News Story of the Week: Spam Hits the Big Leagues By ChannelMedia Editor Keith Newman, kanewman@sbcglobal.net

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The word from McAfee Security is direct: Finally, a brand name that is channel focused is directing its energy toward Enemy #1 of Enterprise productivity – SPAM. The Company recently release SpamKiller for Microsoft Exchange Small Business, and is looking to help resellers develop practices around email management, privacy, spam and the additional opportunities that will arise from a service-led sales approach.

“This is a hot technology today and we know someone will sell it. We want our resellers to become experts on this and use it to get into new accounts and sell deeper into their existing accounts,” said McAfee/Network Associates Channel Chief Mike Menagay.

“With this product, we are not asking resellers to choose between us and Symantec or Trend, it’s just us. There are some competitive products but they don’t have scale, size, technical depth that we do. We also believe there is pent-up demand for this. We are bringing spam into the big leagues,” Menagay said.

According to a recent report by Ferris Research, Inc., spam will cost U.S. businesses over $10 billion in 2003. As this figure is set to continue rising, the need to deploy an effective anti-spam solution has become even more crucial. The McAfee SpamKiller family addresses this business-critical problem with a multi-tiered defense for the email server and Internet gateway. Because SpamKiller(TM) scans each incoming email as it reaches the server using a pre-defined set of hundreds of rules to proactively detect and quarantine spam, employees no longer have to waste time determining what is valid email and what is spam. And the threat of inappropriate content reaching employee inboxes is significantly reduced, which helps limit organizations' HR, financial and legal liability. Additionally, the SpamKiller technology uses a highly accurate scoring system to determine whether a particular email is spam. With the extensive set of rules that run behind SpamKiller, each email receives a positive or negative score to determine its overall spam rating, and once spam is detected, messages are either delivered to the end users inbox, personal junk mail folder or a system-wide junk folder. Pricing for 101-250 nodes is $20.38 per node (this is a 2-year subscription that includes support for first year).

NEWS

Server Shipment Sales from Gartner
by ChannelMedia Staff

Worldwide server shipments totaled 1.2 million units in the first quarter of 2003, a 10.4 percent increase from the same period last year, according to preliminary statistics from Gartner, Inc.

"The worldwide server market performed better than expected in the first quarter of 2003, but the threat of a lingering war with Iraq, combined with a weak economy, still had an effect on IT spending during the quarter," said Shahin Naftchi, principal analyst covering servers for Gartner's servers worldwide group. "As a result, the life cycle for existing large systems was extended and corporate buyers delayed purchases of high-end equipment, preferring the quick returns from short-term investments instead."

Hewlett-Packard retained the top spot in the worldwide rankings with 29.1 percent of server shipments. Dell Computer remained in the No. 2 spot with 20.2 percent of the market, followed by IBM with market share of 14.8 percent. Sun Microsystems was the only top-tier vendor to experience a decline in worldwide server shipments in the first quarter of 2003. The top three vendors continued to dominate the market and accounted for more than half of all units shipped during the quarter (see Table 1).

Table 1:

Preliminary Worldwide Server Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q03 (Units)

Note: Hewlett-Packard and Compaq are reported as one company.

Some 86 percent of enterprises that are using or planning to use a systems integrator through the beginning of 2004 for a Web services solution will use XML, according to a survey by Gartner. In March 2003, Gartner conducted a survey of 161 North American enterprises via Web and e-mail to determine Web services adoption in in-house projects as well as in systems integration engagements. According to the survey, internal integration with applications and processes is the most common activity or function for Web services projects. Following closely are security, personalization and Web content management. "This survey shows that significant and steady gains are being made in the use of Web services for business-to-business and intraenterprise solutions," said Michele Cantara, principal analyst for Gartner. "Web services has hit the mainstream in terms of gaining user attention, and usage has clearly matured beyond the first stages of intraenterprise Web services pilots." Gartner defines Web services as end-to-end application software that interoperates with other software through a family of XML interfaces -- like SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) and WDSL (Web Service Definition Language) -- to perform useful functions.

