions ranging more vendors doing multiple from computing, virtualisation, things away from their core security, UC and the data centre area of focus, this debate has fabric. What does a channel become even more heated partner do in this fast changing in the last few years. Frankly, environment? The choices the we dont see a one size fits all channel partner makes in this Room for creativity in suggesting solutions The channel partner is not constrained with the limitations of a particular technology platform which allows more creativity in suggesting different solutions from different vendors. Better trust with customers This allows a level of building better trust with their customers as this form of an approach is consultative selling. The flip side of being technology/brand agnostic : Partnership status level with vendor (business may be divided into different vendors thus losing a higher partnership level with one vendor) This is the single biggest flip side to being technology agnostic. In most cases, the channel partner is highly supported and encouraged by aligning with a particular vendor. This alignment lends itself in terms of visibility, MDF support, leads and several other incentives from vendors which the partner will be deprived of in case there is a mis-match in expectations from vendors. More focus and specialisation possible The second critical factor is the partner loses out on the ability to be focused and specialised on a particular platform and spread themselves too thin across different technology platforms and hence losing the edge in the market. As I said when I opened this debate, there is no one size fits all solution to this conundrum but nevertheless, points to ponder !!! Happy choosing!
Ramkumar B Vice President Value Added Business, Middle East & Africa, Redington Gulf http://ram-valueplus.blogspot.com
for more information, please write to sales.value@redingtongulf.com
The ValuePlus Quarterly May 2011
AASTRA | COVER STORY
Communication is key
Aastra is a leading company at the forefront of the enterprise communication market around the world. It develops and delivers innovative communications products and applications for businesses. Aastras operations are truly global with more than 50 million installed lines around the world and a direct and indirect presence in more than 100 countries. The company is entirely dedicated to enterprise communications and offers one of the most complete portfolios of UC solutions individually tailored to satisfy its customers requirements, ranging from feature-rich call managers for SMBs and highly scaleable ones for large enterprises, integrated mobility, call centre solutions to a wide selection of terminals. Following their announcement of its new relationship with Redington Gulf Value, we speak to Roger Hage, VP of Aastra MENA.
an you briefly explain why Aastra has partnered with Redington Value? Aastra is known as a multinational vendor for complete Enterprise IP Telephony and UC solutions, with established (former Ericsson Enterprise) and new channels of system integrators. On the other hand, Aastra also has a wide portfolio of open standards-based fixed and wireless IP phones and Video Conferencing terminals (SIP) as well as special IP Phones (Lync) which are interoperable towards third party vendors such as Asterisk, Broadsoft and Microsoft. These products are unique and complement Redingtons offering towards its reseller channels.
Whats the current state of the market in the enterprise UC space? We do welcome and encourage competition. We believe that it in the end it is up to the customer to choose the best solution fitting his needs concerning the speed of migration to IP, the requirements for open standards and multi-vendor sourcing, the functionality their enterprise needs, the quality of after sales service, the TCOs and the optical design of the terminals. All major players in UC are our key competitors - even Microsoft, who has the newest platform called Lync 2010, is our competitor when it comes to complete IPT & UC solutions, but we do also co-operate with them and have developed Lync
optimised Aastra IP phones which exclusively work on the Lync 2010 platform. If a customer has already made investments in Microsoft Enterprise Licenses, they might be in favour of taking their UC solution together with Aastra
Lync IP phones, as this would represent a cost-effective way of adding IPT and UC to their Enterprise software applications and unified messaging solution based on MS Exchange.
May 2011
The ValuePlus Quarterly
COVER STORY | AASTRA
What is the competitive advantage that Aastra has to offer both channel partners and their end-user clients in the UC, contact centre and IP telephony space? We are a company dedicated to enterprise communications, meaning that IPT, UC, contact centres and videoconferencing are our specialisation. This translates into optimal support, quality, innovation and expertise towards the channels and customers. Aastras open standards philosophy benefits equally channels and customers by not forcing them into single vendor lock-in. Our co-operation and alliances with HP Networking and Microsoft are clear signs of our openness. How is Aastra engaging with the channel (both distributors and SIs) to ensure that both move towards achieving the same goal - to grow their businesses and in turn grow Aastras market? We have an extensive channel partner programme for SIs and distributors, which includes training, certifications, comarketing and incentives. From our history with Ericsson (Enterprise), we directly engage with service providers and operators by creating opportunities for IP terminal sales benefiting the channels, which is in line with Aastras indirect go-to-market model. The enterprise communication solutions market requires partners in invest in training,
specialisations in IP telephony, mobility, and UC. Which markets in the Middle East are key for Aastras channel growth? We are covering some 33 countries in the Middle East and North Africa and are expanding our channels in the whole region especially in North Africa and Pakistan.
