News AMD Rolls Out Most Comprehensive Channel Program to Date By ChannelMedia Staff

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AMD is about to launch its largest channel program ever and it has Gary Bixler quite excited. Bixler, North America Regional Marketing Manger, has been working on the program for 12 months to maximize channel lift-off of AMD’s all-encompassing 64-bit story, which is based on a standard instruction set and encourages a consistent path for developers and IT managers. “Our roots are borne out of the need to support the channel with products and technologies in a very robust way but we accomplish this by taking a very customer centric, innovative approach.” Which brings Bixler back to “The AMD Solution Provider Program. “ The New tiered program encompasses all channel segments including System Builders, VARs, integrators and service providers. The AMD Solution Provider program provides benefits in three key areas. “Foundation” benefits provide basic support with product information, training and customized communication. “Connection” benefits offer recognition from AMD, launch partner programs and access to special events. “Business Acceleration” benefits include sales promotions, evaluation and seed programs and marketing funds. In addition to the base member level, partners who demonstrate a strong commitment to AMD products and who are closely aligned with key AMD strategies may be invited to participate at the higher Gold and Platinum member levels and enjoy enhanced rewards. The AMD Solution Provider Program has been developed to support those companies whose primary business is providing the full range of AMD processor-based computing solutions, including AMD Opteron™ processor-based servers and workstations and AMD Athlon™ 64 processor-based desktop and notebook systems.

With the recent launch of the AMD Athlon 64 processor, AMD’s system builder partners can offer their customer base an innovative, end-to-end solution based on AMD64 technology: servers for enterprise and research environments, workstations for tasks such as high-end audio and video manipulation, desktop machines for small and medium business, and high-performance notebooks for home, business or school. AMD64 technology provides new opportunities for solution provider partners to differentiate their offerings and deliver added value to their customers. “Things are getting pretty fun around here,” Bixler concluded. The AMD Solution Provider program is accessible through the just-launched AMD Market Builder portal, which replaces the AMD ResellerPro site.

News System Builder Summit/VARVision Fall ‘03 The State of the Channel: Research and Panel Discussion Presented By Shari Marion-Hoff, President/CEO, Hawkeye | Cohesion

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For those of you that attended the Opening Session of the Fall ’03 System Builder Summit & VARVision held on Sunday, September 21, you might recall the lively discussion between channel members regarding the following topics:

• Rules of Engagement – how are they defined and how are they communicated to each channel segment.
  
• Reasonable Expectations – what is reasonable for a system builder and/or VAR to expect from a vendor; what is reasonable for a vendor to expect from a system builder and/or VAR?
  
• Joint Business Planning – how do you extend the practice beyond the top tier partners?

Panel members representing Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, GeenPages, Computers Plus, Milwaukee PC, D&H Distributing and Gartner offered varying viewpoints of how the channel should be supported. For example, is it the responsibility of the vendor to jointly develop business plans with their channel partners? If the answer is yes, how many partners can they realistically support?

The research presented gave each channel segment (vendor, distributor, system builder, and VAR) only a satisfactory grade when rating areas such as being easy to work with, minimizing channel conflict, and helping with process and profitability. These results demonstrate that there is still a great opportunity for improvement in the working relationships between vendors, distributors, and other channel members.

If you’d like to find out more, or to request a soft copy of the State of the Channel research presentation, please go to www.cohesioninc.com, or contact Shari Marion-Hoff at 800/981-9154 ext. 5807.

 

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News Changes in the Mobile Computer Chip Space? By ChannelMedia

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While Intel is still king of the mobile semiconductor market, its two primary rivals, Advanced Micro Devices and Transmeta, have both launched new technologies aimed at wresting market share away from Intel. The two companies are taking very different paths in their efforts to achieve this goal, Transmeta with a continuation of its low powered positioning and AMD with a continuation of its extending the 64-bit architecture to all levels of the market.