Cisco recently introduced several new initiatives as part of its continuing commitment to help Cisco(R) channel partners build sustainable business models, driving increased productivity, profitability and return-on-investment. "Channel partner success is my number one concern. With more than ninety percent of our business flowing through the channel, we are committed to their success," said Paul Mountford, vice president Worldwide Channels at Cisco Systems. "At last year's Partner Summit we made some fundamental changes to our engagement philosophy and now we are launching the programs and initiatives that build on that foundation." In August 2001, Cisco introduced eAgent, a program that allows enrolled US channel partners to receive compensation for acting as Cisco sales agents. Today, Cisco is enhancing eAgent compensation with a completely "neutral" pricing structure, which means that the more than 100 channel partners currently enrolled in the program will no longer be charged an administrative fee for using eAgent. This revised channel partner compensation coupled with new financing solutions, such net 60 payment terms to end customers available from resale and/or finance and leasing partners, results in significant margin opportunity increase for Cisco channel partners. “We are very excited about the new pricing structure of Cisco's eAgent program," said Jeffrey Hitchman, vice president, Vendor Alliances at NextiraOne, a Cisco Gold Certified Partner. "Our original goal was to derive at least 50-percent of our annual Cisco revenue through eAgent and because of this new pricing structure we are looking to increase that number to 70-percent."To further its commitment in helping channel partners successfully penetrate the SMB market, Cisco is announcing new Growing with Technology Solutions, designed to allow SMB customers to experience the value of a full service end-to-end network. The solutions comprise robust modular product lines with the latest technologies and intelligent features, including core network foundation (routing and switching), security, IP communications and mobility. "Channel partners are critical to our success in the SMB market, and we are committed to providing them with the tools, training and resources to build the intelligent network solutions that enable our mutual customers to increase their productivity and accelerate their ROI," said Peter Alexander, vice president, Commercial Marketing at Cisco Systems.Providing channel partners with innovative, flexible financial services is essential to enabling Cisco to deliver on its commitment to help channel partners build sustainable business models. By enabling Cisco channel partners to offer customers competitive leasing options as well as secure higher and longer-term credit lines, Cisco Systems Capital(R), a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, is providing a key competitive advantage. Cisco Systems Capital offers Cisco channel partners a comprehensive set of long-term leasing options, including IP-Communications, Bundled Services and Demo Lab Equipment as well as short-term leasing options, offered through leading third-party finance or leasing partners, including Distribution, Accounts Receivable Financing and Accounts Receivable Purchase. "Together, Cisco and Cisco Systems Capital provide the channel end-to-end solutions that can enhance channel liquidity and accelerate product adoption to Cisco end-customers," said David Rogan General Manager, Cisco Systems Capital. Purchasing demonstration lab equipment is one of the largest investments Cisco channel partners must make in order to achieve and maintain their certification and specializations. Therefore, in an effort to help increase the return-on-investment of its channel partners, Cisco in collaboration with Cisco Systems Capital, is implementing a Demo Lab Equipment leasing program, in the second half of FY 03. This new program allows channel partners to select a leasing option to procure not-for-resale demonstration lab equipment at an aggressive rate for 24-months. When compared to current lab/demo purchasing options, the new leasing program can save Cisco Gold Certified channel partners as much as 40 percent per year. In today's market environment success is dependent on how well channel partners sell solutions that address each customer's business needs. In an effort to help its channel partners deliver more value and become the trusted business adviser with whom customers want to develop long-term relationships, Cisco launched Sales Training for Exceptional Performance (STEP). This training program teaches channel partners about the fundamentals and principles of selling solutions. The first three STEP courses, Consultative Selling, Selling Value and Territory Management, are available today free of charge via the Partner E-Learning Connection, where since January 2000, Cisco has delivered more than $500 million in free training to its channel partners.In an effort to generate awareness and establish a competitive edge, channel partners spend valuable time and resources creating marketing collateral, from advertisements to direct mailers. As part of its continuing effort to increase productivity and shorten the sales cycle, Cisco has launched Collateral Builder, a fully automated marketing tool that enables channel partners to easily create customized material, including solution selling campaigns, trade show booth builder, e-mail blasts, and an array of other templates without the associated design costs. "The Collateral Builder tool is especially valuable for creating print and electronic advertising," said Chris Cook, Marketing Director, Chickasaw Telecom, a Cisco Silver Certified channel partner. "Cisco had already completed the hard part, the design, copy and layout. It's like having your very own advertising agency on call, but without the high cost. Collateral Builder is a snap to use. You simply follow the onscreen prompts and enter any information that is specific to your company. The Collateral Builder does the rest."In order to quantify sustainable success, Cisco must be able to effectively measure the return-on-investment for its channel partners based on productivity tools, training, programs and other initiatives. To do this, Cisco has selected to use the ROIC (return-on-invested-capital) business success metric. This proven business metric will enable Cisco to quantify the impact its programs and initiatives have on ROIC. The model is applicable to all channel partners regardless of their business model and can be used to measure the impact of a range of initiatives ranging from eAgent to managed services. Channel partners can use the ROIC formula to select the initiatives that will have the maximum benefit on their financial success. In addition, Cisco can use this model to evaluate the financial health of channel partners and make recommendations to what actions will have the most significant ROIC impact.

Panasonic announces that it is shipping its long-awaited WORKiO Series of color laser printers. And this is very good news for the small to mid-sized business (SMB) market, where there has been a void of single-pass, color laser printers with networking capability at a middle price point. Series features four model configurations The new series, boasting nearly 500 patent applications for its core technologies, comprises four configurations - the KX-CL500, KX-CL500D, KX-CL510 and KX-CL510D - each producing crisp output up to 1200x1200 dpi (1) true resolution. While the base model KX-CL500 is a PCL(R)-based machine, the KX-CL510 also includes Adobe(R) PostScript(R) 3 with automatic emulation sensing and switching, plus 128MB RAM. The KX-CL500D offers the same features as the KX-CL500, plus 128MB RAM and auto duplex; the KX-CL510D has the same features as the KX-CL510, plus auto duplex. These units, which take up just 5,396 cubic inches of space and weigh only 65.7 lbs., can be summed up in five words: affordable, fast, high-performance, compact and reliable. Born of Panasonic's marketing strategy to remove the barriers that have kept small and mid-sized businesses from entering the color laser market, these 17ppm(2), network-ready color laser printers (which also print up to 21ppm monochrome) caught the attention of Chris Barnes, director of research at ARS, Inc. ARS specializes in worldwide competitive market intelligence and analysis. According to Barnes, Panasonic's color laser printers address a major barrier to color page printer adoption, i.e., b/w page cost. "At an advertised 1.54 cents per page, the KX-CL500 Series equals the operating cost of other leading monochrome-only workgroup solutions," Barnes said. "Extremely competitive operating costs make the KX-CL500 an ideal replacement for existing monochrome workgroup devices." Pricing for the KX-CL500 Series (which in some cases may cost less than the network monochrome printer it replaces) starts at $1,599 estimated retail price (3). Gary Bailer, Panasonic Digital Document Company's strategic planning manager, said the KX-CL500 Series fills a longstanding price void. "The average retail price of a color laser printer ranges from $700 for single-user, four-pass printing up to $2,500 for network-user, single-pass printing," Bailer said. "Until now, there were no one-pass color laser printers available at the middle price point. The KX-CL500 Series fills that price gap, while offering performance comparable to that of higher priced offerings. "According to Bailer, the total cost of ownership for the KX-CL500 Series represents a significant saving over comparable color printers, making it an overall price-performance leader.

SMC Networks recently said that its portfolio of wireless networking products will include support for the new Wi-Fi Protected Access by the end of this quarter. An extension of the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) technology that is already supported in SMC's wireless networking products, WPA increases data protection levels as well as strengthening access control. "Wireless networking is being adopted for use in homes, businesses, hotspots and educational facilities at an amazingly high rate, but users demand the highest possible security," said Betty Chan, SMC's product manager for wireless networking products. "The Wi-Fi Alliance, of which SMC is a member, has continued to work to strengthen wireless security -- WPA is the result of that work. We look forward to offering this standards-based interoperable security to our wireless customers."

