By Patrick Thibodeau
Computerworld (US)
July 21, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - When debt collection agency Deca Financial Services, LLC was formed last year it had two IT paths: It could buy its own servers, software licenses, and hire an administrator, at a total of cost of about $700,000; or turn to a cloud provider with first year cost of about $60,000.

At first, James Hefty, director of operations at the Fishers, Ind.-based company, didn’t believe a cloud provider was a possible option. It had financial compliance rules and concerns such as a client audit.

But the provider, in this case BlueLock LLC in nearby Indianapolis, said it could meet all the security rules, service levels and disaster recovery needs. “We very quickly realized with a little bit of analysis that everyone benefits from it,” Hefty said.

Deca has its own network, router and firewall and server in an HP blade system and VMware environment.

Brian Wolff, vice president of sales and co-founder of BlueLock, said Deca is getting cloud services, even though it has dedicated resources because it can scale on demand, is virtual, fault tolerant, and available through the Internet.

As a new company, Deca had options. Larger companies are unlikely to make a wholesale shift to the cloud services, but they are setting budgets toward on-demand services and the cloud and away from capital expense, said analysts.

“We have never had the ability to run hardware on a software operating model,” said Robert Whiteley, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. But now that IT manages do have the ability to buy hardware as an operational expense, budgeting for it, he said.

IT managers have typically set aside about 70% of their infrastructure budgets to ongoing operations and maintenance, with the balance for innovation.

But a Forrester survey of some 2,600 in companies ranging from SMBs to the enterprise found that IT managers intend to reduce IT operations and support spending to 50%. The innovation share of the budget will remain at 30%, but the balance will go to expansion of capacity to support business growth.

Whiteley said users are reinvesting in capabilities, such as making plans to buy storage from a cloud provider that can scale to business expansion needs.

The Hackett Group Inc., an advisory firm, saw the need for a variable IT budgeting approach in its own surveys. Companies want the ability to maintain IT cost with revenue changes, which is making on-demand sourcing critical.

Honorio Padrn, a principal and global practice leader at Hackett, said users want as much variability as possibility, and pricing that is based on daily usage and consumption.

“We believe that the highly unsettled conditions that characterize the economic climate today will never fully abate,” Padrn said in the report he co-authored. “Therefore scalable, pay-for-use systems are favored over inflexible, fixed-cost, capital-intensive technology.”

As a start-up, Deca had advantages over any company in financial services, with no legacy to worry about. There are over 4,000 third party debt collection firms in the U.S. and most are small.

The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals says 80% of its member companies have 13 or fewer employees, but 80% of the employees in the industry work at larger firms. The industry employs more than 300,000 people.

But among the larger financial services firm, Rodney Nelsestuen, an analyst at the Tower Group Inc., expects interest by this industry in cloud services to pick up, especially in the next 18 months because of the efforts by large IT providers to tailor their services for this industry.

“The internal IT shops are going to be under increasing pressure to reduce size,” said Nelsestuen

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By John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
July 8, 2010

Information infrastructure provider EMC has recently filled its entire spectrum of storage offerings after its acquisition of Iomega, providing the traditionally enterprise-focused firm with a whole suite of products targeted at the SMB and consumer markets.

Acquired by EMC in 2008, Iomega will open new doors for the company in terms of tapping a new market, which has been unchartered territory for EMC until recently.

Easily one of the top competitors in the US and UK for personal and SMB storage products, EMC said Iomega has been one of the fastest growing segments of EMC to date, owing to its mass-appeal offerings of personal storage and NAS (network-attached storage) systems.

With virtually no presence in Asia upon its acquisition, Iomega is expanding its territory by bringing to market a unique suite of products that will address a market normally dominated by Seagate and Western Digital products.

The factor that differentiates Iomega from competitors, according to Rajiv Mukul, the company’s vice president for Asia Pacific and Japan, is its robust host of value-added services that enhance the product line beyond the normal capacity and security features.

This includes software offerings originating from companies acquired by EMC over the years: MozyHome, an online backup utility; EMC Retrospect Express, a backup utility software; an encryption software provided by RSA, the security division of EMC; and vClone, a desktop cloning tool from VMWare, among others.

Iomega’s crusade to expand its business comes at a time when the demand for backup is heightened by the fact that users are slowly realizing the need to secure their files. “80% of PC users do not do backup,” Mukul shared. “Data are getting lost by the minute, and people are realizing the need to do backup.”

This, obviously, bodes well for the storage vendor, which insists that storage today has become more personal than before. “The PC is not the best place to keep data anymore. PCs are used for computing, not for storing data, so it will be much safer if you keep your data outside the PC,” Mukul suggested.

Iomega calls this phenomenon the shift from PC (personal computing) to PS (personal storage). “Increasing broadband penetration, popularity of digicams, PC entertainment, and social media are driving the need for these personal storage devices,” Mukul remarked.

The same phenomenon applies to the SMB market, which is seeing an increased adoption of NAS due to its simplicity. “Most SMBs do not have dedicated IT staff, so our products appeal to them because they are simple enough to use,” Mukul added.

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By John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
July 1, 2010

In order to allay fears of most SMBs—who, Microsoft described, are naturally averse to technology due to a perception that IT is costly—the software giant recently launched a campaign that revolves around making IT easier and cheaper for small and medium businesses.

Dubbed “I.T. Works,” the 360-degree campaign will present real-life solutions to SMBs by sharing successes of fellow small-time businesses with the help of IT.

The announcement was held in conjunction with a two-day event called the “SME Tech Series,” the first in a planned succession of several technology fairs where small- and medium-sized businesses can sit down with their peers and gain insights from speakers, which include industry experts, Microsoft customers, partners, and ISVs.

“Having successful SMBs in the country is aligned with Microsoft’s goals in the Philippines,” remarked Jerry Bongco, small and medium businesses & distribution lead, Microsoft Philippines. “We want to help them understand the best practices of our customers.”

Aside from the technology fair, the four-pronged campaign will also feature a Website, which will present real-life solutions for Filipino SMBs through video testimonials of successful customers. “SMBs want to see if IT really works as an investment,” Bongco said. “The website will add confidence to SMBs, to see that IT can really work.”

