The growth of government backed cloud schemes, such as the one unveiled at the start of this week, could run into trouble because of differing data regulations.

The UK government’s decision to launch the G-Cloud to procure products and services is something that is expected to be replicated elsewhere. But because of different approaches to data laws across the world, and across the EU in particular, the chances are that there will be a clash of policies somewhere down the line.

A study into countries’ cloud positions has been undertaken by the Business Software Alliance, with the findings showing a sharp contrast between those mature markets that are cloud ready and those that are nowhere near the mark.

The UK ranks seventh out of 24 countries in the BSA global cloud scorecard behind Japan, Australia, Germany, the US, France and Italy.

“The true benefits of cloud computing come with scale,” said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman. “In a global economy, you should be able to get the technology you need for personal or business use from servers located anywhere in the world. But that requires laws and regulations that let data flow easily across borders.”

“Right now, too many countries have too many different rules standing in the way of the kind of trade in digital services we really need,” he added.

Article source: http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/reseller-news/uk-ranks-seventh-on-cloud-ready-chart/

Channel training specialist CompTIA have introduced a new mastery-level security credential pitched at information assurance professionals holding technical leadership roles, with at least five years hands on security experience under their belts.

CompTIA said it was responding to the findings of its most recent Information Security Trends study, which found 42% of UK respondents faced challenges when it came to hiring security specialists.

Its study revealed that 78% of UK firms felt that IT security was becoming a higher priority, while a third said their staff lacked the necessary skills to deal with the changing threat environment, and nearly 85% said they would either look to train up existing or hire new staff.

“There is a great and immediate need for IT pros with the advanced skills necessary to secure data, devices and networks,” said CompTIA executive vice president of skills certification, Terry Erdle.

The certification exam, which is the first in a series of mastery-level credentials to be rolled out by CompTIA, will cover skills and techniques in enterprise security; risk management; research and analysis; and integration of computing, comms and business disciplines.

Article source: http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/reseller-news/comptia-launches-security-master-certification/

With the Budget looking on the horizon business groups have started to make their wishes known to the Chancellor as they look to try and get measures included that will support SME growth.

The CBI has outlined its wish list including a call for £500m to be spent on infrastructure projects to get the economy moving again and changes to tax to make life easier for smaller firms.

“We’re calling on the Government to make some targeted changes to the UK tax system, which could make an impact on business decisions and create new opportunities for growth,” said John Cridland, CBI director-general.

“Delivering private sector investment in infrastructure, supporting mid-sized businesses, hammering out the details on credit easing, extending the Youth Contract to 16 and 17-year-olds, and introducing the new build indemnity scheme for mortgages at the earliest opportunity will all provide a real boost for UK growth and jobs,” he added.

“We also want to maximise the incentive for businesses to invest in Britain. So we’re calling on the Government to make some targeted changes to the UK tax system, which could make an impact on business decisions and create new opportunities for growth,” Cridland said.

The Budget is coming on the back of figures released yesterday indicating that the government plans to reduce the deficit had led to a surplus in borrowing of £7.75bn in January.

This is being seen by some as a chance for a £10bn windfall to be used to encourage growth and other business groups are expected to offer their advice about how this can be spent in the next few weeks.

Article source: http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/reseller-news/cbu-unveils-budget-wishlist-with-call-for-tax-reforms/

The PC market has still not exited the recession if Dell’s latest set of results are a barometer of the fortunes of the hardware sector.

Not only did the numbers for the fourth quarter fail to impress Wall Street but the vendor warned that sales would be down by 7% for its first fiscal quarter.

Economic weakness, the ongoing fallout in the hard disk drive market because of last year’s Thailand floods and discounting of previous model inventory all contributed to a 18% decrease in net income to $764m and just a 2% increase in revenues to $16bn.

Article source: http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/vendor-news/dell-results-indicate-pc-market-is-still-struggling/

After a five-year stint at rival distie Ingram Micro, Cathi Low is heading back to Computer 2000 to take up the role of director of public sector, as Tech Data’s UK arm preps a major expansion drive into the education, healthcare and government markets.

The broadliner hopes to announce a number of initiatives during the spring to beef up its focus and support on the public sector, and Low has been charged with working across C2000′s various specialist businesses to help VARs get access to the full range of its capabilities.

Low will also be working extensively with vendor partners to create public sector marketing campaigns and reseller support programmes.

“We’re delighted to be welcoming Cathi back to the company,” said C2000 UK and Ireland managing director Peter Hubbard.

“[She] is ideally placed to lead our plan to build a significant and strategic public sector practice within Computer 2000. We are already working with a number of resellers on specific opportunities and there are more in the pipeline,” he added.

Article source: http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/distributor-news/low-returns-to-c2000-in-public-sector-role/

Northamber has given an indication of how difficult trading has been in distribution revealing that improvements it reported late last year have stalled as the economy weakens.

The distributor revealed that not only was its half year sales down for the six months ended 31 December, to £53.8m from £67.7m a year earlier, but that its long standing managing director is retiring.

Henry Matthews ends a thirty year stint at the channel player retiring, with John Henry joining as operations director.