We do welcome and encourage competition. We believe that it in the end it is up to the customer to choose the best solution fitting his needs concerning the speed of migration to iP, the requirements for open standards and multi-vendor sourcing, the functionality their enterprise needs, the quality of after sales service, the TCos and the optical design of the terminals.
certification and on-going partner education. How is Aastra rolling out these channel training initiatives in the Middle East? We have offered since the beginning of 2011, local training for the channel in our Training Academies in Dubai and Istanbul, as well as on-line training (Weblearn) which makes it easy and affordable for the channels to acquire the right certifications. Last year, we launched a customised Aastra ONE Partner Program targeting HP Networking partners and resellers, which is a fast-track to offer Aastra IP telephony and UC together with HP Networking infrastructure.
Do you have a partner certification programme? If so, how many partner tiers do you have? We have an extensive certification programme for distributors with certification levels depending on sales volume and specialisation: Authorized, Advanced and Premium. For 1st tier SIs we have: Silver, Gold and Platimum certifications; for 2nd-tier SIs and resellers (purchasing exclusively via distributors) we offer Bronze certifications. Specialisation has become a key component of partner certification and training. Is Aastra encouraging its channel partners to specialise? Our partner programme certifications include
What product solutions are high on Aastras channel agenda for 2011 in the Middle East and why? We have released the MXONE 4.1 server-based IP Telephony solution, which can run standalone or can be fully integrated into HPs E8200 zl and E5400 zl switches, which is finding good traction in the Middle East. This is complemented with our award winning multimedia Contact Center solution, Solidus eCare 7.0. In the second half of 2011, we will regionally launch the Aastra BlueStar a SIP media phone for video conferencing and collaboration. More information to be reveleaed later. Is there a specific product set or technology that youre pushing strongly through the channel in the Middle East? We are pushing espeacially the portfolio of SIP phones and Microsoft Lync IP phones through the 2-tier distribution. We also introduced a small all-in-one
AASTRA | COVER STORY
plug-n-play SIP PBX called AastraLink Pro 160, which is ideal for 2-tier distribution. With most enterprises moving swiftly to remove complexity in their company networks, how is Aastra positioning itself as well as the partner ecosystem to ensure that it plays a significant role in helping data centre networks to transform and reduce costs of managing next generation networks? As the responsibility of enterprise communications is shifting towards the IT department, we are making it easier for IT staff to
(system and user), integration with Microsoft Active Directory and SNMP (like HP Openview), open standardsbased protocols like SIP, XML, CTSAv3, IEEE based protocols for PoE, QoS and LLDP-MSED and, finally, a tight integration of the Aastra IPT sofftware into HPs switches.
Roger Hage, VP of Aastra MENA
call control market Q4 2010). This is mainly due to our market leadership in Europe. In MENA we are now introducing new products such as the AastraLink Pro 160 and expanding or distribution channels in order to reach a similar position. If it is important, what SMB/ SoHo solutions is Aastra offering to this segment at the moment? AastraLink Pro 160 SIP PBX What would you like to achieve this year as Aastra given your partnership with Redington? Our target is to build-up a regional reseller channel network to carry the IP terminals and Small SIP PBX. Has Aastras business been affected by the political unrest that has engulfed some parts of the Middle East region? In the MENA region, we are used to cope with challenging circumstances in the past and this current situation is no exception. Aastra has been in the region for a long time (as Ericsson Enterprise) and we do invest in longterm partnerships. We firmly believe that there will be an economic turnaround in the troubled countries and are ready to be part of it. Where does Aastra see growth coming from this year and beyond? We see growth in IP telephony and UC especially in videoconferencing.