The other two components of the campaign include a monthly newsletter containing updates about the economy, technology, and policies, among others. The last part is a relationship program, which will enable Microsoft officials to have frequent engagements with their customers.

Evidence
For Sanitary Care, a local medium-sized company that manufactures personal hygiene products, implementing IT is a major driving force towards growth.

“If you want to take [growing] seriously, you have no choice but to find the infrastructure that reflects where you want to go,” boldly declared Lea Sio, the firm’s marketing communications manager.

Sio shared that it was at the peak of their expansion that they decided to take a risk and put their faith on technology. “On our fifth year [as a company], we branched out to Davao, Cebu, Cagayan, Iloilo, [among others]. Our back office could not keep up. Our IT solution then was not scalable,” she related.

Not being able to scale was the ultimate straw that broke the camel’s back. Sio shared that their expansion plans were good but that “it meant more work for our accounting department.” “While the rest of the company sees expansion as a good thing, all they see is that there will be more paperwork for them,” she admitted.

This is one of the reasons why in 2007, the company migrated to Microsoft Dynamics GP to link all their branches nationwide. This includes the credit and collection aspects of the operations, as well as their financials.

“It’s been very hard for us to control information and manage data,” Sio stressed. “We couldn’t process purchase orders and account receivables in real-time because it takes two to three weeks for all our branches and satellite offices to send [data] to Manila. You can [just] imagine how stale and irrelevant the reports were when we finally get them.”

But aside from managing their financial data, the solution likewise helped their marketing efforts. “We were able to track down to our SKUs, and were able to be more responsive with our market,” Sio explained, adding that gaining insight on which products are being received well by the market enable them to adjust their marketing plans accordingly.

By installing the solution, Sio said they were able to collect an accrued amount of P3 million from their clients, which were not being tracked before. “There’s that peace of mind [with the system] that you can track all your clients,” she added.

Because of this, Sio maintained that IT remains to be a vital pillar of growth and success, especially for SMBs. “If you don’t organize yourself, you won’t grow because you are not managing your business properly,” she said. “Can you grow if you don’t invest [on IT] now?”

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By Lucas Mearian
Computerworld (US)
June 11, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Cisco Systems today announced the launch of Cisco Smart Storage , its first line of networked-attached desktop storage devices aimed at businesses with fewer than 100 employees.

Ray Boggs, an analyst with market research firm IDC, said Cisco’s entry into the storage device market is part of a larger industry trend of networking or data center companies attempting to be all things to their customers.

Cisco’s NSS 300 Series of networked storage devices

“Netgear has gone down that road already, as has HP , where you have a network communications company getting involved in storage,” he said. “It speaks to the blurring of a lot of this technology where storage is associated with security, which is associated with the Internet, which then gets you into networking.”

Boggs said Cisco may see larger storage systems as “an interesting prospect,” but he doubted the company would make a move into the SMB or enterprise business space, as that market would bring it into direct competition with business partners and industry stalwarts such as EMC , NetApp, Hewlett-Packard and Dell .

Cisco’s new Small Business NSS 300 Series Smart Storage series consist of two-bay, four-bay and six-bay desktop network storage boxes with up to 12TB of capacity based on 2TB SATA drives.

The arrays, which can be configured as network-attached storage (NAS) or as iSCSI target devices, have retail prices ranging from $913 to $5,625 depending on the capacity and functionality. Cisco also announced an accompanying service plan, the Cisco Small Business Pro Service , which sells for $149 for most NSS 300 Series configurations. The service comes with three years of technical support that includes software updates, 24-hour online chat support, next business-day hardware replacement as necessary, and call support during local business hours.

“The addition of these new devices further emphasizes Cisco’s commitment to providing small businesses with affordable, easy-to-use technology they require to optimize productivity and drive growth,” Ian Pennell, co-chairman of Cisco’s Small Business Council, said in a statement.

The NSS 300 Series Smart Storage supports file sharing and backup for Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms and can be set up in a variety of RAID configurations including RAID 0, 1, 5, and 6 (dual-disk drive failure resiliency). Drives in the storage arrays are also hot-swappable, meaning they can be changed out without disruption.

The hard drives for the NSS 300 Series also come with native encryption capability, and data on the drives can be accessed by a secure remote Web interface. The NSS 300 devices can also be set up by policy to shutdown based on scheduled working hours to save on power. Individual hard disk drives can also be set to spin down during periods of inactivity, Cisco said.

The NSS 300 Series devices include several business applications including a user-configurable Web server with an integrated WordPress publishing platform and built-in servers to simplify user authentication and management of the network.

Cisco claims that its new Smart Storage devices can be set up in minutes and are easy to configure and manage with a straightforward browser -based interface.

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By Stephen Lawson
IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau)
June 4, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday introduced a variety of products for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), a segment that worldwide spends an estimated US$234 billion per year on IT products, the company said.

The company announced the products at an event in Cupertino, California, where executives said HP had a broad portfolio across PCs, servers, networking, storage and printing, but one that can sometimes be overwhelming to SMBs.

Small businesses are beginning to emerge from the global economic downturn, but that recovery will not be steady, said Chad Thompson, an analyst at Access Market International Partners in New York, who spoke at HP’s event.

“This is not a nice, linear curve moving out of the recession,” Thompson said. Especially for SMBs, future conditions can be hard to predict, he said.

And like enterprises, small IT departments now have to do more with less, because many small companies have had to cut a single IT staffer to half-time or eliminate dedicated technology staff completely, Thompson said.

As a result, HP aims to help its SMB customers manage their infrastructure, using simpler products as well as some new help tools.

Though HP’s offerings are broad, on Wednesday the company focused mostly on networking and storage, both areas where investment is expected to rise over the next few years. While SMB technology spending overall will grow at a rate of 3.6 percent per year until 2014, spending on LAN hubs and switches will grow by 29 percent per year and network-attached storage by 30 percent, AMI’s Thompson said. Fibre Channel SANs (storage area networks) and server-attached storage also will grow at several times the overall pace, Thompson said.

HP updated its V family of LAN gear for SMBs by introducing the HP V1410 Switch Series, a more energy-efficient evolution of the V1400 that offers more configuration choices and use options. The V1410 is available in fixed-configuration designs with eight, 16 or 24 ports of 10/100/1000M bps (bits per second). No 16-port version was available for the V1400.