Although the distributor has been keeping a tight control on costs it was hurt by inflation hikes that forced some of its costs upwards.

“Distribution expenses are a very significant cost and were and still are heavily impacted by inflation. They are 4% higher than in the previous year, whilst the carriage cost component is 14% higher, reflecting the increases in fuel and other charges,” the firm stated.

The distributor reported a loss of £487,000 for the first half year compared with an operating profit of £75,000 for the same period last year.

In his chairman’s statement David Phillips said that the future continued to look difficult in the short-term.

“Against the remarkable falls in the prices of both I.T. equipment and consumer electronics, little has changed over the past few years. Confidence in and expectation of any considerable improvement in the whole economic background has, if anything, declined,” he stated.

“The obvious impact has been pressure on product prices and margins versus increasing costs. There is little justification for optimism in the short term and all that be stated is, as always, we are conscious of all these factors and their impact on our business,” he added.

Article source: http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/distributor-news/economic-weakness-hits-northamber/

Specialist Cisco distributor Comstor has been globally certified as a UCS B-Series Authorised Configurator, allowing it to create custom-build offerings for the channel, collaborating with both Cisco Authorised Technology Providers and Unified Compute Technology specialists.

The B-Series blade line forms a key part of the UCS datacentre platform, which combines computing, network, storage access and virtualisation, integrating a 10 Gig Ethernet unified network fabric with x86 servers.

Comstor said the badge would also enhance its LEAP training centre programme, which was first unveiled nearly 18 months ago, giving resellers further encouragement to develop and launch their own datacentre practices.

“Earning [this] configuration is a natural evolution for Comstor and allows Cisco resellers with datacentre practices to accelerate the delivery of UCS solutions,” added Cisco worldwide distribution vice president Scott Brown.

“Our goal has always bneen to jointly accelerate customer adoption of its [Cisco's] datacentre technology. This announcement is another significant step in our alliance,” added Comstor president Jon Pritchard.

Article source: http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/distributor-news/comstor-gets-cisco-ucs-b-series-configurator-nod/

Managed services provider ANS says it has doubled its six-month sales off the back of growing take up of its Cisco UCS, NetApp and VMware-focused Infrastructure 3.0 datacentre proposition in both the public and private sectors.

The Manchester-based firm revealed that half year sales had grown close to 100% year-on-year to £17.9m, with net operating profit up 62% over the same period to £1.1m. Gross profit rose from £2.3m this time last year to £4.3m.

Alongside the explosive growth in revenues came a similar sized leap in operating costs, which managing director Paul Sweeney put down to a recent recruiment drive.

“We have always operated with a high-level of expertise across our technical staff and our recruitment policy over the past 12 months has not deviated from that principle,” he said.

“We are selling large, complex, multi-technology infrastructures and have seen many alrge deals come in over the past 12 months, including three recent contracts that will be worth almost £10m over the next five years,” he added.

Added founder and chairman Scott Fletcher: “We are growing quickly in order to maintain this level of performance and in these times of austerity, it makes us very proud to be a success story with all of the benefits to the wider economy that this brings.”

Article source: http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/reseller-news/ans-sales-show-impact-of-infrastructure-30-strategy/

The cloud market appears to be polarising with those that have not made or planned for an investment in the technology likely to sit out the shift towards flexible delivery of data and applications.

There has always been a section of the customer base concerned about security and data integrity but the latest findings from the Pearlfinders IT Index, which monitors trends and opinions in the IT world, paints a rather more black and white picture.

The number of IT decision makers that had an immediate requirement for cloud technology has dropped over the last two quarters.

“Decision makers now fall into two camps: those that have invested in cloud services already; and those that have decided cloud is an unsuitable investment for their business,” stated the Index.

Article source: http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/reseller-news/cloud-spending-polarising-between-will-and-will-nots/

WAN optimisation vendor Silver Peak is rolling out a new channel partner programme adding sales, marketing and training tools with the objective of growing its worldwide business.

The new Champions programme will feature two levels of participation, Gold and Platinum, with field resources, sales and joint marketing tools available at both levels, and Platinum partners getting access to lead generation activity and extra marketing funds.

Deal registration, flexible payment options and certification training will also figure, said Silver Peak.

Silver Peak worldwide senior vice president of sales, Arturo Cazares, said the firm’s “breadth of physical and virtual appliances and flexible pricing options, provide partners with an enormous opportunity to help customers maximise the performance of their networks while minimising IT costs.”

Ian Kilpatrick, chairman at Wick Hill, which recently signed on as a Silver Peak distie to support its ambitions in the big data arena, added: “By enabling organisations to move large amounts of data in short periods of time over existing WAN infrastructures, Silver Peak ensures all voice, video, data and storage traffic performs to its full potential.”

“This presents an enormous opportunity for Wick Hill and our partners, offering excellent growth and margin prospects, and makes Silver Peak a strategic part of Wick Hill’s existing expansion strategy,” he added.

Article source: http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/reseller-news/refreshed-silver-peak-partner-programme-unveiled/