manage and support the IPT and UC by implementing the following: server-based communication managers, light rack-mountable media gateways, Web-based centralised management
How important is the SMB/SoHo segment to Aastras business in the Middle East region? In 2010 Aastra ranked number one in the SMB segment (less than 100 lines, according to Canalys EMEA unified communications
eadquartered in ontario, Canada, Aastra has an international reach with more than 2,000 employees around the world, a direct presence in more than 30 countries as well as thousands of sales partners and resellers, including a strong presence among carriers. Aastra is a profitable and well managed company: Q2 2010 was Aastras 49th consecutive positive quarter, revenues reached CAD$832.9 million by the end of FY 09 and the balance sheet is strong with a positive net cash balance. With more than 50 million lines installed globally, Aastra has one of the largest customer bases of any global telephony provider and the loyalty of its customers is a testimony to product and service quality. Aastra has a long time track record of protecting customers investments. Aastra has a broad portfolio of enterprise communications solutions to satisfy its every customers requirements. offerings range from
Aastra at a glance
feature-rich call managers for small and medium businesses to highly scaleable ones for large enterprises, to integrated mobility solutions, unified communications applications and call centre suites, complemented by a wide array of terminals. Aastra is 100% dedicated to enterprise communications and is number six in the world for the enterprise Telephony Platform and endpoints market and one of the leading players in eMeA: number two overall in eMeA and number one in the sub 100 extension segment in 2009. Aastra embraces open standards to offer standalone network elements or complete system solutions to its customers. Aastra is the only company with a complete portfolio of architecture: iP-PBXs, software based call managers, open source platforms, hosted solutions and Microsoft based architecture (ie Response Point and oCS) Aastra continues to invest aggressively in R&D to be at the forefront of iP technology
May 2011
FEaTuRE | TiPPiNgPoiNT
Securing the virtual

TippingPoint security solutions are deployed by thousands of organisations worldwide, including many Fortune 1000 and Global 1000 companies. The combination of purpose-built intrusion prevention system (IPS) platforms, enterprise-class management and industry-leading threat research and security filter development has positioned TippingPoint as a trusted partner for securing the largest data centers.
any organisations are now migrating their data centres to virtualisation in order to take advantage of its promise of improved efficiency and cost savings. Some of these advantages
include: system consolidation (including shared storage), reduced space requirements, reduced power and overall hardware requirements, quicker application delivery, improved disaster recovery and better overall
management flexibility. These advantages cannot be realised if the virtualised infrastructure is at risk of data compromise, does not meet security regulatory requirements or is at risk of downtime caused by cyber
threats. Furthermore, enterprises want solutions that are trusted and have been proven to be effective over time for large enterprise protection. After all, the virtualised infrastructure and its applications are subjected to the same threats that impact the traditional data centre. So as organisations accelerate the migration of production workloads and mission-critical assets to the virtualised infrastructure, security requirements become a strategic element of their migration plans. In response to this need for trusted and proven security solutions specifically for virtualisation, TippingPoint is expanding its security and management portfolio to address the unique requirements of the virtualised data centre. The TippingPoint Secure Virtualization Framework (SVF) is designed specifically for implementing best-of-breed threat protection for the virtualised infrastructure. It incorporates the advantages of its trusted and proven physical data centre solutions into this new environment and provides the following benefits: Extends TippingPoints industry-leading threat research capabilities, breadth of protection, ease-of-use and automation capabilities to include virtual infrastructure Enables TippingPoint customers to extend their existing processes,
TiPPiNgPoiNT | FEaTuRE
methodologies, tools and knowledge to secure their virtual infrastructure Provides unmatched management, visibility and control on internal virtual networks Active threat blocking Active threat blocking means that filters detect malicious traffic and stop it before it can compromise or damage the virtualised data centre infrastructure or its data assets. Unlike detect and alert models that require manual intervention to mitigate detected threats, TippingPoints solutions enable virtualised traffic to be thoroughly inspected up to the application layer and for malicious traffic to be automatically blocked in realtime without false positives. The highest priority for securing virtualised environments is protection of both the virtual hosts and the virtual machines (VMs) operating within the hosts. TippingPoints modern network security platform and intrusion prevention system (IPS) is purpose-built to protect the virtualised data centre from ever-evolving, global security threats. These threats target both the virtual hosts and the VMs contained within them. Together with TippingPoint Digital Vaccine Labs (DVLabs), its premier research organisation for vulnerability analysis and discovery, TippingPoint provides the best pre-emptive protection for vulnerabilities and zero day attacks targeting
the operating system (OS), application, services and the most popular virtual platforms including VMware ESX/vSphere, Citrix XenServer and Microsoft HyperV. Optimised protection From its many enterprise IPS deployments, TippingPoint has learned that no two networks are alike and that organisations need solutions that can be flexible enough to fit their specific business and risk-
VMSafe API, the vController efficiently directs appropriate traffic to TippingPoints appliance and its leading threat suppression engine (TSE) ensures the optimal performance and control required in the virtual data centre. The vController and IPS Platform also operate in unison to support HA capabilities, including fail over of the vController when HA requirements and configured policy dictate. TippingPoint Virtual
constraints dictate a lower cost solution Full VM isolation In the physical data centre, it is a common practice to segment or isolate application servers used in sensitive areas such as HR applications, CRM and their associated database servers. Likewise in the DMZ, systems are isolated, like Web applications and their associated database servers, DNS, e-mail, etc. When these systems are virtualised, the need for isolation remains - in fact, the need may be greater since these machines now share the same hardware resources. TippingPoint enables traditional networks to be segmented by putting physical appliances between them and, with the N-platform, allows hosts to be segmented without putting an appliance in front of every connection. By utilising the VLAN translation features of the new platform, IPS inspection can be consolidated for a number of system segmentation boundaries. After enabling host isolation centrally, TippingPoint applies that same isolation model to the virtualised data centre. By tapping into the VMSafe API, TippingPoint is able to isolate VMs within a host or across hosts using either the vController to offload inspection and enforcement, or vIPS for inspection in the virtualised infrastructure. All three methods, including
Unlike detect and alert models that require manual intervention to mitigate detected threats, TippingPoints solutions enable virtualised traffic to be thoroughly inspected up to the application layer and for malicious traffic to be automatically blocked in real-time without false positives.