The switches now include a slot for a Kensington Computer Products lock, the inserted locks often used to secure personal computers. This feature is critical for some small businesses, where network switches may be kept on a desk in an open area, according to HP. The V1410 series is shipping now, with starting prices from US$109 (eight-port) to $379 (24-port).

The company also boosted the capacity of some SMB storage platforms, including the StorageWorks X1000 Network Storage System and P2000 G3 SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) Modular Array.

The latest generation of the X1000 allows for double the capacity of previous versions in half the space, according to HP. Enhanced HP Automated Storage Manager software allows companies to enable file sharing between client systems in 20 minutes or less, compared with 60 minutes in the previous generation, HP said. The StorageWorks P2000 adds 6G bps SAS capability, as well as software that can replicate snapshots of data to a different set of disks in the array.

HP also rolled out the StorageWorks X310 Data Vault, a system for SMBs with limited IT staff. Its user interface is based on Microsoft Windows Home Server, for ease of installation and management, HP said. The X310 can accommodate as much as 15T bytes of storage when external drives are attached via eSATA and USB ports. It can perform automated daily backup for as many as 10 client PCs or Macs.

The X310 Data Vault carries a starting list price of $549. The X1000 Network Storage Systems begin at $3,152 and the P2000 series starts at $8,970. All are available now.

Also on Wednesday, HP announced it is working with Microsoft to help channel partners configure HP hardware platforms with Microsoft collaboration software such as Exchange Server, Communications Server and SharePoint. Together, the companies will advise channel partners on the best configurations and will jointly market the hardware and software for collaboration within and between small businesses, said Duncan Campbell, vice president of converged infrastructure and SMB marketing at HP.

HP also pointed to increased use of online support resources as well as purchasing for SMBs. The company plans to increase the offerings available through its direct online sales site for “micro offices” of less than 10 people, to include storage, networking and mobile products. It currently offers PCs, printers and ProLiant servers.

The company also plans to tap into cloud-based SMB support through 48Upper, an online platform through which people with IT responsibilities in small businesses can share expertise with their peers through social networking. It is coming later this year, Campbell said.

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Computerworld Philippines Staff
February 17, 2010

Even small and medium businesses suffer from frequent power fluctuations and outages, robbing them of opportunities to do business deals on a given day. This is the reason why power solutions provider Emerson Network Power released recently its Liebert PSA UPS specifically targeted at SMBs.

“Although increasingly reliant on IT, too many small businesses remain vulnerable to power fluctuations that can potentially damage electronic equipment, as we discovered that about half of SMBs do not have power protection systems in place,” said Andy Liu, channel product development manager for Emerson Network Power in Asia.

The Liebert PSA, positioned for use for small-office computers and consumer electronics, has been designed to fend off power interruptions for up to 15 minutes at typical load, and includes a line-interactive technology for automatic voltage regulation.

Power management, on the other hand, is accessed through an intuitive software interface and a USB cord that enables remote monitoring. “A small or medium-sized business owner can’t have an eye on the UPS at all times, so it’s vital to have reliable management and alert capabilities built in the system,” Liu explained.

Emerson Network Power is also a provider of power solutions for desktop computing, network equipment, computer rooms to large scale data centers. – John Mark V. Tuazon

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Computerworld Philippines Staff
January 18, 2010

With a bustling SMB (small- and medium-size businesses) space in the country, technology becomes an essential part of a firm’s operations. Lenovo’s answer to this growing sector of the economy comes in the form of the ThinkCentre A63 desktop PC, a unit the company claims to boost productivity and ring in a more efficient workflow for SMBs.

The feature-packed ThinkCentre A63 boasts of advanced performance stemming from AMD’s new 45nm processors that make multitasking easier at minimal energy requirements. The integrated DirectX 10 graphics support high-end 3D applications suitable for engineering, graphic design, and film production industries.

“We know that PCs are the technology backbone for SMBs to run their businesses,” said Vicky Agorrilla, country general manager, Lenovo Philippines. “The new ThinkCentre A63 desktop delivers on the three ‘P’s’ that businesses need in today’s fast-paced, cost-conscious environment: power, peace of mind and price.”

Data is a critical part of any firm’s operations, so protecting it should be of top priority. Lenovo’s Hard Disk Drive Retention tool—part of its warranty services—allows users to keep their hard drives even after retiring their PCs.

SMBs can also leverage the ThinkCentre A63’s enhanced communication tools, by way of an integrated high-resolution webcam and pre-loaded Skype application for an optimum VoIP experience.

Users lamenting poor after-sales support can rely heavily on Lenovo’s ThinkPlus Priority Support, which features 24/7 priority call routing to reduce the time IT staff spend on troubleshooting hardware and software issues by getting instant access to the right experts on hand.

The ThinkCentre A63 desktop is available through all channel partners at P29,000 starting February 10, the company said. – John Mark V. Tuazon

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Computerworld Philippines Staff
December 10, 2009

With the increasing number of threats posing real-time consequences on companies, small and medium businesses are bent on keeping critical information and business operations secure. This mounting concern for SMBs aims to be addressed by Cyberoam’s latest extension of its “Accelerator Series” appliances, the CR25ia and CR35ia.

With 2 to 4.5 times greater firewall throughput, and 1.5 to 2 times the IPS, anti-virus and UTM throughput values, the expanded Cyberoam Accelerator Series can handle the entire spectrum of existing and emerging threats, meeting its promise of comprehensive security.

“Cyberoam addresses the three issues of price, performance and security expectations of our customers with the CR25ia and CR35ia, meeting the requirements of both small & medium office as well as branch office segments,” said Abhilash Sonwane, vice president, product management, Cyberoam. “We are happy to introduce this enhancement to our line of “Accelerator Series” appliances, offering best-in-class UTM throughputs even when the appliances are fully loaded, that is, when all the security features are running.”

Aside from a robust protection system, the new appliances come with a host of security features, including a Stateful Inspection Firewall, VPN (SSL VPN & IPSec), Gateway Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware, Gateway Anti-Spam, IPS, Content Filtering, Bandwidth Management, Multiple Link Management, which can be independently managed using the Cyberoam Central Console.