This is an important market effort for both companies, but especially so for Transmeta, which has been suffering a steady stream of red ink which will eventually kill the company. It has sought to reposition some of its technology into the embedded market, and has been partially successful, but with the most recent quarter's revenue at $2.7m, a sharp decline from the previous quarter's $5.1m, and the $23.7m net loss, it shows that its efforts have not resulted in reversing the company's fortunes. To help combat the decline the company debuted the Efficeon, its second-generation microprocessor, which it hopes will reinvigorate its fortunes and put it firmly on the map as a major force in the semiconductor business. The chip, addressing what company executives said was a major customer concern, power, by delivering significantly better performance than its predecessor, should open new markets for the company as well as help it reestablish itself in several existing markets. This is an extremely important product for Transmeta. If Efficeon's acceptance is only lukewarm, that could spell doom for the company's chance to make the move from pretender to contender, and possibly even its long-term viability. The chip features additional features that enable it to further extend a systems battery life as well as a an integrated chipset solution that requires less space so that it can be used in small form factor devices.

For AMD, it took its chip architecture that can run both 32-bit applications as well as 64-bit ones, and has migrated it to the mobile and desktop marketplace. Called the Opteron in the server space, it has renamed it the Athon64 for the desktop and mobile markets. AMD sees gamers, scientists and customers interested in digital media creation as the initial target market for the new chips, with the chip later transitioning to the more mainstream business computing and digital entertainment users The company believes that many users, even if they have no need for 64-bit computing right now, will buy systems that have the chip as a hedge against future needs. Because a single system will be able to run both 32-bit and 64-bit applications, users can upgrade to new applications as they need them. Initially the Athlon64 for notebooks will operate at 2GHz with faster chips expected next year. AMD also has partners announcing that they will be developing notebooks using the chip, a step up on AMD, but still trailing the immense number of companies that use Intel's processors.

However there is a rather big fly in the ointment for AMD, and its Microsoft. At the debut of the Athlon64 Microsoft proclaimed that it would have a 64-bit operating system for notebook and desktop users, but a month later in said that it would be an additional six months before the operating system is available. It is not yet clear what, if any, impact this delay will cause on system demand, but it certainly is a blow for AMD. Without the OS, it will be much longer before applications developers can create programs that take advantage of the features that 64-bit computing brings. In the meantime Intel is not sitting around watching the corn grow. It has continually made advances in the low powered features of its notebook processors, so much so that there is now little discernable difference between it and Transmeta. Intel declines to state if it has a combined 32/64-bit chip in the wings, although the industry has been rife with rumors and speculation for over a year that it does indeed have such a chip and is only waiting to see what level of market acceptance AMD receives.

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RESEARCH

What A User Wants, Needs: An SMB IT Services Buying Study
By Gartner’s Mika Yamamoto Krammer

In 2003, the small and midsize business (SMB) IT services market will present a $118 billion opportunity in the United States alone. This is a lucrative market with unique characteristics, needs and preferences. With little desire to deal with global, best-of-breed IT services providers, the positioning and messaging to succeed among these enterprises must be unique to the individual SMB segments defined by enterprise size and further by vertical and region. IT
services vendors must pay close attention to how, from whom and what SMBs want to consume from outside providers. Gartner provides feedback from SMBs to provide such a perspective. The research for this document is focused on the consumption pattern of IT services among SMBs. Survey results include responses from IT managers and business managers, making up 60 percent and 40 percent of the results from SMBs, respectively. All enterprises surveyed use outside IT services providers.

On analysis of the data, Gartner Dataquest identified the following key findings pertaining to North American SMB IT services buying behaviors:

1. The Big Four consulting firms are not the service providers that SMBs work with most often. They are more likely to spend their services dollars with national or local value-added resellers (VARs).
   
2. Small (five to 99 employees) and lower-end midsize businesses (100 to 499 employees) would rather support their legacy systems vs. new systems.
   
3. Among upper-end midsize (500 to 999 employees) businesses, the responses are split between the desire to support legacy systems and architect new systems.
   
4. SMBs are least interested in doing business with global solutions providers; they'd much rather deal with regional/local providers. This rewards Tier 2 and Tier 3 service providers in addition to VARs with the bulk of SMBs' IT services contracts.
   
5. SMBs do not consider themselves outsource-oriented (that is, open to the concept of outsourcing). This sentiment is most prevalent among midsize enterprises. Because of the profile of respondents — IT executives — this is not surprising, because desire is strong for internal control of technology processes. Once presented with solid business rationale and benefit, business executives among SMBs have a greater comfort level with outsourcing than their IT counterparts.
   