requirements. TippingPoint has incorporated two unique approaches into its Secure Virtualization Framework (SVF) to provide deployment and configuration flexibility: TippingPoint Virtual Controller (vController) takes advantage of the performance characteristics of the purposebuilt TippingPoint N-Platform (IPS), delivering the best performance and accuracy in its class for detecting and stopping threats up to the application layer. The vController provides a direct path to the TippingPoint IPS Platform (appliance) to inspect and control VM-to-VM communications. Using the Intrusion Prevention System (vIPS) builds upon the vController by providing a purpose-built IPS virtual appliance for deployments where a physical IPS device is not practical. Some implementations where a virtual IPS appliance may be attractive include: Office-in-a-box ROBO deployments where all workloads are virtualised within a single, redundant box Disaster recovery (DR) environments Public cloud environments where security is offloaded to cloud along with production workloads Peak demand capacity due to seasonality where cost
May 2011
FEaTuRE | TiPPiNgPoiNT
VLAN translation for host segmentation; VController for off-loaded VM and host segmentation; or vIPS for locally executed VM and host segmentation, provide the benefits of stopping threat cross-contamination among data centre assets, enabling enterprises to meet security mandates and regulatory requirements such as PCI-DSS. Unmatched virtualisation visibility In addition to the security challenges that virtualisation presents, one of the greatest challenges for administrators deploying virtualisation is management, visibility and control of the virtualised infrastructure. Considering the ease of creating and moving critical applications within a virtualised environment, this challenge is greatly magnified in the virtualised data centre compared to the physical data centre. Recognising this need, TippingPoint has partnered with Reflex Systems to bring customers the visibility and control necessary to effectively configure, manage and control enterprise security effectively within the virtualised data centre. This is in addition to the TippingPoint Security Management System (SMS), which provides a valuable tool for configuring security policy management, monitoring and reporting. TippingPoints integration with VMwares VMsafe APIs via Reflex Systems vTrust and Reflexs Virtual Management Center (VMC) provides many
advantages: Automatic discovery and graphical mapping of virtual infrastructure topology Supports Separation of Duties (SOD) between operations and network/ security teams Security teams can monitor vSwitch and VM changes to identify tampering or disablement of security controls Upgradeable and compatible with full Reflex VMC Complete visibility and control over entire virtual infrastructure Consistent security policy and enforcement The TippingPoint SMS is an enterpriseclass management platform that provides administration, configuration, monitoring and reporting for multiple TippingPoint IPS platforms. Because the TippingPoint SMS provides a scaleable, policy-based operational model, it enables straightforward management of large scale IPS deployments across both physical andvirtualised infrastructure. Additionally, SMS enables separation of duties (SOD), which is among the most critical elements of ensuring secure virtual infrastructure. SOD is maintained by providing a unified and centralised IPS management platform for enforcement of security policies regardless of infrastructure type. The TippingPoint SMS provides granular traffic inspection policy profiles,
Proven, timely threat coverage

ippingPoints DVLabs team is the premier security research organisation for vulnerability analysis and discovery. The team consists of industry recognised security researchers that apply their cutting-edge engineering, reverse engineering and analysis talents in their daily operations. Among IPS vendors, TippingPoint is the undisputed leader in vulnerability discoveries. The by-product of these efforts fuels the creation of vulnerability filters that are automatically delivered to TippingPoint customers IPS Platforms through the Digital Vaccine service. The
and enables inspection of any traffic flows according to user requirements, including VM to VM, and Host to Host policy configuration. It also enables consistent policy management across physical and virtualised deployments from office-in-a-box security policy configurations, where remote sites are set up by combining required apps and other elements into a virtualised package, to virtualised Web apps, to core network deployments that have their own set of security configuration requirements. This granular security management combined with the integrated Reflex vCenter and available Virtualisation Management Center (VMC) delivers optimal flexibility, visibility and control for comprehensive virtualization security management.