SMBs who are wont to save money can benefit from the new appliances, which the company claims is cost-effective and can deliver business value when needed the most. – John Mark V. Tuazon

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By Channelworld staff
Channelworld India
October 28, 2009

BANGALORE - AVG Technologies has announced the general availability of its latest small business security products, AVG Internet Security Business Edition 9.0 and AVG Anti-Virus Business Edition 9.0.

The new offerings, the company claims, leverage the enhancements in speed and levels of protection that AVG has delivered in its latest generation of consumer products, making it safer and easier to manage. With this announcement, AVG hopes to continue to improve its support for small businesses, many of which have limited or non-existent in-house IT capabilities.

“AVG’s 9.0 small business solutions provide businesses with more powerful and streamlined protection that deliver improved administration, more robust protection, and faster performance - all without getting in the way of business,” said J.R. Smith, CEO, AVG Technologies. “This generation of products is taking AVG back to its core strength of low impact, high performance security, and adds substantially to the portfolio of measures available to small businesses, and their employees, in working safe from cyber threats,” he added.

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by John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines

In the retail industry, data availability is crucial in managing the flow and delivery of goods from the warehouse to the hands of consumers. Taking stock of inventory is a critical task that needs to be addressed properly. Managing the flow of cash can give useful insights as to what direction the business is going.

With the deluge of products going around the market, it is deemed a herculean task to monitor and manage all of them. However, through technology solutions such as Point-of-Sale (POS) systems, this task is easily handled. But with increasing demands from consumers and a fast-changing products landscape, the evolution of POS systems becomes imminent, if not entirely necessary.

Empowering SMBs
In the Philippines, 99.6% of registered firms belong to the SMB (small and midsize business) domain, reported Amil Azurin, SME marketing head, PLDT SME Nation. “They also contribute to 70% of the labor force, and form 32% of the country’s GDP.” This puts the SMBs in a very influential space, he explained.

Azurin mentioned that the SMBs in the Philippines remain persevering and determined. “They continue their optimism despite the crisis, prioritize business expansion and are beginning to invest in IT to support business objectives,” he noted.

Despite a robust SMB segment, Azurin said small businessmen still face challenges that large corporations are dealing with every day. “They are still worried about how they can increase their efficiency, reduce costs and expand their market reach,” he added.

Azurin suggested SMBs should take advantage of end-to-end solutions that address their problems while significantly reducing their costs. In order to maximize productivity, he said, business owners should take to mind automating their business processes.

Fully-integrated POS
The Point-of-Sale system is an integral part of the retail business process. But for it to be efficient, it needs to possess certain qualities. Ericson Chua, Manila business unit head of Alliance EES—a POS solutions provider—outlines such characteristics: “The technology used for the retail system should be interoperable, easily deployable, secure, scalable, usable and sufficiently maintained,” he expounded.

According to Chua, decision-makers should take advantage of the availability of Web services that can bring greater efficiency to the entire business process. “There are back-end applications out there that can be accessed through the browser,” he said. “It allows for easy download of applications by any user.”

Chua said end-to-end solutions available in the market today can greatly benefit retailers. “There are also setups that can be issued as stand-alone units, and there are those that can be connected real-time to the server for real-time information,” he added.

The mobile workforce
POS and other retail technology systems, however, are not anymore restricted to the stores or offices. The changes in the preference of customers regarding the way they shop have also changed the game for these technology solutions.

“Today, enterprise mobility solutions help retailers obtain available information, secure critical business assets and ensure connectivity and uninterrupted business continuity,” said Don Heraña, territory manager for enterprise mobility business, Motorola.

Heraña said the availability of handheld scanners and mobile POS systems effectively address the changing needs of the market. “They not only expedite POS experience but they also improve customer experience,” he added.

As a specific example, Heraña presented cases of long queues in stores and how they can be addressed through mobile systems. “The technology can be used as ‘queue busters’ through pre-scans which employees can do using mobile RF terminals,” he explained.
With these solutions available for retailers, Heraña suggested the value proposition isn’t that much hard to reach. “They can increase the reach to customers, increase the customers’ satisfaction and subsequently increase your company’s basket size, expanding the business’ bottom line,” he declared.

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by John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
October 1, 2009

As the pace of change in technology hurries alongside increasing demand from global companies to be able to deliver goods and services at a more efficient manner, executives and decision makers—especially in the retail industry—should keep in mind that technology plays but a single factor in raking up sales and profit.

According to Dr. Lemuel Braña, president of the Philippine Computer Society, socioeconomic forces have historically impacted the retail industry more so than technological forces. “Technology, such as a POS (point of sale), is not the only solution to gain more sales,” he explained during Computerworld Philippines’ recent executive briefing on “Point-of-Sale Systems.”

The Philippines’ archipelagic nature, Braña pointed out, contributes to the challenge technology faces in the retail industry. “There is a difficulty in determining how to efficiently deliver the products across the country,” he explained.

Despite this, Braña remarked how the retail industry has grown and evolved over the years. He noted how the diverse and continually multiplying population of the Philippines can greatly benefit the industry, mainly due to its reliance on consumption. “The market is growing and is relatively young,” he said. “Many economies will reap the benefits of these demographic dividends.”

Retail, according to Braña, actually makes up 14% of the country’s GDP. Furthermore, 98% of SMBs—which comprise the vast majority of businesses in the Philippines—are from the retail industry. This employs a strong 18% of the nation’s labor force, roughly equivalent to about 5.25 million workers.

With a diverse population and an industry that cuts across all segments of the market, Braña said retailers have a very high chance of ringing in profit, especially if they are selling food. “The Filipinos are always having a fun time with food,” he remarked, adding that food is deeply entrenched in our culture.

The Evolving Retailer
The evolution of the market brought forth a subsequent change in the way retailers are doing their business, according to Braña. “The retailers are not anymore waiting for their clients,” he said. “Malls are no longer viable locations for selling, especially because the cost of doing business has increased due to increasing rent.”

Braña further posed that any product can now be sold anytime, anywhere, especially because the market also doesn’t want to spend a lot of time buying products and services. “Selling products also doesn’t happen in restaurants or boutiques anymore, as evidenced by the spread of fly-by-night stores,” he added.