6. Perceived market leadership among vendors is not important to SMBs. Only a minority of respondents stated they prefer to do business with market leaders; those that win the majority of contracts in the SMB market are those with regional/local presences and established track records for delivering value within a market segment defined by enterprise size and by vertical markets.
   
7. SMBs do not usually contract technology vendors to also provide services. They rely more heavily on their regional/local systems integrators and VARs for IT services.
   

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RESEARCH

Gartner Research: Users and Vendors Speak Out: Privacy and Security
By Elroy Jopling

A number of opinions exist in regard to what security and privacy are and are not. These have evolved and are evolving still. The paradox of privacy is that individuals want it but they won't do anything to get it. Legislators will be forced to guess what these "wants" are. Compounding all of this is the changing face of privacy. Enterprises are trying to address a moving target and they are in peril if they don't. (Note: The body of this Perspective reflects the thoughts of users and vendors, not specifically those of Gartner. The users' and vendors' thoughts are from the Gartner IT Security Summit 2003 as part of Sector5 telecommunications and information services users and vendors industry panel discussions.)

Privacy: What It Is and What It Is Not
Years ago, "privacy" and "security" were used interchangeably. Today, they are separate, although related. Equally, many things that are not privacy are described as privacy.

• Privacy is a subjective condition, a circumstance we enjoy as individuals, first, when we have the power to control information about ourselves and second, when we exercise that power consistent with our interests and values.
  
• Privacy is the proper handling of personal information consistent with the preference of the data subject — ourselves.
  
• Often people don't have much choice of its usage, especially when dealing with governments.
  
• Privacy is a discrete set of problems, whereas spam and identity theft — although used in conjunction with "privacy" — is a different set of problems.
  
• Security is overarching and arguably a more important function, as security is essential to fulfilling privacy.
  
• There is no privacy without security.

The Paradoxes of Privacy
Consumers absolutely want privacy, but they aren't interested in doing anything to pursue it.

• Individuals say they want privacy, but as social creatures they continually try to shed privacy. People go to bars, restaurants, movies and malls to shed privacy; they want to talk to each other and share information.
  
• With regard to privacy, individuals won't tell you what they want, won't do anything to pursue it and won't pay 15 cents extra for it.
  
  • When going to a secure site for a transaction, how many people will look for the privacy certificate? From a privacy-concerned audience it was determined that only 10 percent check for the certificate.
    
  • Even with consumers' privacy lethargy, if an enterprise does not have security and privacy built into its offering, consumers will have no lack of compulsion to abandon the site and the company, and through the media hit the enterprise's stock prices and market capitalization.

Where Is U.S. Privacy Legislation Going?
Although predicting where privacy legislation is going may be called a "fool's errand," enterprises must try to ensure compliance today and in the future, forcing them into an errand fraught with potential error.

• Enterprises want to be compliant but have a host of state and federal regulations that seem to be in a constant state of flux.
  
  • The initial approach to privacy was enterprise full disclosure, but this seems to have fallen on deaf ears. There is a growing sense that a mandate of what privacy must be is required.
    
  • Consumers shouldn't have to know what is happening with his or her privacy to know that it is being met. The analogy is given of air bags in automobiles: The consumer shouldn't have to know that they are there and operational; it should simply be mandated.
    
• There is less movement toward privacy legislation since the dot-com bubble burst.
  
  • During the heady days of the dot-com era with a proliferation of e-commerce and personalization, privacy enjoyed media frenzy. Now, less hype exists, and the average user has become mature and has a better understanding of the online privacy environment.
    
  • Key senators and members of Congress say they don't have time for online privacy legislation this year. Although there doesn't seem to be a high likelihood of privacy legislation, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (a law stating how mortgages must be refinanced) is up for reauthorization, and a lot of privacy concerns may be swept under its proceedings.
    
• Enterprises should be proactive in their planning and implementation; legislation is not needed. Most legislation is simply good business practices. Despite all the differences in legislation, enterprises can adhere to a number of principles:
  
  • Be aware of how well you are doing in protecting the secrecy of information from third parties.
    
  • Know how well you control who has access to data and who does not.
    
  • Be cognizant and vigilant on how much disclosure you provide to consumers and how much control you give them.
    
  • Know how good you are at logging and tracking your compliance to present regulations.
    
  • You can't predict where legislation is going, but you know it will be there. You must build your system architecture so that it is flexible enough to accommodate the preceding principles.
    