Intel introduced a new Pentium(R) 4 processor with a faster system bus and a new chipset platform. The new platform provides more balanced system performance, resulting in smoother operation and less time waiting for data. The new chipset contains two technical innovations that accelerate the speed at which data flows between the computer's processor and system memory and also doubles the computer's networking bandwidth. A chipset consists of one or more chips that act as a computer's nervous system, transmitting signals from the computer's brain, the microprocessor, to the rest of the system. These new products support Intel's Hyper-Threading Technology and are targeted for high performance and feature-rich workstations and desktop computers. "Working together, Intel's new processor and chipset deliver uncompromising capabilities and performance to PC users who demand the richest digital media, gaming and broadband experience," said Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of Intel's Desktop Platforms Group. "For the high end of computing, data access has become one of the biggest performance bottlenecks. Performance seekers will benefit from the extremely fast bus and memory technologies of this new compute platform, as well as Pentium 4 processor's Hyper-Threading Technology when multitasking or using threaded applications." The Pentium 4 processor with Hyper-Threading Technology (1) operating at 3 GHz can now have an 800 MHz system bus instead of 533 MHz, the previous highest speed bus. The new 800 MHz bus can transmit information within the PC up to 50 percent faster than the previous version. With Hyper-Threading (HT) Technology, users can perform multiple complex tasks with greater responsiveness from their PCs. For desktop applications, these tasks include accessing instant messaging while playing a favorite online game or downloading music while manipulating digital photos. Advanced digital content creation tasks such as 3-D modeling, rendering and video editing are some of the workstation applications that benefit from these new features. Designed specifically to support the Intel Pentium 4 processor with HT Technology, the Intel 875P chipset, formerly codenamed Canterwood, supports dual-channel DDR400 MHz system memory, providing exceptional performance across a full range of multimedia and 3-D intensive applications. The chipset introduces two significant platform innovations: Intel Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT) and Communications Streaming Architecture (CSA). PAT speeds data flow between the processor and system memory to increase performance. The 875P chipset also offers a dedicated networking bus based on Intel's new Communications Streaming Architecture. CSA, in conjunction with the new Intel(R) PRO/1000 CT Desktop Connection gigabit Ethernet controller, doubles the networking bandwidth possible with today's PCI bus based solutions. Additionally, the 875P chipset includes a high-performance AGP8X graphics interface for an advanced graphics experience, integrated Hi-Speed USB 2.0(2) and Serial ATA, and dual independent DMA audio engines enabling a user to make a PC phone call while playing digital music streams. The new 875P chipset offers built-in RAID capabilities utilizing the latest Serial ATA interface for accelerated disk I/O. Error Correction Code is supported for users that demand memory data reliability and integrity. Additional technical information on these chipsets is available at http://developer.intel.com/design/chipsets.For computer makers and system integrators, Intel also announced availability of an ATX form factor desktop motherboard, the D875PBZ featuring Intel Precision Cooling Technology and Intel Rapid BIOS Boot. Additional technical information on this desktop board is available at: http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/index.htm.

Wipro Limited, an IT consulting firm based in India, signed a definitive agreement to acquire NerveWire, an IT consultant serving financial services clients. In exchange, Wipro is paying $18.7 million in cash. NerveWire is a management consulting and systems integration firm that works with financial services and other companies to integrate customers, channels, and suppliers. The company has 90 consultants based in the United States who work in strategy and business case development, business requirements definition, IT strategy and program management, business and technology architecture development, package and technology analysis and selection, and systems development and integration. The company has 40 clients and active engagements with 20 of them. Wipro offers a comprehensive range of IT services, including systems integration, information systems outsourcing, package implementation, software application development and maintenance, and research and development services. The acquisition increases its contacts in the financial services industry. Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance advised Wipro on this transaction.

Form + Function Consulting, a technology consulting firm that focuses on mid-market clients, announced the acquisition of Divine/Whittman-Hart, a consulting firm that specializes in Web design and development. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although media reports assigned a deal value of $6 million. Divine/Whittman-Hart offers professional services for Web site design, business intelligence, and systems integration. The company was founded by Bob Bernard, who also founded Form + Function. Whittman-Hart merged with USWeb/CKS to form MarchFirst, a consulting firm that failed. Its assets were acquired by Divine Interventures, which itself is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Divine/Whittman-Hart has offices in Chicago, Boston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Milwaukee. Form + Function Consulting offers enterprise-wide and ecommerce information systems for mid-sized companies, including divisions of larger firms.

NetScreen today announced a software upgrade for its intrusion detection and prevention product line that makes it the first platform to protect against exploitation of instant messaging and peer-to-peer file sharing application vulnerabilities. Additionally, NetScreen has expanded its IDP product line with a new low-end appliance, the NetScreen-IDP 10, to protect remote offices and secure extranet links. IDC estimates that more than 229 million workers around the world will use IM to do their jobs by 2005. While instant messaging and file sharing applications can increase business productivity, IM and P2P file-sharing applications can introduce vulnerabilities in enterprise networks. This is because the applications enable users to download executables that can introduce rogue or untraceable "backdoor" applications on users' machines and jeopardize enterprise network security. The newest version of the NetScreen IDP software, available for the NetScreen-IDP 10, 100 and 500, includes attack detection and prevention functionality for messaging and file exchange protocols, such as MSN, IRC, Yahoo Messenger, Gnutella and AOL. This functionality can preserve the business productivity benefits of these programs while mitigating the risks associated with these applications by accurately detecting and stopping attacks and allowing valid traffic to proceed unhindered. "With the increasing popularity of IM and P2P file sharing applications, our ability to detect and prevent attacks that exploit the vulnerabilities introduced by these applications is critical to helping our customers secure their networks," said David Flynn, vice president of marketing at NetScreen. "As the first platform to provide protection against P2P and IM vulnerabilities, NetScreen is increasing our customers' network security while enabling these organizations to continue using IM and P2P applications."

Toshiba announced the appointment of Hidejiro Shimomitsu as president and CEO. Based in Irvine, Calif., Shimomitsu is responsible for providing leadership to Toshiba's Computer Systems Group; Imaging Systems Division; Telecommunication Systems Division; Storage Device Division and Network Products Division. Shimomitsu assumes the role from Hisatsugu Nonaka, who will return to Japan as executive vice president in Toshiba's Digital Media Network Company. Shimomitsu has been with Toshiba since 1976, most recently serving as vice president & general manager of the Personal Computer Division - International Operations in Japan. With over 25 years experience in the computer and communications businesses, and with previous senior management experience in the United States and Europe, Shimomitsu brings the skills and knowledge to guide the dynamic and multi-faceted business operations of TAIS.