With this changing retail landscape, Braña highlighted the role of technology in consolidating information and helping cut operational costs. “We’ve had a client who’s a large retail chain in the US and Canada where we implemented a system to be used by its employees dispersed at more than 1,000 locations in the country,” he shared. “Data integrity was enhanced by providing real-time data transfer from multiple locations to the central employee service center.”

Benefiting From POS Systems
Sta. Lucia Group of Companies, a mall and department store operator, is one local user of point-of-sale systems. Dennis Samson, the company’s IT Manager, said they have a significant involvement in implementing the technology. “The company requires the use of POS for its percentage-based tenants,” he explained. “Our department store, on the other hand, employs 57 POS terminals in its retail operations, while the supermarket has 35.”

Samson said the POS systems have become a way for the mall management to monitor income and profitability of their tenants. “With the availability of data, we help the tenants become more profitable, which in turn increases our company’s bottom line,” he shared.

Because of their use of POS systems, Sta. Lucia has increased sales throughput through the introduction of movable counters as “queue busters”; increased speed of checkout lanes; gradually eliminated dependence on paper forms and logbooks; and began operating on a wireless POS network.

Despite the benefits, Samson advises potential users to scrutinize POS systems thoroughly. “Not all POS solutions will fit the users,” he warned. “But they should attempt to wrap around your business process.”

In choosing providers, Samson suggested a careful examination of the vender’s client history and background. Because of their success with the POS systems they have been using, Samson said the company is now embarking to upgrade their units. “We now have three solutions, which we are looking to integrate into one system this time around,” he explained. This, according to Samson, will further help them streamline their operations.

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By Maxine Cheung
Computer Dealer News
September 29, 2009

TORONTO - Small to medium-sized business (SMB) customers are not as well protected with a disaster recovery (DR) plan as they think, opening the door for ripe channel opportunity, suggests recent findings from a Symantec-sponsored survey.

Pat Hanavan, vice-president of product management for Backup Exec within Symantec’s Data Protection Group, said the company enlisted the help of Applied Research to conduct a global survey titled “SMB Disaster Preparedness.” The survey was conducted between August and September 2009 with small business representatives ranging from 10-99 employees, 100-499 employees, and companies that do business with other SMBs. The survey included responses from 1,653 participants around the world. The U.S. and Canada were represented by 299 survey respondents.

“We asked SMBs to do a self-assessment of whether they think they’re prepared to handle a disaster,” Hanavan said. “Eighty-two per cent said they were somewhat or very satisfied with their DR plan and 81 per cent said they were in North America.”

What’s perhaps the most shocking finding is that of these same respondents, Hanavan noted that in the event of a “serious outage,” more than half said they’d expect to lose at least 40 per cent of their data, with 63 per cent in North America believing this. Maybe this is because 57 per cent of survey participants said they don’t have a formal DR plan in place, something partners can use this to their advantage.

This presents an abundance of partner opportunities in the SMB DR space, he added, stating that there’s a lack of awareness and knowledge in the marketplace around DR solutions and plans.

“Some SMB customers don’t understand the impacts a disaster could have on their business until they actually face an outage and get hit hard,” Hanavan explained. “The vast majority of small businesses are below 100 employees and don’t have an IT staff, so partners can provide goods, services and can also build bigger solutions, installation services and even go beyond that with backup services for their customers.”

Partners need to assist their customers with awareness and education by helping them understand the systems they currently have in place and the importance of the data within the four walls. When this is determined, partners can then help their customers build a solid DR plan by putting in the appropriate level of protection for the customer in the workplace.

Hanavan said that if a customer experiences an outage and they aren’t prepared and lose their data, they may put blame on the partner, or the vendor. It’s therefore in the partner’s best interest to prepare their customers before such an event could happen.

“There’s business to be had here because it’s not just about the software solution. It’s also about staying on top of it, managing it and monitoring it,” Hanavan said. “Partners need to have follow-up conversations with their customers to manage and test their DR plans more proactively.”

Symantec encourages partners to do annual DR assessments for their customers and to provide report cards for them. If a partner is helping a customer upgrade or expand their infrastructures, it’s the perfect opportunity to also help them update their DR plan and retest it again, Hanavan added.

“These (survey) results show there are market opportunities for our partners to go out there and reconnect with their customers to make sure they have a solid and robust DR plan in place,” he said.

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By Channelworld staff
Channelworld India
September 25, 2009

BANGALORE - Avaya IP Office Release 5 is a software that simplifies UC and customer service for SMEs, while delivering capabilities that improve scalability, resiliency and productivity of organizations, claimed the vendor.

According to the company, Avaya IP Office is offered in six role-based solutions and is tailored to roles such as tele-worker, mobile worker and customer service agent, each designed to meet worker needs.

“SMBs require solutions that are easy to understand and use,” said Deepinder Sahni, SVP, AMI Partners. “New role-based solutions improve how business partners meet customer needs, while enhanced capabilities like conferencing are compelling,” he added.

Avaya IP Office Release 5, a business site can use servers at alternate sites to keep an IP communications network operating in the event of an outage, said the company.

IP Office delivers productivity-enhancing applications for UC and customer service are accessible via Web browser using a ‘thin client’ model, said the vendor. New Web-based applications include one-X Portal for Avaya IP Office, designed for PCs providing workers a way to manage phone communications using real-time call control and call logs, according to the company.

“By strengthening the range of communications capabilities available to SMBs, Avaya is giving companies the tools necessary to compete in a challenging business environment,” said Anthony Bartolo, VP and GM- SME Communications, Avaya.

With Avaya IP Office Release 5 software available now, the Avaya IP Office 500 server becomes the company’s single server offering for the SME market. The Release 5 software can also be used on existing IP 406v2 and IP412 IP Office servers.

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By John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
September 7, 2009

SMBs have proven to be a lucrative market in the Philippines, prompting IT solutions provider Dell to shift its country offerings to this segment of the market after serving large enterprises since setting up shop in the country.

The shift, according to Dell executives, is a strategic move towards growing the business in the country, citing SMBs as a key factor for driving their business forward. “More and more, small and medium companies are looking for vendors to help them grow without investing too much,” explained Ng Tian Beng, general manager, Dell South Asia.