The New Face of Privacy
Privacy came to the forefront with the dot-com era and, although it seems to have lost some legislative momentum, a number of other issues will keep privacy in the limelight.

• We are in a brave new privacy world in which technology is outstripping the ability of law, regulations and practice to keep up without some sort of Draconian measures. Such measures are not expected; however, we must accommodate flexibility and a genuine interest in the consumer.
  
  • Previously, privacy was very much an Internet-facing-collection-of-data issue. Now, it is about huge back-end systems in which the bulk of data is processed and warehoused.
    
  • All the consumer data that was protected and locked down in one location is now moving across public networks as enterprises transfer between branches.
    
  • Consumers are not well aware of this amassing and transfer of their information. Even if they are, what can they do? In an Internet-privacy-centric scenario, the consumer had the power to take their dollars somewhere else, but now a breach may be with one company and the fraud actually perpetrated at another. Finding out which company is at fault may not be easy. With the government, consumers will have little or no retort.
    
  • Total Information Awareness will see the government collecting public data, applying other data and collating it. This will raise the awareness and visibility of the question: Where is this all going?
    
• Public records will become another concern of consumers. Previously, public records were available on dusty shelves, but now they are coming online. This is more than just records being online. It used to be that if you wanted these records you went to a courthouse or other government institution where you were visibly looking up the files. One could not hide behind the obscurity of the Internet, easily downloading volumes of information. Public reaction will grow as concerns become realized and potential misuse of information comes to the media forefront.
  
• With these masses of data, security must not only be for external attacks, but from within the organization. The insider threat — the employees who operate the system and steal or sell data — exists. Controls must be in place to monitor inappropriate behavior, log unauthorized access (successful or not) to apprehend, and gather evidence to prosecute.
  
  • Strong security policies alone will not suffice. You will need education, a strong understanding of what your data assets are, where they have been stored, where they are transported, and who accesses them and how.
    
  • While enterprises' failure to meet these requirements will result in financial loss (and now with governments being major players in amassing the data), their loss will be in the form of loss of mission.
    
  • Large enterprises will be forced to provide the infrastructure to accomplish the protection of this data; small and midsize businesses (SMBs) will not have the resources to do likewise.
    
  • Technology, software and IT companies responsible for building the hardware and software for providing these new expanded services of mass collection and processing of consumer data must play a role in the management of the protection of this data.
    
  • A more holistic privacy and security approach will be required, and this will become apparent as more cross-security industry consolidation takes place.

Perspective
A paradox of privacy is that consumers definitely want it but will not do anything to pursue it or pay for it. However, if consumers feel their privacy is compromised, they will respond with a vengeance, abandoning an enterprise and blowing the whistle to see private enterprises lose share value and public enterprises lose their mission. Enterprises must be more than just compliant; they effectively must become privacy advocates for their own customers. Enterprises must treat privacy as a potential differentiator and not wait for legislation but develop their systems so they are flexible and able to address new needs as they present themselves. Knowing one's customer has always been a maximum of marketing; it now has become a prerequisite of good privacy practices.

Privacy legislation may not have the consumer and media interest of the dot-com era; however, the changing face of privacy will cause it to still be a significant element in the consumer experience. The change from privacy being Internet-facing-centric to back-office amassing and massaging, and transporting over public networks will cause new problems and concerns. Knowing what data is collected, who touches it, who it is shared with, and how the consumer can control it will become mandates of which the enterprises must be intimately aware. Privacy and its overarching security will become more complex and require a more holistic approach and solution. Even though strong policies may be in place, significant education will be required internally (especially as the insider threat becomes more real) and externally to the enterprise.

Security will become even more complex, and new technologies such as intrusion protection systems (IPS) may help, but the breadth of privacy requirements and the inflation in the number of new attacks will continue to challenge the enterprise. There is no privacy without security; it is expensive and it can't be done alone.

RESEARCH

NPD Chart: Top Sellers in Business Software

Top-Selling Software
Week of October 19 – October 25, 2003

RESEARCH

Channel-Media, in association with Gartner Vision Events ChannelMatch, is conducting a market research study on product acquisition methods by leading companies in the US Channel.

All participants will receive a free copy of the compiled Survey Report. Learn how the channel makes its new vendor and product acquisition decisions!