Rick Hamada, president of Avnet Computer Marketing (CM), today announced Jim Teter has been promoted to president of Avnet Enterprise Solutions, effective immediately. A division of Avnet CM, Avnet Enterprise Solutions is an IT solutions integrator serving Fortune 1000 companies across the United States. As president, Teter has responsibility for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the division, reporting directly to Hamada. "Jim brings a strong combination of talents and skills to the new position as well as a great track record in the industry," said Hamada. "His leadership will allow Avnet Enterprise Solutions to continue to develop and deliver innovative solutions that help our customers get the most out of their IT environments and investments." Prior to his promotion, Teter served as senior vice president of Strategic Business Development for Avnet Computer Marketing. He first joined Avnet in July 2000 when Avnet acquired the Savoir Technology Group and Teter was appointed to senior vice president of marketing for the IBM Business Unit of Avnet Hall-Mark. Previously, he had been senior vice president of sales and marketing for Savoir and had helped the company grow in revenue from $35 million to $767 million over seven years. He also served as president and CEO of the Lockwood Group, a UNIX-based software developer and reseller, later becoming an independent marketing and computer consultant to several leading corporations. Teter originally began his career with IBM, where he worked for more than 15 years, holding progressively responsible positions in sales, marketing and management.

ePartners, a leading business solutions provider and IT consultant for middle market companies, has named Dan Duffy President of the company. Duffy, who will retain his position as Chief Operating Officer, joined ePartners in November 2000 as Chief Financial Officer. He was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in September 2002. "Our team has done an outstanding job of navigating some very challenging market conditions over the past two years. Through their efforts, we are extremely well positioned to bring the full resources and capabilities of ePartners to our clients for years to come. I am thrilled to have an opportunity to work with such an outstanding group of professionals," says Duffy, who has more than 13 years of strategic management and entrepreneurship experience. "Dan has the unique combination of superior financial acumen and the strategic sensibility to deliver on high growth opportunities," says Blaine Wesner, general partner of Austin Ventures and current board member of ePartners. "ePartners is poised to build on their position as the number one Solutions Provider for middle market companies in the US and Dan Duffy is the right person to drive ePartners to this opportunity."

Video Without Boundaries, a leading provider of convergent, interactive home entertainment devices, today announced the debut of a VAR program for its MediaReady™ Internet/DVD Player, the revolutionary combo entertainment unit that brings email, web surfing, karaoke, MP3, CD music playback, and more to any television. Focused on specialty and high-end home electronics and computer retailers, the VAR program gives merchants an exceptional opportunity to capitalize on the developing market for convergent home entertainment devices. Attractively priced at $349 (MSRP), MediaReady™ offers consumers and retailers an exciting new way to combine virtually all popular forms of entertainment. The hybrid device similar in size to most home DVD players incorporates a DVD player, Web browser, RealNetworks™ media player for Web-based streaming media, CD/VCD/SVCD/MP3 playback and much more. Especially attractive for retailers is the exclusive Linux-based operating platform supporting easy user upgrades; these upgrades are expected to drive significant follow-on hardware sales. Future items and upgrades for the MediaReady™ brand of devices are expected to include a Personal Video Recorder (PVR), video games, joysticks, & video conferencing services. “MediaReady™ pricing is a breakthrough for its category, opening convergent entertainment to an extremely broad segment of the consumer market,” said Jeffrey Harrell, President of Video Without Boundaries. “We believe our VAR program gives retailers a fresh new product that will not only intrigue and attract customers, but also will provide add-on sales opportunities for retailers of our products months, even years, after the initial sale.” In addition to its other features, the MediaReady™ 3000 includes a full-sized wireless keyboard, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, picture-in-picture capability, a karaoke microphone jack, wireless remote, microphone, and other features that enable consumers to access all popular forms of home entertainment from the comfort of their couch. MediaReady™ supports all forms of Internet connection including 56 kbps/DSL/cable modem or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet; the built-in Web browser includes SSL 3.0 for secure online shopping. The unit also supports the most popular inkjet and laser printers, including Epson Stylus, HP DeskJet, Canon BJC™, and PostScript laser printers, and offers an optional VWB Digital Camera, making it easy to add photos to outgoing email. MediaReady™’s Intel Mobile Pentium 266 MHz MMX™ processor with 64 MB flash storage and 128 MB DRAM deliver powerful Internet and email capability. A user-friendly, TV-optimized user interface allows even first-time users to navigate with ease. The unit also ships with all cables needed for easy hookup. For specific information go to www.vwbinc.com/var/varprogram.html.

IKON Office Solutions and Electronics For Imaging announced the availability of IKON DocSend(TM), an exclusive "scan-to" solution powered by EFI technology that integrates with products across the IKON portfolio. Developed by EFI exclusively for IKON, IKON DocSend is the result of ongoing collaborative efforts between IKON and EFI to deliver innovative products to help streamline customer workflow. IKON DocSend's next-generation capture-and-delivery system transforms paper documents into digital files for secure, instantaneous distribution and/or simplified storage. Technology-independent IKON DocSend offers a PC-style user interaction and plug-and-play convenience with IKON's lineup of best-in-class copiers, multi-function peripherals and TWAIN-compliant scanners from manufacturers such as Canon and Ricoh. In addition, IKON DocSend offers a seamless portal into Westbrook Technologies' Fortis document management system, thereby streamlining digital archival and retrieval capabilities. "It has never been easier for businesses to take advantage of the efficiency and productivity inherent in a digital workflow," said Cathy Lewis, Senior Vice President of Marketing, IKON Office Solutions. "IKON DocSend can create streamlined communications between companies and their customers and suppliers at a reduced operating cost compared to traditional information sharing processes like fax or express mail. EFI's cutting-edge scanning and delivery technology and expertise in intuitive user interfaces makes this a powerful new tool for information distribution and management. "IKON DocSend is designed to allow users to scan pages in full color or black-and-white and preview the digital files as thumbnails or full-page images in PDF, TIFF or JPG format using a large, touch-screen interface. Personal annotations can be made at the IKON DocSend station, before documents are sent to multiple sources, including e-mail addresses, FTP sites, connected copier/printers and document repositories. Using EFI's integrated PrintMe Networks(TM) solution, the IKON DocSend can also be used as a powerful fax distribution system. Alternatively, users can leverage the "DocSend to Me" function for one-touch scanning that sends documents directly to their inbox for future retrieval or editing from any e-mail enabled workstation.