Digital Vaccine Service ensures evergreen (always up-to-date) protection against emerging threats. Digital Vaccines are delivered to customers at least twice a week, or immediately when critical vulnerabilities emerge and can be deployed automatically with no IT interaction required. Digital Vaccine filters are created to not only address specific exploits, but also for potential attack permutations, protecting customers from zero-day threats to operating systems, services, applications and virtual infrastructure.
Persistent mobile security A key advantage of the vIPS is the ability to maintain the same security policy and IPS enforcement for VMs as they are moved for disaster recovery or for other business reasons to other hardware resources. By placing the IPS within the virtual infrastructure, there is no break in traffic inspection or in active blocking of threats and no alteration of the security policies that have been established for a given VM, even as VMs are relocated. This persistent protection and configuration flexibility enables liberal movement of VMs in the most dynamic virtualised data centres. It also enables rapid deployment of VMs into new environments.
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HP SeRVeR | FEaTuRE
compelling reason not to build a business on a technology platform - remember the single mainframe? Objection 2: Blades concentrate network connections beyond manageable limits. Blade neophytes picture the rear of a blade enclosure as a rats nest of cables. Nope, its actually very clean. Connections are trunked, with network routing configured via a management app that scales well, like through Virtual Connect Manager or vSphere. Objection 3: Blade servers generate more heat than rack servers. Sometimes, but rarely, this is a valid concern. Per unit of compute, blades generate less heat than rack servers. However, since blades are concentrated into a smaller space, they can generate more heat per square foot. A 42U rack of 64 c-Class blades will likely produce more heat than
the same rack filled with 40 traditional 1U pizza box servers. Objection 4: Blade servers arent green. False! OK, theyre not built entirely from rainbows and butterflies, but blades do consume less power, which means a cleaner footprint. One great example: Scandinavian countries have the highest adoption rate of blade servers of any region in the world. Why? Because blades are green and those countries are highly attuned to that. Objection 5: Blade servers cost more than rack servers. It depends on how theyre configured and whats included in the cost. At some point of around a dozen servers, cost for blades are often lower than 1U or 2U rack-mounts, but its heavily dependent on configuration and networking costs.
Five things not wrong with blades

Despite their obvious advantages, blades have never really set the market alight. Vendors love them and analysts have been enthusiastic, but users have been distinctly unimpressed. Kalyan Kommuru, Product Manager Servers and Storage, Redington Gulf - Value Division, clears the air of some myths!
Objection 1: Blades are a single point of failure. In fact, theres no single point of failure if blades are configured correctly. For example, connecting blade enclosures to two different power feeds removes power supplies as a lynchpin. No, there are still single points of failure in blades - they just incur acceptably low risk. For example, the sheet metal side wall of a blade enclosure has no redundant backup, but sheet metal doesnt often spontaneously crack or disintegrate. And if an enclosure wall cracks, its unlikely to cause server downtime. Besides, single point of failure isnt a
Figure 1: Magic Quadrant for Blade Servers
Source: Gartner (January 2011)
May 2011
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FEaTuRE | HP SeRVeR
The blade story
or organisations that are weighing the choice between deploying a large number of servers, TCO analysis favour blade server systems over rackoptimised server systems for reductions in both capital and operating expenses. Blade server systems are all about exploiting the economies of scale when deploying servers in volume. Analysing data provided by HP, IDC validated the nature of the expected cost savings: * From a capital expenditure point of view, hundreds of
independent rack servers require thousands of repetitive parts. This need is apparent when integrating servers with LANs and, particularly, SANS. Without a shared backplane, each standalone rack server requires adapters, cables and supporting switches - there is no economy of scale as the number of servers grows. The blade server system, with its integrated backplane, consolidates LAN and SAN access and thus requires far fewer interconnecting cables and devices.