Dell’s SMB offerings, Beng said, banks on its ease of use and varies widely depending on unique needs of individual companies. “Our Vostro line, for example, is focused solely on SMBs,” added Barry Bunyi, country general manager for Dell Philippines. “It is bundled with video conferencing and other software that are essential to small yet growing businesses in the region.”

Beng noted that following the recent economic downturn, SMBs have changed their views regarding technology by becoming more critical and careful in handling investments and resources.

“They have a lot of contradictory concerns, such as growing their IT staff yet having to make do with the little resources they have,” he said, adding that Dell is determined to assist SMBs in this kind of situation.

Even if Dell has started to target local SMBs only last year, Bunyi noted that they are seeing positive results with their endeavor. While refusing to cite numbers to prove this claim, he said they are “very confident and optimistic” about this effort.

Despite the shift in focus, Bunyi noted that Dell is still pulling strong on another spaces of the business, particularly in the notebook category. “The mobility market posted a negative growth of 13% last year,” he explained. “But our notebook offerings registered as much as 48% growth.”

Bunyi attributes this stellar growth to their E Series line of laptops, which, he said, has raked in most of the company’s growth in the notebook market.

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By Eric Lai
Computerworld (US)
September 2, 2009

FRAMINGHAM - Mimicking the discounts it has been offering to consumers, Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday said that it will temporarily discount upgrades to Windows 7 Professional.

Windows 7 Professional is the version aimed at small to medium-sized businesses and organizations.

Available starting today from Microsoft resellers, Windows 7 Professional will be offered to Microsoft partners at a discount from now until Feb. 28, 2010, according to a blog posted by Microsoft today.

A Windows 7 Professional upgrade lists for $199 in the U.S., and can be purchased by owners of either Windows Vista or XP. While resellers have the final say on how much of the discount they pass on to customers, it will likely result in most companies offering the Professional upgrade for about $169.

This is the second promotion for Windows 7 Professional. Earlier this summer, Microsoft offered Windows 7 Professional upgrades for $99.99, along with Home Premium upgrades for just $49.99.

Microsoft will also sell three-license Family Packs of Windows 7 for $149.99 in mid-October around the OS’s official launch.

Microsoft offers a variety of discounts for Windows 7.

Microsoft also said today it is offering free 90-day trials to Windows 7 Enterprise, which are available to IT professionals even if they lack Software Assurance Volume License agreements or MSDN/TechNet subscriptions.

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Computerworld Philippines Staff
July 31, 2009

Undeterred by the effects of the global financial crisis, SMBs (small and medium businesses) are bullish in implementing strategic IT strategies to bolster operations efficiency, a new study by IT solutions and consulting firm IBM revealed recently.

According to the study, conducted among midsize businesses across 17 countries from April to May 2009, a vast majority of SMBs retain improving business efficiency as a key priority for IT departments. Enhancing customer service and improving business agility, on the other hand, follow the list of priorities closely.

The study likewise found that contrary to expectations, SMBs are not reducing, but rethinking, their IT budgets. Around 15% report that their budgets have actually increased, while a significant 39% have the same budgets but changing priorities.

“Midmarket organizations openly acknowledge the challenges posed by the current economy, but they are not paralyzed into inaction. In spite of tough economic conditions and concerns about lack of implementation skills, they are continuing to spend and plan against their key IT projects to support their business goals,” said Chestnut Andaya, country manager for general business, IBM Philippines.

The study also highlighted the growing role of emerging technologies such as cloud computing, green IT and social media in the SMB space. Among those surveyed, 79% have taken up moves to pursue green IT, while a close 71% and 69% have utilized Web 2.0 and cloud computing in their operations.

“The study clearly shows that midsize companies, which we believe will be the engines that lead us back to economic growth, are being cautiously optimistic and proactive. IBM is more than willing to sit down and discuss these useful findings to all midmarket companies in the Philippines,” Andaya noted. – John Mark V. Tuazon

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Computerworld Philippines Staff
July 31, 2009

As the prime spot in the SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) market remains a bone of contention among major players, telcos stand a chance to inch away in the game if they localize their content particularly to SMBs, an analysis from global consulting firm Ovum said recently.

According to Claudio Castelli, senior analyst at Ovum, global companies have the potential to encroach on local telco players’ space, so localizing services especially targeted at SMBs will provide a competitive advantage.

“Existing customer relations and good knowledge of their particular needs will be key to telcos’ ambitions to maintain a broader role in the value chain and avoid the risk of becoming only connectivity providers,” he said.

The need to target SMBs, Castelli said, stems from their desire to source services from one vendor. “Ovum research shows that 65% of SMBs globally prefer to purchase all their fixed and mobile services from a single provider,” he explained, adding that integrating multiple services into end-to-end offerings will add value to their services.

An example of this strategy is SingTel, who recently released a range of ICT packages for SMEs, and recently launched an Innovation Exchange programme to bring application developers into the service provider’s SaaS offerings. “The aim is to combine solutions from global players such as Microsoft, Google and Salesforce.com with local ISVs,” Castelli added. – John Mark V. Tuazon

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By Jeff Jedras
ITBusiness.ca

TORONTO - With the economic uncertainty many small-and-medium-sized businesses are delaying their PC hardware refresh cycles to save money, but it’s a decision that could actually be costlier in the long-run. That’s the message that Intel Corp. sent during a recent Web briefing on the SMB PC market, and it’s a message that could help resellers and system builders close sales.

Indeed, Intel pointed to a recently study by Techaisle.com on SMB Pain Points that found as SMBs try to extend their PC lifecycles beyond three years, which is considered the industry norm, the costs to the business begin to escalate dramatically.

“The downturn is pushing the PC replacement cycle out for SMBs, but the consequences are increased viruses and security risks and higher maintenance costs,” said Robert Crooke, general manager and vice-president of the business client group for Intel. “Moving-up a new PC purchase or refreshing is actually a better payback, usually within one year.”

According to the Techaisle.com study, SMBs are generally bullish in their belief there will be an economic recovery, at 85%. They diverge, however, on just when they expect the recovery, almost evenly dividing on forecasts of anywhere from three months, to more than two years, to just don’t know.