Complete the Market Research Survey

What we hope to learn:

• Top methods channel company’s employ for new vendor partner decisions
• Key influencers for acquiring new products
• How channel companies are using alternative communications mediums for product acquisition decisions

Novell said that IBM is planning to make a $50 million investment by purchasing convertible preferred stock. Novell said it would acquire SuSE Linux, Europe's leading producer of the Linux operating system, for $210 million in cash. The deal to acquire SuSE Linux, expected to close in the January quarter, could boost sales of Novell's flagship NetWare networking software, whose year-on-year sales have declined for five straight quarters. NetWare now runs on its own operating system, and customers have been abandoning it for programs that run on other operating systems -- Linux, Unix and Microsoft's Windows, Novell is in discussions with IBM regarding the extension of commercial agreements, in which IBM would continue to support SuSE Linux on IBM's server products.

Symantec announced an agreement to acquire information technology service provider On Technology for $100 million in cash. Under terms of the deal, each On Technology share will be exchanged for $4 in cash, representing a 16 percent premium to Friday's closing price.

Information technology consulting company Ciber Inc. agreed to buy smaller Memphis rival SCB Computer Technology Inc. for about $90 million. The deal will boost the amount of business Greenwood Village-based Ciber does with Uncle Sam as well as with state and local governments.
According to a weekly poll of 20,000 IT decision makers from small, medium, and large businesses, there exists early signs that IT spending will strengthen in the second half of 2003, indicated by the Gartner Technology Demand Index. An index value of 100 indicates that businesses spent exactly what was budgeted. The score for July was 95.1, an increase after hovering around 80 in March and April, and remaining above 90 for the past three months. The Gartner Technology Demand Index measures IT decision makers’ purchase preferences across over 400 vendors by section and product. During the last year, electronics manufacturers and retailers have been negatively affected by the decrease in IT spending due to the uncertain economy and controls to curb spending in corporations. The increase in the index number represents a hopeful sign that the economy is strengthening, and the market will turn around.

Siebel Systems, the struggling maker of business software, took another step towards overhauling its business model on Wednesday as it announced the acquisition of privately-held UpShot, which delivers software online. The purchase, which will cost up to $70 million, promises to take Siebel deeper into the business of selling its customer relationship management software as a service. UpShot is also considered a competitor to SalesForce.com, the popular “hosted” CRM solution.

FSLogic, a provider of software that protects and manages open access Windows PC environments, today announced the launch of FSLogic Protect, the first software to allow users to save portable, customized Windows system settings and retrieve user configurations and data without rebooting. In addition to increasing user flexibility and productivity, FSLogic Protect reduces administrative expense by eliminating the chance for base system corruption and the resulting need for system troubleshooting, re-imaging and re-configuration. Customers managing millions of computers in shared and public access environments where multiple users access each PC can immediately benefit from reduced downtime and lowered IT management costs.

VARs, system integrators, and other resellers were given a sneak peak at FSLogic Protect while attending the VARVision® Fall 2003 event in Hollywood, California. The product received top marks as a nominee for the Best of VARVision Award in the Best Product: Software category.

"More than 100 VARs reviewed dozens of products and technologies at this event," stated Eric Lesonsky, Event Director for Vision Events for Vision Events. "In challenging economic times, resellers are very diligent in selecting new technologies that help customers lower IT costs. This nomination comes as high recognition from VARs and solution integrators from across the country who see FSLogic Protect as a way to help their customers do just that."

"Organizations with open access environments face the constant threat of system corruption due to user error and re-configuration," said Jared laser, founder and president of FSLogic Inc. "Costly re-imaging and re-configuration drain finite IT support resources and increase unproductive downtime. These headaches can be completely avoided with FSLogic Protect. For the first time, IT administrators can allow maximum user flexibility without sacrificing system security and stability."

Dantz® Development announced that Dantz Retrospect® 6.5 for Windows supports the newly released Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 (both Standard and Premium Editions). Dantz is a leader in backup and restore software for small and midsize businesses. "Dantz has worked with Microsoft to ensure that Windows Small Business Server 2003 users benefit from our proven, fast, and easy-to-use data protection software," said Tony Barbagallo, VP of Worldwide Marketing at Dantz. "We make data protection easy for small and midsize businesses that don¹t have the dedicated IT staff required to set up and operate complex backup and restore software." The entire family of award-winning Dantz server-level products supports Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003. Retrospect add-ons provide fast and precise backups for Windows Small Business Server 2003 ensuring that small business information is protected 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "Microsoft is pleased that Retrospect 6.5 supports Windows Small Business Server 2003," said Katy Hunter, group product manager, Windows Server Group, Microsoft Corp. "With support for Windows Small Business Server 2003, Dantz Development is ensuring our mutual small business customers have applications that are integrated, easily accessible and can be safely backed up and restored."