IBM today launched a major initiative, including new services and software, to help customers deal with the skyrocketing costs and complexity of maintaining decades-old software applications that run 70 percent of the world's major business operations, including most major credit card transactions and stock trades. Called "spaghetti code" by the computer industry because the software code has been altered so often, some applications date back 20 years, and in some cases, as far back as 1964, before many of today's software programmers were born. Even so, such applications handle about 30 billion basic business transactions every day, including manufacturing processes and payroll systems, for companies around the world. "Businesses can't afford to 'rip and replace' older applications that run their daily operations, even though it costs 80 cents of every dollar of the average software budget to maintain older 'legacy systems,'" said Kerrie Holley, distinguished engineer, IBM Global Services. "IBM is helping customers integrate 'proprietary' systems that grew over the past two decades with the latest applications based upon open standards, such as Web services. In the process, we're helping companies transform their businesses." IBM is announcing the new services, software and solution centers at IBM's developerWorks Live, taking place in New Orleans through April 11. IBM's initiative combines the efforts of several organizations. IBM Global Services is announcing two new services offerings based upon its expertise in consulting and application management developed over a decade of customer engagements. The new IBM Business Consulting Services has developed a tool that can estimate an organization's potential costs savings and benefits from the two new services offerings, which are: Application Portfolio Management Services enable IBM consultants to evaluate all of an organization's applications, which could number in the thousands for larger companies, and make recommendations on which applications to keep, abandon or change, based upon each company's individual business strategy. As part of the management system, IBM Global Services advises customers about the "pay as you go" model, which allows companies to pay for updating applications with the money saved from lower maintenance costs. Legacy Transformation Services include several modular services that can be used individually or in combination to renovate, integrate, migrate and place applications on the Web, which enables companies to share business data within their organization, with suppliers and with customers.

In conjunction with this week's FOSE show, the largest information technology exposition serving the government marketplace, CTX International Inc. today announced the launch of its new Government/Education Support Program (GESP) to provide specialized services, support and pricing to resellers in the government and education sectors. For authorized resellers, CTX's GESP offers pre-sales product training, technical support, business development and marketing incentives, and other key services and support to quickly facilitate purchasing decisions and order fulfillment. "Our philosophy with the GESP is to provide resellers with valuable product information and special pricing support to better equip them to win bids and increase their sales," said Mark Anderson, sales manager at CTX. "We have tailored the GESP to provide resellers with the type of pricing, high standards of support and top-quality products that government and education customers require. "A comprehensive GESP Web site and monthly e-mail newsletter provide easy access to various sales and marketing tools, company news, product information, and special offers and promotions. As important, the GESP features four primary value-added program benefits for government and education resellers. First, cooperative advertising enables resellers to accrue marketing development funds (MDF) by purchasing CTX products through authorized distributors. MDF dollars can be used to reimburse a variety of promotional activities that are conducted by a reseller, including print advertising and special events.

Second, a drop-shipment policy enables resellers to save time in order fulfillment by having CTX products shipped directly to a customer. Combined with an advanced express warranty replacement benefit that lets resellers receive replacement parts from CTX before they return faulty products or components, resellers are able to service their customers faster than ever with new or repaired products. Third, the GESP entitles active members to exclusive rebates and special discounts on eligible products. In quantity, these rebates can translate into significant savings for a reseller. Fourth, members will benefit from product demonstrations by purchasing evaluation units at a discounted rate to give customers a "hands-on" experience with the products to help the sales process. All of the program benefits are supported by expert sales representatives and service technicians to assist with any issues that arise. To aid in the sales process, active members can obtain free point-of-purchase materials such as banners, product literature and product images. Also, a lead referral program puts active members in touch with qualified, prospective government and education business opportunities to perform order fulfillment. "In the government and education sectors, the primary drivers in purchasing decisions for display products are price and support. Through its GESP, CTX addresses the price issue with aggressively priced, high-quality products," said Kenneth R. Wineberg, federal sales manager, Insight Public Sector at Insight (www.insight.com), a leading provider of complete computing solutions for business, corporate entities, and state, local and federal governments and education institutions. "Regarding support, CTX has developed a strong reputation for providing outstanding pre- and post-sales support, and the value-added services in the GESP further enhance that reputation for support."

Vision Events, a Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB) company, announced that Gartner analysts will present their perspective and analysis of IT solution providers' shift to alternative business models at EnterpriseVision, July 28-30, 2003 at The Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel and Spa in Pasadena, California." Though IT services have been somewhat less affected by the economic downturn than other parts of the IT sector, IT solution providers have been forced to embrace new strategies and approaches to sustain growth and re-energize business," said Denny Wayson, managing vice president of Service Lines and Market Statistics in the IT Management Division of Gartner Research. in previous years, the IT services market grew at a phenomenal rate, with some segments experiencing more than 20 percent compound annual growth rates. According to Gartner, though demand may continue to exceed supply, growth has been hampered by reductions in IT budgets, deferred projects and smaller projects. "Making money has become a lot more difficult for everyone in the IT sector during the past two years," said Tom Topolinski, vice president in Gartner Research's Worldwide Software Applications group. "But, IT services is a people-based industry, so we're seeing IT solution providers innovatively sustain their large enterprise relationships, while moving down to the midmarket to increase their customer base." arket trends have also driven IT solution providers to develop strong vertical market strategies as a major focus of their business models. Gartner predicts that this vertical emphasis is a growing trend, and recommends it as an IT solution provider best practice.Said Bob Goodwin, vice president of the Global Industries Practice in Gartner's IT Services Group, "In this challenging environment, a growing number of IT solution providers, large and small, have a sharp, disciplined focus on the highest growth vertical markets to increase revenue and profitability." Details on this and other trends in the IT professional services market will be presented by Gartner analysts at EnterpriseVision Summer 2003, July 28-30 at The Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel and Spa in Pasadena, California. More information on this Event is available at www.enterprise-vision.com.