Dividing the data between the mid-market and small business, the study found 43% medium-sized businesses are extending their PC refresh cycles, while 54% haven’t changed them. Among small businesses, 26% were extending their equipment life, compared to 73% sticking to their original timelines.

“If you have an uncertain situation on the recovery, waiting for it to happen (to refresh your PCs) can be a risky scenario, because there are consequences,” said Crooke.

Indeed, according to the study, PCs older than three years raise potential security and productivity issues. For example, the frequency of virus incidents rises 28% for desktops and 58% for notebooks when comparing PCs older than three years to those under. Downtime due to viruses also increased by 23% and 22%, respectively.

Component failure rates also jumped dramatically, with hard drive failure rates rising from eight percent to 33%, and power supplies from 11% to 49%.

Additionally, Crooke noted that just as maintenance costs increase, PC warranties often expire at year three, putting increased cost on the business to maintain their older fleets. The bottom line, he said, is that when you consider the increased service costs and the lost productivity due to increased downtime experienced by older PCs, the capital cost of acquiring a new PC can be recovered within one year.

“Our view is a three-year refresh cycle is about the right refresh cycle, and it’s borne out by this data,” said Crooke. “The way SMBs do refresh varies drastically based on their IT sophistication. Some have a schedule and do it on a regular basis, and others do it when PCs fail which is a very disruptive way to do it. We’d encourage SMBs to get on a regular refresh cycle.”

Tony Liao, associate vice-president, sales and marketing with hardware component manufacturer Gigabyte, said SMBs are challenged by security and maintenance costs but he expects them to come out of the downturn strong.

“We think SMBs will lead the recovery because they’re more flexible, especially in emerging markets,” said Liao. “We expect the SMB upgrade cycle to start strong in Q4 beginning with Windows 7, and continue over the next three years.”

Liao adds he sees Windows 7’s release to really help spark the SMB PC refresh market, because the new OS is more user-friendly, easy to use and doesn’t require as powerful a system as Windows Vista did.

Liao’s bullishness over Windows 7 sparking SMB PC refresh is echoed by Intel’s Crooke.

“Its an opportunity for SMBs to make a migration to something that helps them be more productive, and last longer (on notebook batteries) outside the office,” said Crooke. “There’s an ease of migration capability with Windows 7, and an additional layer of security. And technology like Intel’s vPro helps with that security as well, allowing you to drive patching across systems much more quickly.”

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By John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines

Going green is the growing trend nowadays, and even small and midsize businesses (SMB) can keep up with the pace, according to global computer manufacturer Dell who recently presented a host of energy-saving technologies and free resources targeted at SMBs.

Once a small business itself, the company said it realizes the impact of going green to business functions and environmental awareness. “Going green is not only good for the environment, but it is fundamental for small businesses in today’s tough economy,” said Erik Dithmer, vice president and general manager of SMB, Dell Americas.

On top of its energy-efficient green technologies, the company is offering the SMB market a lineup of online resources that promote environmental responsibility and cost-efficient business process, which include solutions for asset recovery, mobile computing, energy calculators and customer care studies.

“With challenging economic times, we’ve seen a significant uptick in green technology interest from small and medium businesses across the globe. This isn’t ‘tree hugger’ green, this is ‘save money’ green, driven by the cost-saving benefits of adopting greener technology. Investing for long term efficiency is part of it, but so is the real near term benefit of lower energy costs,” said Raymond Boggs, vice president for small/medium business and home office research, IDC.

The company said SMBs have started to pickup from the upsurge of green technology, with organizations such as Earth Rangers, an environmental education group, creating virtualized environments that save as much as 90% office space and cut energy costs by the same rate. Robertson Homes, a Florida-based green home builder who benefited from Dell’s cost-efficient Smart OptiPlex 960 desktops, reduced their energy bill by 51%.

“SMBs are feeling the economic squeeze more than other segments and are looking to save money where ever they can, and if there are environmental benefits as well, so much the better,” added Boggs.

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By Melba-Jean V. Bernad
Computerworld Philippines

With the global recession hanging over economies in Asia, IDC expects overall IT services growth in the region to slow down, forcing organizations to move back to basics with an increased focus on cost management and less so on business transformation projects.

In its annual Top 10 Predictions of the IT services market in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), IDC also predicts that the economic slowdown will sustain demand for outsourcing services. The research firm believes that outsourcing and managed services will be more resilient to any curtailment in ICT spending than adjacent ICT areas since they tend to be longer term in nature and are largely driven by cost savings.

IDC also predicts that energy consumption and space constraints will continue to drive investments in transforming the data center, with virtualization and consolidation of the server environment being the initial focus. Despite vendors’ attempts to brand these initiatives under the banner of ‘Green IT,’ the underlying objective for most organizations is around infrastructure optimization to reduce electricity costs—not just environmental sustainability.

Other predictions of IDC include: the resurrection of SaaS and the increasing adoption of Platform-as-a-Service (Paas); remote infrastructure management; increased competition in the hosting and managed services space; and innovative and creative business models to reduce operations expenditure and to ensure that vendors are more accountable for the business outcomes of an engagement.

SMB War
Meanwhile, IDC expects the “war” for the SMB market to continue in 2009. This sector is expected to adopt the the PaaS models of delivering services via “the Cloud” in an attempt to drive down costs in the current economic environment. In addition, vendors are also moving towards standardizing their support service offerings, which will become even more appealing to the SMB market as they are price sensitive and looking for quick and expedient ways to scale up their business. IDC believes that vendors that are able to offer remote, host-based, automated delivery of services will gain favorable traction in this market segment.

“The impact of the global economic crisis on the services market has to be viewed from a number of perspectives and these are changing constantly,” said Philip Carter, associate research director, IDC Asia/Pacific Services research. “The recent Satyam saga is a very good example. The implication in terms of IT governance for clients dealing with services vendors, the offshore players in particular highlights how clients have to maintain a constant balance between cost and value.”