LaCie said it has signed a distribution agreement with Tech Data Corporation expanding its reach as a leading supplier of state-of-the-art external storage devices. "Today's multimedia design functions require digital technology that can support intensive audio-visual storage and display capabilities that are not necessarily the same as traditional data files," said Wendy Rausch, vice president of peripherals product marketing for Tech Data. "Technology solution providers rely on Tech Data to help them distinguish which solutions and manufacturers are best suited to meet these needs. The addition of LaCie's product line, backed by Tech Data's technical expertise, provides our customers with a wide range of superior storage solutions, as well as monitors and calibration systems specifically for this market." LaCie is equally excited about the partnership. "This new partnership reflects LaCie's commitment to support multimedia professionals and supply them with visually innovative tools, products and solutions to better manage the creative process," said Phillip Johnson, LaCie channel manager. "We are pleased to team up with Tech Data and work together toward our commitment within the channel."

Texas Memory Systems, manufacturer of the World’s Fastest Storage®, announced that the RamSan-320 solid state disk has been certified to support Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server as part of the "Designed for Windows” program. This designation indicates to users that RamSan-320 is a storage subsystem that has undergone rigorous testing and exhibits exceptional compatibility with the operating system, so they can have confidence in their purchase. “This certification continues our goal of making RamSan solid state disks the fastest and most interoperable in the industry,” said Woody Hutsell, Executive Vice President at Texas Memory Systems. “We work closely with system vendors such as Microsoft to ensure that our mutual customers experience maximum acceleration of their particular applications, with systems that are reliable and fully integrated.”

Network Associates announced the newest network and security management solution from the Sniffer® Technologies division, the Netasyst™ network analyzer, specifically designed for the burgeoning small and mid-size business (SMB) market and field service organizations. The Netasyst solution is a cost-effective network performance solution that provides businesses with a flexible solution to monitor, troubleshoot and secure their 10/100 LAN and 802.11a and 802.11b wireless networks. A standalone software solution, the Netasyst network analyzer is backed by the power of Sniffer Technologies, providing SMBs and field service organizations with many of the features and functionalities that large-scale enterprises use to manage, secure and plan the growth of their networks. With the Netasyst network analyzer, small and mid-size businesses now have an affordable solution to track information flowing through their networks, protect their networks and, with the optional Expert Analysis system, pinpoint the root causes of network problems and intelligently define probable solutions to the problem. Because IT managers at small and mid-size enterprise companies have multiple responsibilities with limited budgets and resources, providing a quick and easy resolution to network and security issues is paramount.

EmergeCore Networks, a leader in the development of high-value, low-cost integrated IT solutions for small business and branch offices, today announced new eCommerce features now available on the award-winning IT-100 "IT in a Box" . Adding to a host of powerful features that make it easy to build a wired or wireless network, the IT-100 now allows small businesses to quickly and securely sell products and services on the Internet. Expected to top $12 trillion worldwide by 2006*, eCommerce transactions have historically been enabled by complex, costly solutions involving multiple vendors and multiple components. The IT-100 now allows small businesses to compete squarely against much larger organizations with a secure, professional eCommerce presence.

"Establishing an online presence versus a traditional brick and mortar
business allows a company to quickly reach a much larger market,and
at a lower cost then the traditional brick and mortar model," said Dave
Brown, EmergeCore president and CEO. "With the IT-100 a small business
can now compete effectively in the global market against more complex,
multi-component eCommerce solutions."

"Clearly, the transaction cost economics for most small and medium
business enterprises dictate the necessity to move goods and services
to a Web commerce platform and essentially lower the operational burden
associated with selling to customers," said Frank J. Bernhard, technology
economist and managing principal with OMNI Consulting Group LLP, an
economic advisory and assurance research firm in Davis, California. "
EmergeCore's IT-100 solution embodies the achievement of reduced technical
complexity coupled with a rapid Web delivery presence for launching virtually
any business into the digital commerce marketplace."

