HP to re-enter the Tablet market

HP is back in the Tablet market.

We may all recall August 2011, when HP launched its TouchPad. After just six weeks on the market the TouchPad was unceremoniously pulled from the market.

Following a leadership shake-up and a strategic  re-alignment, HP is now ready to re-enter the ultra-lucrative Tablet market with their ElitePad 900.

The ElitePad900 aims to compete in the corporate sphere and is expected to make its debut in January 2013.

The powerful 10.1-inch display will be powered by Intel’s Clover Trail Atom processor and optimized by Microsoft eagerly anticipated Windows 8 OS.

HP to enter the smart phone market

Meg Whitman told Fox news today that HP will ultimately have a smartphone. A decline on the global market for PCs and workstations would be an obvious reason to enter into the very lucrative mobile market. However, considering HP’s experience with Palm and web OS, one has to wonder, will they get it right this time around?

With a mere 54 per cent of Canadian owning a smart phone, and the lion share of that going to iPhone, let us see how HP’s positioning in this market plays out.

IM-Enagged: Virtualization made easy

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Confucius

This is the approach that Ingram Micro has adopted to deliver additional value to the channel and is all set to take it to the next level with its latest offering IM-Engage.

Ingram Micro’s IM-Engage is a mobile solution center, which has been designed to provide customers with hands-on experience with some of Ingram Micro Canada’s cloud offerings.

The mobile solution center is designed to replicate an office environment, with all the typical roles one would find in an office.

Ingram Micro’s partners can now get acquainted with leading edge cloud technologies in a real life scenario and get a deeper understanding of the solution, before deploying it to their customers.

This interaction enables VARs to make informed decisions about recommending cloud technologies and allows them to be more focused on addressing their customer’s business needs, rather than worrying about maintaining or updating their customer’s outdated IT infrastructure.

The mobile solution center, which consists of all of the equipment required to demonstrate the cloud solution, including mobile Internet, can be delivered to a VAR’s location, anywhere in Canada. With qualified staff made available to facilitate demonstrations, either in person or via Web conference, partners can use it for training their staff or engaging with their own customers.

While IM-Engage is available today to showcase Microsoft’s cloud offerings, additional mobile services, will be unveiled in the coming months.

Partners, who have already had the chance to experience IM-Engage, have recognized the business value this new offering provides. Through IM-Engage, partners have gained hands-on experience with Microsoft’s Office 365 which encompasses Unified Communications, Unified Messaging and Collaboration technologies hosted by Microsoft; they were able to experience the true potential of the technology and the business opportunity it represents.

In addition, Ingram Micro partners are offered the opportunity to participate in a business transformation discussion. The conversation, designed to be interactive in nature, shares best practices aimed to help partners build a profitable cloud practice, either in addition to their existing business, or those looking to reformulate their businesses to focus solely on the cloud.

Designed from the ground up, with partners in mind, IM-Engage from Ingram Micro will help VARs fast-track their transition into selling cloud based solutions.

Women in the Channel luncheon tremendous success

For the second straight year, Ingram Micro was the lead sponsor for the Women in IT luncheon. An event dedicated to recognizing those women in the IT channel who have contributed and continue to contribute to the industry.

The Canadian IT channel is made up of some remarkable women. CDN, host and publication partner of this unique event had the difficult task of selecting five women from the channel for this years’ recognition. After much deliberation, the following women were recognized at the luncheon, which was held at the picturesque Toronto Hunt Club.

1. Barb Cummings, director of business development for London, Ont.-based Brodie Computes Inc.

2. Bonnie Huckstep, business development manager for Insite Computer Group Inc. of Markham, Ont.

3. Cheryl Stookes, director of sales for SHI Canada in Toronto;

4. Laura Tsingos, director of operations for Toronto-based HighVail Systems Inc.

5. Cathy Vankesteren, senior vice president of End to End Networks of Toronto.

As part of the event activities, an informative panel discussion, hosted by IT World Canada journalist Christine Wong, sparked a lively debate on whether Cloud Computing would motivate young women to join the IT industry.