As a result of the current global economic crisis and its impact on the region, IDC has lowered its growth rate forecast for the APEJ IT services market for 2009 to a ‘post-crisis’ forecast of 9.6% from the previous forecast of 11.2%. This revised forecast implies a downside of US$6.5 billion for the IT services market between 2008 and 2012 in APEJ, of which, approximately $2 billion is expected in 2008 and 2009 alone (using a 2007 constant currencies exchange rate). Despite this, the APEJ IT services market is still expected to grow to $49.4 billion in 2009, driven primarily by continued demand for managed services and outsourcing, as cost management becomes a key focus for organizations in the region.

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By Zafar Anjum
Computerworld Singapore

SINGAPORE - Consultancy firm IDC said that it expects the APEJ telecom services market to reach US$253 billion in 2009, representing a growth rate of 8.9 per cent.

Spending in enterprise networks is forecast to grow by nine per cent in 2009 reaching US$10.3 billion, it said. Growth will be driven by continued spending in datacenter networks and migration to an all IP platform. Carrier equipment market will grow moderately at 3.9 per cent with the total market reaching US$52.7 billion.

“The long term economic prospects in the region remains very promising, as such, we do not expect carriers and enterprises to hunker down and turn off the investment switch,” says Adrian Ho, research manager for IDC’s Asia Pacific Managed Services and Enterprise Network Group. “In such economic times, we expect carriers to continue to invest in next generation mobile and IP infrastructure and enterprises to focus on technologies that will allow them to drive IT and cost efficiency, from collaboration tools, software as a service, to data centre networking technologies.”

Top 10 key predictions

IDC made the following top 10 key predictions that will shape the telecommunication industry in APEJ in 2009.

1. Rethinking operator strategies in the downturn and planning for the upswing: In a recession, IDC expects consumers to be more careful about signing up for new services and SME and large enterprises will curtail spending growth in new telecom bandwidth and networking infrastructure. In a severe recession, markets will be characterised by significant job losses and bankruptcies among SMEs and enterprises. This will result in contraction in both telecom bandwidth and networking spending with carriers delaying roll out of new emerging technologies because of delays in adoption by weary consumers.

2. Virtual collaboration rises to the occasion in 2009: Results from IDC’s Unified Communications & Enterprise x.0 survey in 2008 shows that the need for collaboration is indeed the most compelling driver for adopting unified communications by enterprises in APEJ.

3. It’s all about virtualisation and optimisation in the next-generation enterprise data centre: IDC believes that organisations familiar with server and storage virtualisations will start to turn to the networks for further cost savings. Network will be the next frontier in data centre virtualisation.

4. Responding to network congestion: Femtocells the saving grace for incumbent operators: For operators that have licenses to provide both fixed and mobile services, as well as the necessary capital to fund upgrades of their networks, IDC believes that Femtocells will be able to offer scalable solutions to improve network coverage.

5. The age of reconfigurable radio base stations: The advisory firm believes that implementing Software Defined Radios (SDR), a software module that provides greater flexibility and functionality as compared to their hardwired counterparts, can help operators to better manage these BTS.

6. Alternative broadband for small businesses: Although WiMax network offers the same promises as HSPA/HSDPA network, the full prowess of this technology will not be seen until the appropriate business model and pervasive coverage area are established.

7. Moving the wireless backhaul to IP: IDC believes that because of pricing reasons or without the scalable bandwidth will force the mobile operators to migrate to IP.

8. The convergence of network operation centres: The consultancy firm sees the implementation of the converged Network Operation Center (NOC) as the next necessary and logical step in the evolution to next generation and convergence service infrastructure.

9. Resurrection of SaaS: The global economic slowdown has resulted in industry players intensifying their cost management agenda, leading to a paradigm shift from CAPEX to OPEX. This creates an opportunity for a SaaS ‘resurrection’.

10. The beginning era for Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer (ROADM): The continual rollout of Standard Definition TV (SDTV), High Definition TV (HDTV), Video on Demand (VOD), and more matured Metro Ethernet services have forced the operators to cater for heavier data transactions in the network. This may become a nightmare for network management. A more intelligent solution is required to help the network owners. The consultancy firm believes that Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Multiplexer (ROADM) may be the solution for better network management.

According to IDC, these predictions draw upon the latest IDC research and a worldwide brainstorming exercise among IDC’s more than 900 analysts.

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By AvantiKumar
Computerworld Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR - Network firm Cisco Malaysia has launched a website as part of a campaign to increase the productivity of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the country.

Cisco Malaysia managing director Anne Abraham said that the six-month integrated campaign–’One Voice’–is its first ever SMB campaign would transform the way that Cisco communicates with SMBs.

“‘One Voice’ will focus on business capabilities and the benefits of complete solutions rather than on products and technologies,” said Abraham. “Small businesses are the lifeblood of today’s economy and in today’s challenging economic environment, it’s critical that small-business owners have a technology partner that they can trust to help them find and deploy the right solutions to grow their businesses.

She said that Cisco valued the total global market for small-business networking and communications products and services at US$16 billion in 2009 with US$10 billion of this coming from companies with less than 100 employees.

SMB Malaysia

Abraham stressed that the Malaysian SMB sector is an important part Cisco’s Malaysian business. “SMBs contributed 35 per cent to the nation’s GDP in 2006 and are expected to make an increased contribution of 37 per cent to the national GDP by the year 2010.”

Cisco Malaysia director of commercial SMB, Stanley Lim, said: “The number one priority for small-business owners is growing their companies, not being technology experts. Small businesses learn about, and implement technology in very different ways from large enterprises. Cisco brings the technology conversation to a level small business owners can understand via campaigns which address business challenges, rather than technology.”

Investing in small businesses

Abraham said that the ‘One Voice’ campaign leveraged Web 2.0 functionalities and included an SMB seminar, 15 January, as well as:

- SMB Summit Site (www.cisco.com/web/MY/solutions/smb/index.html) for SMB customers and Cisco channel partners.

- Ongoing promotions and product bundles with selected partners and resellers for Cisco’s Unified Communications, switches, routers and wireless products.

In addition, Abraham said that the rollout of this campaign comes on the back of Cisco’s recent announcement of a US$100 million investment in its global small-business initiative. “Cisco has created the Cisco Small Business Technology Group (SBTG), which would develop technologies focused on six areas which small-businesses highlighted as top priorities for enabling business growth: connectivity, security, remote access, productivity, customer interaction and customer support.”

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