Answerthink recently introduced Rapid Insight, a business intelligence solution framework which quickly and easily adds powerful decision support capabilities and financial analytics to leading business applications. The solution combines the capabilities of leading financial analytics software with integrated proven best practices and business metrics from The Hackett Group, an Answerthink company, to provide companies with clear insight into current performance and market trends, enabling executives to make smarter, faster, and more efficient decisions. Answerthink's Rapid Insight solution can help companies improve planning, forecasting, reporting, and analysis in as little as six to eight weeks, through the implementation of scorecards, dashboards, portals and other tools as an extension to existing Lawson, Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, or Siebel environments. Rapid Insight is designed to utilize analytics components from leading business intelligence software vendors, as well as embedded analytics capabilities in popular business applications. With this solution, companies can establish a foundation for world-class performance management in finance, human resources, sales and customer service, supply chain, procurement and other key areas by implementing up to 30 Hackett best practices in business performance reporting and analysis. Answerthink is a leading business and technology consulting firm that enables companies to achieve world-class business performance. The Hackett Group is the world leader in global benchmarking and best practice research, offering guidance backed by quantitative research into best practices at nearly 2,000 client organizations, including 97 percent of the Dow Jones Industrials and 81 percent of the Fortune 100. One major goal of Rapid Insight is to cut the time that companies spend compiling information, so that they have more time to analyze it. According to Hackett, average companies spend almost half their time compiling data and half on analysis. But utilization of best practices enables world-class companies to dramatically streamline the data compilation process, so that they can dedicate almost 90 percent of their time to analyzing information. Hackett has also found that highly effective business intelligence solutions can help companies reduce manual reporting by up to 50 percent, cut reporting cycle time by up to 75 percent, and trim support costs for managerial reporting by up to 25 percent. To help clients implement Rapid Insight, Answerthink utilizes its Business Process Intelligence (BPI) approach and tools, which facilitates business performance improvement through a coordinated approach that simultaneously addresses the key business drivers of people, process, technology, and information. According to Hackett, companies that use this coordinated approach can achieve almost five times the business value that can be attained by focusing solely on a technology implementation.Answerthink's BPI knowledge repository also provides Answerthink consultants with application-specific tools designed to simplify the process of implementing best practices in leading software solutions while maximizing the value clients receive. These tools include implementation and configuration guides, current state questionnaires, process flows, and fit/gap requirements matrices. "Today, most companies have too much information about their business, and very little true knowledge about what it all means. We're offering them a way to utilize best practices that have proven themselves at the world's most successful companies to cull real intelligence from the flood of data coming from business application, legacy systems, spreadsheets, databases and flat files," said Answerthink President Allan Frank. "With Rapid Insight, companies have a powerful reporting and analysis solution that allows them to analyze new trends and more accurately predict future business performance. They can see and take advantage of existing and emerging business opportunities they might otherwise have missed. It's easy to understand how this easily translates into significant competitive advantage."

Oculan, a leading supplier of infrastructure and security management platforms sold exclusively through channels to the small and mid-size markets, has appointed Christina Rowland vice president of operations. With nearly 15 years of operational and finance experience, Rowland is responsible for developing and managing business processes to ensure that all Oculan corporate departments can support rapid growth while delivering quality service to customers and partners. Among her initial priorities are streamlining Oculan's operations, managing Oculan's international expansion, and overseeing key projects related to Oculan's financing program, contracts and legal affairs. Rowland's hiring follows on the heels of Oculan's appointment this year of Robert Davis as president and CEO, and more recently Robert Moroni as vice president of sales."Christina's appointment brings to Oculan a talented executive with an excellent understanding of how to synchronize the various operations of high-growth companies, " said Robert Davis, president of Oculan. "She has a history of success working in our industry, and we're extremely pleased to bring her on board because she will make an immediate impact on our organization."

Wipro Limited, an IT consulting firm based in India, signed a definitive agreement to acquire NerveWire, an IT consultant serving financial services clients. In exchange, Wipro is paying $18.7 million in cash. NerveWire is a management consulting and systems integration firm that works with financial services and other companies to integrate customers, channels, and suppliers. The company has 90 consultants based in the United States who work in strategy and business case development, business requirements definition, IT strategy and program management, business and technology architecture development, package and technology analysis and selection, and systems development and integration. The company has 40 clients and active engagements with 20 of them. Wipro offers a comprehensive range of IT services, including systems integration, information systems outsourcing, package implementation, software application development and maintenance, and research and devel opment services. The acquisition increases its contacts in the financial services industry. Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance advised Wipro on this transaction.

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Midsize businesses find themselves in a buyer's market when shopping for storage solutions. Storage vendors must help users understand the return on investment and economic benefits of investing in new storage systems.

Midsize businesses continue to identify operational efficiency — led by the perceived need to reduce costs — as the leading source of pressure driving their company to invest in IT (see Figure 1).

Figure 1
Pressures Driving IT Investments

Source: Gartner Research (April 2003)
Gartner clients continue to identify projects focused on the optimization and integration of existing infrastructure investments in 2003. What does this mean for storage? Much as in the networking and security space, the challenges many midsize businesses will face is that their staff and budgets will not keep pace with the demands of an ever-growing storage infrastructure.

Never before has there been so much viable competition in the midmarket among storage vendors. Dell lowered the bar with its reseller relationship with EMC, by driving costs down and making storage more affordable to small and midsize businesses (SMBs). IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems — to mention a few — have all introduced storage products targeting SMBs.

Gartner has observed a trend on the part of midsize businesses that buy storage equipment from the same vendor that sold them their servers. When asked who they considered when making a storage purchase, midsize businesses at the Spring 2003 Midsize Enterprise Summit identified IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell — the same vendors that have the lion's share of the server business among midsize businesses. The only nonserver vendors to make the list were EMC and Network Appliance. Storage vendors need to understand storage architectures and preferred buying behaviors of midsize businesses before developing their go-to-market strategies. Service and customer support rate highly in storage product selection, as do reliability of the storage vendor and ease of doing business with the vendor. These selection criteria are in line with their requirements for other hardware and infrastructure purchases.

But cost savings will not be the only driver for increased storage requirements. More content and data are becoming digital and require file serving and storing capability. Faster networks will promote more use of networked storage. Enhancements and integration to front-office and back-office applications will drive demand for storage capacity and data manageability. Business continuity and regulatory requirements will influence storage architectures and operational procedures. Midsize business IT departments will be tasked with proving that investments in new storage products and services will support the growing needs of the business.

Most midsize businesses say less than 10 percent of their IT staff have storage management responsibilities, so it seems storage services would be a natural fit for these companies. But, as has been the case with other managed services, midsize businesses balk at the suggestion of third parties managing part of their infrastructures.

As always, please forward your comments and feedback on this series and suggestions for future topics to Jim Browning at spotlight.feedback@gartner.com.