The panel consisted of Gina Thompson, Senior Manager Cloud and Services Division North America for Ingram Micro, IT editor and journalist Vawn Himmelsbach and area director of Dimension Data Canada Wendy Lucas. Dimension Data recently introduced their own cloud solution. The panel offered new ideas on how women entrepreneurs can get more involved in the cloud computing space. The global cloud computing market is expected to grow at 30 per cent reaching $270 billion in 2020.

According to Gartner Research, the current market worldwide for cloud services is more than $70 billion and that should double by 2014. All three panelists agreed that there is no question that cloud is an incredible market opportunity. The adoption rate for cloud in North America is at 18 per cent. That’s a big market gap that needs to be filled; why not by women entrepreneurs.

The keynote speaker was none other than Canadian prima ballerina turned author turned film producer/director, Veronica Tennant. Tennant, who danced with greats such as Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov, spoke about reinventing herself as a producer/director and filmmaker while expanding her skills as a communicator, performer and author.

Women in IT Luncheon 2012

Firms continue to rely on cloud software solutions

Michael Thorne, product director at Pearlfinders.com, observed many businesses are no longer sceptical about the benefits of the cloud can provide their organizations. He observed that tools such as Google Apps and Microsoft’s Office 365 can provide significant cost-savings and productivity benefits to a firm.

“Changing of the Guards”

2012 appears to be the year for the “Changing of the Guards” The following vendor organizations made significant changes to their executive roster over the past 8 months:

 

1. Yahoo: Scott Thompson moves on as Melissa Mayer takes over as CEO

2. HP: Bill Veghte takes over as Chief Operating Officer, under a Meg Whitman administration

3. Cisco: Padmasree Warrior takes over as Cisco’s chief strategy and technology officer

4. Cisco: Bruce Klein takes over as channel chief

5. Cisco: Piwowarczyk , director, operations, go-to-market business capabilities

6. IBM: Mark Hennessy, new channel chief

7. Symantec: John Eldh, new channel chief

8. Panasonic: Kazuhiro Tsuga, new president

9. Dell: John Swainson, head of Dell’s new Software Group

10. McAfee: Gavin Struthers, senior president, worldwide channels

11. Salesforce.com: Vivek Kundra, executive vice president

12. Logitech: Bracken Darrell, new president, on the road to CEO-2013 or so??

13. Avaya: Mark Randall, senior vice president and general manager-Networking

14. Avaya: Michael Runda, senior vice president and president-Client services

15. Avaya: Pierre-Paul Allard, senior vice president- Corporate strategy and development

16. Avaya: Mark Wilson, CMO

17. VMWare: Pat Gelsinger: New CEO

18. EMC: David Goulden, new President and COO

19. EMC: Paul Maritz, new Chief strategist EMC details…

 

And last but not least, how could we forget: RIM: Thorsten Heins taking over as CEO.
For the full list of C-suite changes amongst vendors and solution providers.

Dell’s BIG Investment

Moving from acquisitions to investments, Dell aims to change the economics of the storage industry.
Dell is assessing between 5 to 10 start-up storage companies to invest in, using their Storage Venture Fund, with intentions of taking $ 3- 5 million dollars in equity positions in these firms. Full Story here.

Green IT…whats that?

Green IT is more than  just the latest corporate “buzz”, but in fact integral to the strategic direction of many organizations. Something Apple quickly learned when it withdrew from the EPEAT body (EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) is a ranking system that helps purchasers-Managed and operated by the Green Electronics Council. Get the green

Will Microsoft see its BIG Turn around?

According to the new executives at Microsoft Canada: The opportunity to turn around Microsoft’s position in Canada definitely exists, and can happen with hard work and dedication. Full story here.

Microsoft and HP Team-up!

Microsoft and HP team-up for what is being touted as the next big thing in the channel, “Unified Communications”. Microsoft will provide the UC Lync platform to SMB channel providers, all running on HP’s Converged Infrastructure platform. See the next big thing