* From an operating expenditure point of view, further economies of scale emerge. Reductions in power, cooling and data centre space accumulate to lower facilities cost by an estimated 25%. Most importantly, the cost of initial system deployment drops dramatically as the software combines with the blade server system to automate system installation tasks. Moreover, consolidated networking for LANs and SANs reduces the number of cable pulls. Thus, installation tasks that once took a few hours per server can be accomplished in a few minutes per blade. In addition, costly tasks such as running hundreds of cables disappear entirely. In this context, IDC believes that the HP BladeSystem c-Class
is an important platform for IT organisations to evaluate when weighing the relative TCO associated with building out server and infrastructure resources. With next-generation HP Thermal Logic technology to reduce energy consumption and improve cooling efficiency, the HP BladeSystem c-Class helps to alleviate power consumption limitations that are emerging in some datacenters. HP Virtual Connect architecture streamlines LAN and SAN connectivity and expedites the provisioning process. Built-in HP Insight Control management improves the ability of system administrators to deploy systems rapidly, catalog blade system resources, provision infrastructure and monitor overall system health.
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HP SeRVeR | OFFER
P4300 OFFER
Whats insidE thE bOx:
May 2011
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CaSE STuDY | CiSCo
Improving manufacturing agility

Cisco Collaboration Solutions provides major petrochemical producer in Saudi with an oasis of financial and operational advantages.
he National Industrialization Company, also known as TASNEE, is the second largest petrochemical producer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The manufacturer converts natural gas and crude distillates into a variety of petrochemical products, which, in turn, are used to make consumer goods. IT and communications play an important role in supporting these operations by enabling effective collaboration between product development, manufacturing, sales and marketing and distribution teams. However, aging telephony systems and networks were struggling to keep pace with a rapidly changing and expanding business. This IT model was also
becoming difficult and expensive to manage. The company would often have to spend money on extra cabling and rely on third parties to manage services, such as voice and video conferencing. Therefore, as well as improving communications and access to information for mobile workers, the company needed a new model that would help accelerate growth and the adoption of new technologies. TASNEEs vision was to create a borderless organisation, where employees could see each others realtime contact status, set up a virtual meeting and share their workspace, regardless of the users device or location.
Placing collaboration and communications at the heart of our new iT model means we are better placed to respond to the changing requirements of the business. - Abdulgader Al-Harthi, CIO, TASNEE
TASNEE used Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing to procure a broad range of Cisco Unified Communications applications and services on a pay-per-user basis. This integrated suite of solutions includes Cisco IP Telephony, Unity Unified Messaging, Unified Presence, IP Communicator, Mobile Communicator and Contact Center Express. The project, implemented by Cisco partner EBTTIKAR, will provide 1,200 users with the ability to communicate using any device (desktop, phone, or mobile device) and any method (voice, video, e-mail, instant messaging,
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CiSCo | CaSE STuDY
Short Message Service, conferencing or fax). This highly collaborative environment makes full use of the companys internal network. For example, with Unified MeetingPlace Express employees can set up and attend voice, video and Web conferences
At a glance
Customer Name: The National industrialization Company (TASNee) Industry: Manufacturing Location: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Number of Employees: 1,200 Business Impact easier to collaborate in real time across multiple workspaces Faster organisational responsiveness and decision-making Maintenance and mobile call savings
quickly and easily. These virtual meetings can be used to share and edit documents, demonstrate products, deliver compelling presentations or to support training programmes. Unity Unified Messaging has streamlined communications further still by enabling e-mail, voice and fax messages to be accessed from a single inbox, anytime, anywhere. Additional benefits to TASNEE include the elimination of the on-site private branch exchange maintenance costs and a reduction in the companys mobile phone expenses. The latter as a result of Cisco Mobile Communicator and Wireless IP phones which are being used to help drive employee mobility and flexibility throughout the campus.
May 2011
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Cisco Collaboration Solutions.

Collaborate with Confidence.
Cisco collaboration solutions are changing the way your customers communicate and collaborate.
As a Cisco partner, you are uniquely positioned to provide a broad range of industry leading solutions to meet your customers communication challenges. Strengthen your role as a trusted advisor to your customers, by introducing Ciscos collaboration solutions today. Improve your customers Interactions and enable them to connect, communicate and collaborate like never before.