 

Research Sponsored by:

What do Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing and CRM have in common? They all are hot categories for improving business productivity but equally important is their reliance on quality data. And interestingly one company has caught fire as being the leading in what is called “Data Profiling” software and is being used as an important first-step in these projects. I recently spoke with heir CEO Lacy Edwards and asked him about Evoke.

What is your USP in Data Profiling?

Any company that has challenges with existing data is an opportunity to us, some are smaller and some are larger…but a lot of companies want to repurpose (data) and by using Evoke they can do a better job cleaning up their data. If you don’t have quality data you won’t get a proper handle on project. If the data can be cleansed it will allow you to understand the data and the data is often times crucial because it feeds other major applications – CRM, EAI. We were out there with Axio 6 years ago – it was not seen as a good idea. Today, there are a number of Companies in the space. ETL vendors know they need this. Our best partners are database companies that need good data because they are dealing with legacy systems. Oracle has recommended us numerous times. Of course, Ascential is #1. Combining all of the top Data Profiling Companies would probably equal $100M in sales.

Q. Scenario where Evoke/Axio is needed…filled the bill.
A. Where people are pulling data from multiple sources from a data warehouse you need us. This is a key point of failure. We are profiling sources and then create a common data model and then help you remove disparate data. It’s a huge benefit and the data warehouse vendor and integrator immediately recognizes the value. We are sitting on 15 outstanding bids where we’ve been included in the big by the data warehouse vendor….

Q. Speaking of partners, what kind of partners are you looking for ----- alliances w/integrators, resellers?
A. Data warehousing is an area of explosive growth today. It’s definitely the market we are going after and our product, profiling, plays a huge role. We also see a lot of attention coming from midsize companies today. And we are looking for partners to fill that space.

Q. Tell us About Evoke.
A. Today we are about 50 people and our sales are roughly $10M and we are profitable (for two straight quarters) and starting to grow again in terms of people and sales. We plan to maintain a profitable run rate but we added 20 people since January as today’s deal size for Evoke has dropped from $500-800 to ….100-200k deal size today.

FROM THE COMMUNITY

Growth in channel partner revenue for 2003 and 2004 can be accelerated with market segment initiatives. Your competition may only offer a broad horizontal channel program for products in security, storage, distributed power, or services. You can gain competitive advantage with specific market
segment programs.

80% of your channel revenue may be from a few industries such as government, healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, transportation, and so on. Select a few industries where you have competitive advantage. Involve channel sales, marketing, and professional services in developing industry branded solutions. Work with strategic allies who are leaders in the targeted industries. Co-market bundled solutions. Package specific marketing campaigns for your partners. Give partners market segment training. Pre-approve use of MDF to get involved in the best industry associations.

For example, healthcare is 15% of the United States' GDP. Even though Symantec has a general line of security products, it accelerated revenue by packaging Symantec Enterprise Security ManagerT for HIPAA. Symantec then developed healthcare initiatives for its channel partners including pre-packaged marketing, presentations, and training. John Addison's article is online at:
http://www.crn.com/sections/special/healthcare/healthcare.asp?ArticleID=4415.

FROM THE COMMUNITY “REAL Business Meetings from my desktop?” By: Casey Hughes

There was a time not long ago that I actually enjoyed business travel. My fellow “road warriors” at Merisel and I would even compete to see who could visit the most customers spanning multiple states in a single day. My (winning) record was 5… Office Depot in FL., SAMS Club and Wal-Mart in AK., Pace in CO and FedCo in CA.. Grueling but possible. But not any longer.

Today, a single flight to San Francisco (from my office in Malibu, CA) can consume an entire day. Often for a single meeting!

The Facts are clear… 58% of the 280 travel managers surveyed have upped their use of air travel alternatives using web conferencing (with 81% using teleconferencing). (Assoc. of Corp. Travel Executives) Half of the business travelers over the past year have used web conferencing rather than fly to an in-person meeting. (Travel Industry Association) Business travel has declined (last year) for the 4th year in a row with US firms spending 40% less on travel this year than in 2002. Those most effected by travel budget reductions: sales and marketing staff. (Runz-heimer International)

Now mind you, I am not proposing that face-to-face meetings are a thing of the past. On the contrary, they have become more critical than ever to build trusting business relationships. Still we haven’t the time nor money to maintain real-time contact as today’s business climate would dictate. Given the advent of web conferencing, coupled with the rapid reduction in costs for conference call services, new approaches to maintaining business relationships are becoming mainstream.