Jim Browning
Editor in Chief
Small and Midsize Business

Small and midsize businesses will be a major source of revenue for services and software for years to come. The challenge facing vendors is to join the few that compete in this market profitably.

In 2002, many vendors declared their intention to win over the small and midsize business (SMB) market. As shown in this document, this is with good reason. Generating the majority of vendor revenue in many technology service and product categories, the opportunity is hard to ignore, especially because the large enterprise market appears saturated with the solutions on the market to date. Those that benefit from revenue generated from the SMB market are among a fragmented host vendors; those that can do so profitably are the minority.

Objectives of Study
The contents of this document reflect the results of Gartner Dataquest's winter 2002 SMB U.S. forecast cycle as it relates to services and software. The objectives of this study are as follows:

• To provide a comparative market segment overview of the top-line, five-year U.S. IT market forecasts inclusive of services, and software
• To identify drivers and inhibitors that shape IT services and software spending among SMBs
• To highlight major commonalties and differences among market segments through a comparative overview of IT market forecast allocations
• To offer recommendations to IT vendors targeting SMBs

Key Findings
IT Services
Key findings relating to IT services include the following:

• Offshore services spending by large enterprises will grow local SMB opportunity for development and integration services. Increased comfort and reliance on the part of large enterprises on offshore development and integration services will result in relatively more local revenue generated from SMBs. This is not to say that large enterprises will be spending less on development and integration, and SMBs that much more. The comfort level that larger enterprises have with offshore services (SMBs are less comfortable with this option and will, therefore, rely more on locally provided services) enable the procurement of more service for the dollar, effectively reducing the overall amount spent by large enterprises on development and integration services, causing the relative North American market percentage to increase among SMBs.
• Large-enterprise consulting contracts play a leading indicator role for SMB contracts. Lagging large enterprises by 12 to 24 months in the adoption of major technologies/solutions, many SMBs end up consuming similar solutions, eventually, once prices come down, vertical specialization takes place, and concepts become more mainstream. This is currently taking place with customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and e-commerce and will be seen among projects pursuing wireless opportunities beginning in 2006.
• Ongoing reliance on external parties for software and hardware maintenance and support — As operating systems are upgraded, new enterprise solutions deployed and infrastructure replaced and enhanced, SMBs will continue to spend a large portion of their services budget on software and hardware maintenance and support. These services often serve as the catchall for services that SMBs cannot/do not hire or retain in-house, making it costly to provide services to this constituency.
• The largest outsourcing opportunity among larger SMBs — Through 2006, the greatest proportion of SMB outsourcing revenue will come from the upper end of the midmarket (100 to 999 employees).
• Outsourcing growth is expected through 2004. The "gap year" extends through 2004, causing a severe budgetary "lockdown" for large-market enterprises. Coupled with supply-side efforts by outsourcers to go down-market with new mass-customized utility offerings to diversify their market sectors, the SMB sector will witness a jump in growth between 2003 and 2004.
• Outsourcing prices will fall. 2004 will witness a bevy of renegotiations among large businesses that signed five-year outsourcing contracts in the go-go market of 1999. Renewed cost consciousness (and improved negotiation savvy) will drive prices lower, resulting in lower large market growth rates in 2004.

Software
Key study findings pertaining to software include the following:

• Front-office/back-office integration — SMBs are recognizing the value of linking customer-facing and operational business applications to support greater coordination between functions, such as between sales and accounting or customer service and shipping. Gartner Dataquest estimates that less than half of the midsize businesses that have implemented CRM applications in support of customer-facing activities, such as sales and customer service, have linked them with their back-office or operational applications, where key customer interaction information is stored. Through 2005, SMBs increasingly will require business applications that can support business processes across enterprise departmental and functional boundaries (0.7 probability).
• Single-function vs. multifunction vendors — The lines of SMB-focused vendor competition between single-function vendors (CRM, ERP and supply-chain management (SCM)) and multifunction vendors are beginning to take shape. This competition is driven in part by SMB requirements for integrated and interoperable applications and in part by the forces that also drive the consolidation of the SMB EAS markets.
• Downward pressure on SMB software market size — In addition to shrunken demand, the SMB software market size is negatively affected by the downward price pressure resulting from a combination of circumstances, including the poor economy, vendors competing for fewer and smaller deals and the influx of new competitors (traditionally large enterprise-focused business applications vendors pressing down from above and relatively inexpensive online applications services pressing up from below.)
• Industry-specific functionality driving growth — A positive effect of the maturing SMB software markets is the growth in the availability and sales of industry and subindustry-specific software. This is forecast to increase as a percentage of the overall SMB-focused software market during the next five years.
• Notable market consolidation — Market consolidations are under way in many SMB business applications markets, including CRM, where 35 percent to 45 percent of vendors expect to be acquired, merge or otherwise exit the general SMB CRM markets during the next two years. As mentioned above, many of these vendors will evolve their offering to focus on specific industries and other subsegments of SMB markets.

Recommendations
IT Services
Recommendations pertaining to IT services include the following:

• Don't copy the large-enterprise playbook — use it as a guide. Though it is true that a principal leading indicator for what engagements SMBs will contract is what large enterprises have contracted in the past 12 to 24 months, a direct cut and paste of the same engagements will not work. Engagements must be designed to be more tactical in nature with shorter and smaller projects, demonstration of short-term ROIs and predefined repeatable solutions that are already tailored for a given vertical to minimize on-the-clock tweaks. SMBs are not looking for long-term strategic efforts; they seek engagements that help them become more productive and efficient using largely the assets (human and capital) that they already have. Understanding this, and the need to prove a strong case for bottom-line results, will take many vendors beyond consideration to the negotiating table with SMB prospects.
• Improve customer self-service for software and hardware maintenance and support. SMBs are notorious for using their software and hardware support contracts as their de facto help desks, often calling several times with the same question and using support services for all tiers of support vs. conducting triage internally. Vendors can assist with this by providing "smart" tools to help identify responses online to questions previously asked of a given client, by imposing incentives to clients who learn to leverage knowledge obtained from calls the first time (that is, impose penalties for frequent calls about the same question) and by providing tools to enable some self-diagnosis before a call is made to support services. Most importantly (and the most effective support call-cost reducer) is to provide intuiting, self-healing technology components that have first-line diagnoses built into the solutions.
• Outsourcing — For ESPs, success in the SMB outsourcing market will hinge not on supplying what SMBs want, but rather, on what vendors can afford to give them and still remain profitable within this sector. However, "good enough" is not a marketing slogan that plays well with SMBs. Outsourcers must, therefore, explore mass-customized solutions that address specific SMB wants and needs. The SMB market is not for the faint of heart. To succeed in it, ESPs must:
• Craft SMB-specific offerings, with an emphasis on vertical industry
• Differentiate between mass-customized and mass-standardized solutions
• Avoid the "one size fits all" approach to utility services — This is the Achilles' heel of the application service provider (ASP) market. SMBs want the same levels of customization as their large-market brethren.
• Demonstrate that they won't abandon their SMB customers when the economy recovers and larger contract opportunities become available again