For more information, contact

sales.value@redingtongulf.com
NCoMPUTiNg | GREEN iT
Lowering the environmental impact

Todays PCs are far more powerful than the earliest room-filling computers. They also use less electricity. Arguably the first general-purpose computer, ENIAC drew roughly 150,000 watts of electricity. By comparison, todays PCs consume about 110 watts. That seems small. But there was only one ENIAC and there are 850 million PCs in use today.
50 million PCs consume an immense amount of electricity and most of it is provided by burning fossil fuels. This process emits pollutants, sulfur and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. These emissions cause respiratory disease, smog, acid rain and global climate change. From the largest scale the earth - to the smallest scale of a classroom or an office, the environmental
impact of todays PC architecture is a huge and growing problem. Unfortunately, the impact is largely unaddressed and often unrecognised. In addition to massive power use, tens of millions of PCs are disposed of in landfills and garbage dumps around the world contaminating the soil with toxic e-waste substances like mercury and cadmium. NComputing is an architecture that changes
the green equation. NComputing systems are a major leap forward in green computing and, today, more than 15,000 organisations in over 80 countries have used NComputing to slash their
carbon footprint and electric consumption. The NComputing solution is based on a simple fact: todays PCs are so powerful that the vast majority of applications only use a small
May 2011
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GREEN iT | NCoMPUTiNg
Share 1PC with up to 30 users with NComputing virtual desktops

It also consumes very little power - 90% less energy per user. PCs typically consume between 110 to 200 watts of electricity. In contrast, NComputing access devices consume next to nothing. In fact, NComputings L-series devices consume 5 watts per added user and the X-series consume just 1 watt per added user. So, if you replace seventy PCs with ten PCs attached to sixty NComputing X-series access devices, you would save over 10,000 kilowatthours (kWh), which translates to over 1 metric ton of CO2 emissions per year. However, air conditioning is the hidden environmental cost. A single PC generates more heat than a 100 watt light bulb. A classroom, computer lab, or office with PCs warms up very quickly. In fact, PC-filled work areas almost always have to be air conditioned, which raises electricity costs and requires large capital expenditures to buy, install and maintain them. In comparison, a room equipped with PCs and NComputing access devices generates 90% less heat and does not require additional air conditioning. Electronic waste is a large and growing problem throughout the world. People rarely think of their PCs in the same way that they think of other toxic waste, but while electronic waste represents only 2% of trash in landfills, it represents 80% of the toxic waste. NComputing greatly reduces the magnitude of this problem. In sheer weight, PCs generate much more waste than virtual desktops. A typical PC weighs about 21 pounds (9.5 kg); an NComputing access device weighs about 1/3 of a pound (0.15 kg), for a 98% reduction in electronic waste. An NComputing access device also has a much longer useful life than a PC. When a shared PC is replaced with a newer one, the PC may go to a landfill, but the NComputing users can
fraction of the computers capacity. NComputings virtualisation software and hardware tap this unused capacity so that it can be simultaneously shared by multiple users. The NComputing virtualisation software works on a standard
Windows or Linux1 PC. Each users monitor, keyboard and mouse connect to the shared PC through a small and durable NComputing access device. The device itself has no CPU, memory, or moving parts, so it is easy to deploy and maintain.
18
NCoMPUTiNg | GREEN iT
A major cost of running an organisation comes from supporting the PC infrastructure. Virtual desktop computing based on NComputing saves money up front and over time.
keep their access devices and enjoy the boost in performance from the new PC. So whereas PCs might be upgraded every three years or so, access devices could easily last five years or more. With less frequent turnover, less equipment ends up in landfills. NComputing access devices are also compliant with RoHS regulations, which restrict the use of lead and other harmful metals. Over 850 million PCs are turned on every day.
If NComputing systems were used instead (at a ratio of six access devices to each PC) there would be substantial immediate and long-term environmental benefits. The impact on the environment of adopting NComputing solutions would be enormous. Energy use would decline by over 120 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, or about 83%. The electricity usage decline would save nearly 15 million metric tons of coal each year and would
eliminate the need for 120 megawatts of coal power capacity. CO2 emissions would decrease by 96 million metric tons. This is equivalent to planting nearly 460 million trees. Disposing of NComputing devices (0.33 lb each), rather than disposing of an equal number of PCs (21 lbs each) would save over 6.7 million metric tons of e-waste. And that is just for the PCs in use today. There are another billion users who will join the digital world in the coming decade. So to get a feel for the ultimate global impact of NComputing, just double all of the numbers above. You may not control millions or even thousands of seats. But even if you just control a few hundred, you can make an impact. For example, 500 seats would save over 70,000 kWh and reduce 9 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. At the end of the useful life, you will have to dispose of only one metric ton of e-waste instead of five metric tons. Using NComputing is obviously globally responsible. But it is also locally responsible - to your budget. Because of the extreme reduction in electrical consumption, the devices can pay for themselves just by lowering your electricity bill in as little as a year. To find out how much you would save, use the calculator at ncomputing.com/ greenadvantage.