Ask Hewlett Packard who routinely communicates product and program activities internally with associates and externally with customers thru web conferencing. Or Alvaka Networks, a network security provider who has found web conferencing to be a low cost, results oriented vehicle to reach new corporate clients. And the list is seemingly endless of companies augmenting their “face-time” with associates and customers through the integration of web conferencing into their daily business practices. And how about you?

Imagine… you pitch a VAR in Chicago, an integrator in Texas, a retailer in Seattle and a distributor in California. Then you have lunch. All from the comfort of your own desktop.

  ABOUT CASEY

Casey Hughes is the Director of Channel Business Development for Gartner Vision Events Online. He has 27 years of channel management experience including senior vice president roles at KayPro, Tandon and Merisel. He was called “the progenitor of PC retail” by CMP in response to his efforts to guide national retailers to enter the technology products category. Since the Internet era began in the mid 1990’s, he has architected numerous platforms for online collaboration, most recently a web meeting and online events portal called ChannelMatch. As a senior associate of the CoWorking Institute and an active facilitator for Hewlett Packard’s Media Solutions, Casey has unprecedented experience in helping organizations leverage technology and the requisite social processes for effective web meetings and online events. A professional speaker and workshop facilitator, Casey has a degree in physics and enjoys surfing with his 2 children in their home community of Malibu, CA.. Casey can be reached at casey@channelmatch.com or by calling his Malibu office at 310-457-2146.

FROM THE COMMUNITY Changing Channels: If You Build It, Nobody Can Come By Steve Cross

How the heck do you design a mousetrap that catches mice so well that they can’t get out and neither can the human setting the trap? Well, let’s call that the trap I fell into last week. Software firewalls! While I was traveling the week before last, my desktop machine was attacked by elves or pixies of some sort. These capricious spirits seemed to have severed my attachment to the Internet. I checked with my ISP; all was well. I checked to see if I could ping the gateway; that worked fine. Then I just started kicking tires and pulling wires. Released and renewed my IP addresses. Repaired connections, etc. After some diagnostics, it looked like my software firewall was causing the problem.

Here’s where the fun started. I uninstalled the firewall, which turned out to be a big mistake. Apparently, I should have read all the threads on the forums first. After catching up on the reading of the threads from the other machine, it turns out that to fix this firewall properly, download another copy and install that copy, then uninstall the whole thing. As an aside, wouldn’t that be tough for the customer or user to do if they only have the one machine (not my excuse, though, I have a laptop also).

Well, the harm was already done. Now the software would not uninstall, and it wouldn’t work either. Here’s the real fun part….no telephone support; email only, or FAQs. By the way, still no Internet access. Being a resourceful fellow, I played my big card; an email from my laptop to their PR people, declaring my issue and my credentials. That got a response the next morning, bright and early. The phone call included the PR person and a very nice escalation technical support specialist. An hour later, even after the call ended with everything all hunky-dory the stuff was still on the machine! The second call was a little more testy, shall we say. The mousetrap story begins here.

To beat the hackers, viruses, Trojans, adware, spyware, worms, etc, the firewall company had “hardened” their application, in the same way a bunker would be hardened against military attack. Hardening makes the firewall less susceptible to uninstalling or deactivating by the various attackers. At the same time, it makes it nearly impossible to remove from the machine.

The reason I’m covering this topic today is that I suggest that each of us has to look at the stuff we load on machines from a number of different perspectives. Almost like the Hippocratic Oath, which actually says “First, do no harm”. Before anything, a doctor is supposed to do no harm, don’t step on your own….foot. In our case, we need to look long and hard at just how the software impacts our initial applications and long-term plans. I blew it with this one. Violated my own version of the Hippocratic Oath; “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

  Contact Steve Cross at steve@crosschannel.com, 702-492-7472.

Editor's Note: Steve is a channel consultant who offers services from one-day brainstorming sessions to complete channel strategy plans. He has helped numerous companies to increase revenue and enhance their channel success.

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