Software
Recommendations pertaining to software include the following:

• For business application software vendors focused on SMB markets, the next couple of years will be increasingly challenging. New, better-financed competition is entering from above — namely the traditionally large enterprise-focused enterprise application software (EAS) and multiapplication suite vendors. Microsoft, which had been content to provide infrastructure software, is increasing its efforts to sell SMB-focused front-office and back-office software applications in direct competition. These current vendors will need to objectively evaluate whether they have what it takes, in terms of competitively differentiated products, effective and efficient sales and support channels, and the financial strength, to remain in these general markets.
• A steep learning curve awaits business applications software vendors just entering or contemplating entering the SMB markets. SMBs have specific requirements for their business applications and how they prefer to acquire and operate them. These requirements and preferences are in some ways similar to other size organizations, but in many important ways quite different, making it extremely challenging to develop a successful go-to-market approach.
  
  For all application vendors targeting SMBs, consider the following recommendations in your plans:
• Create applications and offers that reflect an understanding and a commitment to SMB requirements. It may seem obvious, but superficial understandings and commitments (that is, only lowering price and stripping out functionality) will result in only marginal and temporary success.
• Look for opportunities to build strategic alliances with complementary solution providers also focused on the segments of the SMB markets you target.
• Eliminate complex, monolithic solutions and replace them with smaller bundles of modules that address specific business processing requirements (for example, procurement and professional services automation). SMBs realize they need core integrated functionality upfront to support operations, but they want to extend that core gradually. They seek specific extensions that target their current needs and deliver a verifiable ROI.
• Consider vertical and subvertical industry-specific applications as a way to focus competitive efforts. This is still a wide-open opportunity in most industries.
• Grow and strengthen indirect sales and support channels as key to reaching SMBs, particularly the lower segments of midsize and all of small businesses.
• Vendors must realize that an economic recovery alone won't be the solution to sales woes and that buyer behavior has shifted. They must develop new strategies to deal with those facts.
  

RESEARCH

Guest Column: Opportunities for VARs by John Addison
by John Addison

Mid-market storage is full of opportunity for your services, hardware, and software. Your major vendors are more focused on the mid-market, because the largest corporations increasingly restrict capital expenditures. Solution integrators and VARs are closer to mid-market customers than their vendors. Use this 10-step to achieve record success:

1. Create a team
2. Announce a goal
3. Focus on a customer community
4. Identify underserved needs
5. Brand your professional services
6. Leverage vendor programs and funds
7. Train and bonus your sales and services team
8. Measure progress
9. Executive help
10. Celebrate success

(1) Create a team to focus on mid-market storage through 2003 that includes someone from professional services, sales, marketing, and an executive sponsor. (2) Develop a goal such as 100% growth of mid-market storage gross profits by 12/31/04. (3) Work with your CFO to analyze customer communities that have been most profitable. Select a number one target, such as local government agencies.

(4) Discover underserved needs by conducting a survey, and hosting a focal-group of government leaders. Learn their concerns such as funding cuts, disaster recovery, compliance issues, streaming video libraries, geosciences databases, etc. (5) Brand your professional services. Involve your integrated marketing firm. You may create a suite of services in local government language dealing with utilization audits, security audits, consolidation, management, virtualization, etc.

(6) Leverage vendor programs, MDF, special funds. Vendors that are spending big on mid-market storage include IBM, EMC, Network Appliance, HP, Hitachi, Cisco, Veritas, and many more. Do not just implement their program in the same way as all your competition. Build your own business with a focused attack.

(7) Your sales and services people are busy with current accounts and deals. To achieve sustained growth, you need initiatives that acquire new customers, and set you apart. Train your account executives, inside sales, and service professionals on your service initiatives. Make it easy for sales to deliver brochures and proposals.

(8) Measure progress. Develop a multi-million dollar pipeline of business around your new initiative. (9) These days, new sales require multiple customer meetings. Bring in your top executives to accelerate closure of key opportunities. (10) Celebrate the success of each mid-market storage sale, and enjoy sustained growth.

John Addison, as president of OPTIMARK, has devoted the last 11 years to helping solution integrators, VARs, hardware, and software firms. Mr. Addison's workshops and speeches are popular in the Americas, Europe and Asia. John Addison is the author of Revenue Rocket: New Strategies for Selling with Partners. A free 14-page summary of the book is available at www.optimarkworks.com/books.

FROM THE COMMUNITY

Update from CompTIA

Don’t miss the opportunity to strengthen and grow your business by engaging in our new Education Programs. CompTIA is committed to contributing to the professional development of our industry, so take advantage of the many educational forums available to you via teleseminar, cybercast, and regional face-to-face meetings. Starting February 19th, this 5-part teleseminar series will teach you a step-by-step system for generating qualified sales leads on a small marketing budget. During each teleseminar, led by Robin Robins of Total Marketing Tool Kit, you'll learn:

• Specific steps for crafting irresistible offers
• Differentiating yourself from the competition
• How to approach a new prospect so they “really” listen to what you have to offer.
  You'll be given real life examples of sales letters, ads, sales scripts and case studies proven to work, and the tools to expand your marketing solutions and grow your business.

To register for any of these programs visit www.comptia.org/events/college.asp. Non-member rates are also available – but why not become a member and enjoy all these programs at no charge? Grow Your Business with CompTIA® programs! Get engaged!

Save The Date! Join us at CompTIA’s 19th Annual Membership Conference where the skills and tools provided in the new Member Education programs will come together with other solutions to grow your business! We hope to see you August 13 –15, 2003, in San Diego, California.