Actualités Algérie

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Telio closes its doors
2010-02-08
France : network and security VAD Telio has gone bankrupt a few weeks ago. The company was among the few France-based VADs to be specialized on Maghreb and French-speaking Africa. Its latest known turnover was €733k, for 2007.

Telio closes its doors
2010-02-08
France : network and security VAD Telio has gone bankrupt a few weeks ago. The company was among the few France-based VADs to be specialized on Maghreb and French-speaking Africa. Its latest known turnover was €733k, for 2007.

IT distributors hit road to recovery
2010-02-04
United States : IT distributors, often seen as a barometer of IT spending, should meet or surpass Wall Street projections when they report quarterly results, fueling hopes of a broader recovery in the sector. Ingram Micro, Avnet, Arrow Electronics are seen returning to growth as IT spending improves. Following year-over-year declines for the past four quarters, IT shipments through global distribution channels rebounded sharply in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a recent industry report by Raymond James analyst Brian Alexander. The improvement in North American IT shipments is likely being driven by a turn in corporate profits and less tight credit, both of which are leading indicators of IT spending, Alexander said.

Strong numbers from Intel, IBM and Apple further add to the evidence that corporate spending is returning. The companies, which distribute everything from personal computers to microchips, had grappled with dwindling demand and thinning margins for most part of last year. This should be the last quarter of margin compression in this cycle, and the Street is "underestimating the rebound we expect in gross margin in 2010," Goldman Sachs analyst Craig Hettenbach said in a note. An extension in lead times and firmness in pricing, coupled with a mix shift in components toward higher-margin markets - North America, and EMEA - in the March quarter, should result in a sharp reversal in gross margin trends going forward, Hettenbach added. Longer lead times - the duration it takes to deliver a product after it has been ordered - indicate higher demand. Analyst Matthew Sheerin at Thomas Weisel, who has kept his "market weight" rating on Arrow, Avnet and Tech Data, upgraded Ingram -- the largest in the group -- to "overweight" Monday.

"We are warming up to the name, as we believe Ingram is well positioned for the eventual upturn in IT spending and should see margin expansion over the next few quarters, particularly Europe, where it has had some operational issues and lost share," Sheerin said. "All of Ingram's suppliers - EMC, IBM, Seagate Technology, Western Digital - have posted very strong quarters ... So it isn't hard to see them having a good quarter," analyst Richard Kugele at Needham & Co said. While analysts expect a good start to the year in terms of IT spending, they remain "cautiously optimistic" going ahead. Thomas Weisel's Sheerin said there is speculation the expected IT refresh could be a late 2010 or early 2011 story as customers do not yet see that a priority, particularly in light of Windows 7 (which many are hesitant to adopt early) (source : Reuters).

Micro Application imports Raxco
2010-02-02
French software specialist and reeditor Micro Application has started the distribution of the French version of PerfectDisk 10 Pro, a defragmentation tool from Raxco Software, in French speaking countries of Europe and Africa.

Almasa inks distribution deal with security vendor
2010-02-01
Middle East : broadliner Almasa IT Distribution has added a new name to its enterprise portfolio after confirming a tie-up with content security appliances specialist WatchGuard. The deal gives Almasa the right to distribute WatchGuard's complete range of security solutions throughout the Middle East and Africa (source : ITP Middle East).