May 2011
19
iNTERViEW | FUJiTSU
The channel strategy

Farid Al-Sabbagh, MD at Fujitsu Technology Solutions ME, discusses recent changes in the companys support for its channel partners across the region.
irstly,can you give us an update of the steps youve taken to enable business development by your channel across the Middle East recenrly? We have taken a series of steps to ensure that our partners have the best possible support
structure to close deals. Ill just mention a few of our initiatives. Firstly, we provide our partners with on-line training and certifications most of which
are completely free of charge - this allows partners to grow their business with minimum investment from their end. There has been a substantial investment in training face to face as well and we have now covered 100% of our Enterprise Partners with necessary
certifications for offering Enterprise Solutions. Any other practical steps? Fujitsu has set up demo and POC centres in both the UAE and KSA, which will allow customers to preview our range of solutions, as well as partners to conduct trainings as necessary. We have also implemented a new
20
FUJiTSU | iNTERViEW
are encouraged to acquire the SELECT Partner Certification types that suit them best or even upgrade to become a SELECT Expert to benefit from even more advantages and support. How does it work? The Partner level offers a wide range of benefits including on-line training and privileged access to price lists and marketing tools. Partners simply have to register themselves on the Channel Partner Portal and have sold at least one of Fujitsu products or solutions within the last six months. Then SELECT Partner level gives partners access to additional benefits such as a dedicated SELECT Partner Manager, sales incentives and advanced technical resources. It requires certification in server and storage and/or mobility communications programme using a dedicated Partner Portal as well as c-tec, Fujitsus specialist technical on-line community. And we have invested in personnel, bringing onboard dedicated partner managers Enterprise Sales Managers - in countries across the region, who today are helping resellers close deals. What about your overall partner programme offering and commitment to the channel,
servers and blade servers); Storage Infrastructures (Storage Certification (Expert) around powerful Fujitsu storage solutions); and Solution Infrastructure (Data Solutions/ Office Solutions Certification around Fujitsu virtualisation and automation technologies). So SELECT Expert is Fujitsus highest partnership level? Yes, it offers a range of exclusive resources including tailored lead generation, additional sales and technical resources, and invitations to special events. Any other important steps by you for the channel over the last year? I would like to begin by saying that our partnership with Redington Value is an important step towards our commitment to the Middle East channel. We expect resellers to have access to the latest generation of servers and storage products which are attractively priced. Importantly for us, we now cover all warranty calls on-site for servers ourselves, in the UAE and KSA. Hence partners can straightaway commit direct company support for the products they sell, onsite. As an added incentive to our partners, we have also conducted several innovative demo programmes that allow partners to increase revenue by providing potential customers with a first-hand experience of our products benefits. Increased sales through our inventive demo programmes for our partners also means additional incentives and bonuses from Fujitsu.
i would like to begin by saying that our partnership with Redington Value is an important step towards our commitment to the Middle east channel.
market development initiatives and so on? In 2010, Fujitsu announced the launch of its SELECT Partner Program to the Middle East market, with the main aim to help partners grow their business. Within the programme, partners products and solutions, and the completion of a business profile. A SELECT Partner can also apply to become a SELECT Expert by specialising in Server Infrastructures (Server Certification (Expert) in advanced installation and configuration of Fujitsu
May 2011
21
THE BiG CONNECT - SNaPSHOT
redington eVents:
THE BiG CONNECT
february 6-9 2011 dambulla, sri lanka
his annual educational, market strategising, networking and relaxation gathering of the regions top HP Networking channel partners saw 35 key partners from across the region (excluding Saudi Arabia, where partners held their own Big Connect last october) to meet to understand HP Networkings roadmap for the year ahead, discuss the networking market in overall terms and local trends, discuss what they needed in terms of support both from HP Networking and Redington Value and compare approaches to the market. All with one: increasing business and the quality of service to customers However, there was also time to acquire critical market skills such as elephant riding and fire walking!
22
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AASTRA | COVER STORY

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