Notícias

Avnet promotes corporate officers
2011-12-22
United States : multispecialist Avnet has unveiled two corporate officer promotions. Steve Phillips, CIO, has been promoted to a corporate officer position of senior vice president for Avnet, Inc. from vice president. In addition, Graeme Watt, president of Avnet Technology Solutions EMEA, was elected as a new corporate vice president for Avnet, Inc.

Distributors lose industry share in 2011
2011-08-31
According to the last Canalys report, the growth of the distributors does not match those of the rest of the industry. The Canalys IT Industry major vendor (Apple, Cisco, Dell, EMC, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Lexmark, Oracle, Microsoft and SAP) grew revenue 18% worldwide on average in the first quarter of 2011. In comparison, the big four distributors (Arrow ECS, Avnet TS, Ingram Micro and Tech Data) managed 11%, with many smaller distributors faring worse than this. Distributors have blamed recent disappointing results on excess inventory, poor retail demand, sluggish sell-out and weakening economies. They have comforted themselves by making peer group comparisons where sales-out data shows "we are performing as well as the others, so please blame the market for our results, not us!" And while these reasons are valid justifications, Canalys argues that distributors need to see the bigger picture and realize that for the first time in a decade industry trends are conspiring against them.

According to the report, distribution thrived for the last 10 years thanks to rapid notebook and netbook adoption and the virtualization of the server room, with two-tier distribution at the heart of the routes-to-market for both B2B and B2C vendors. But the growth drivers of the industry have now changed. Mobility is still booming, but now on the back of smaller devices, notably smart phones and pads, which are more and more sold either directly or through service providers. The server and storage markets are healthy, driven by data center activity and cloud applications. On top of these industry changes, the world economic growth is mainly coming from economies beyond Western Europe and the US, where the top 4 distributors are at best weak, at worse absent (MEA, Russia, Japan, etc.) : in these countries, local distributors will outgrow them, with already some local giants like Merlion in Russia for example. All of these factors combined are set to cause headaches for distributor executives for at least the next two years. The report concludes with a list of recommandations for the distributors to follow, if they wish their growth to match the industry, one of which is to go East as soon as possible…

Stonesoft gets into the cloud
2011-08-29
Finnish security vendor Stonesoft offers its resellers to become security operators thanks to its new MSSP. This bundled managed security offer includes a cloud-based management platform. Licenses related to this platform is free : VARs and system integrators simply pay an annual fee based on its use. This fee is calculated on the number of managed sites (whatever the number of installed UTM), with a flat rate of around €60 and no exit penalties. This simple pricing has been decided to make the MSSP offer as attractive as possible. Stonesoft French office acts as a pioneer, as it has developed MSSP bundle for about one year. The other countries should follow before the end of the year.

According to Léonard Dahan, France and Benelux country manager, "with MSSP, resellers can become an interesting alternative to classic operators, thanks to a greater proximity and reactivity". MSSP will also allow Stonesoft to enter more agressively the SMB market, as it is usually stronger on major accounts. Thus, some of its distributors, like Afina or Itway, will play a major role in the success of this offer, although the others (Amosdec and Computerlinks, which are more dedicated to major account market) may also distribute it through their channel network. Léonard Dahan hopes to sign 2-3 VARs for each main French city, that is about 30 partners by the end of the year. This is enough to give an idea of ​​the potential in other countries…

Avnet Technology Solutions appoints Serrano VP Finance
2011-08-16
Multispecialist Avnet Technology Solutions has named Cookie Serrano as vice president of finance, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas. Serrano joins Avnet with more than 20 years of experience in the finance and accounting fields, having worked for companies such as Goodrich, Motorola and US Foodservice in various financial management positions. Serrano reports to Rusty Murdaugh, group finance officer, Avnet Technology Solutions, Global. As vice president of finance, Serrano will manage the finance teams that support Avnet Technology Solutions in the US and Canada. Her leadership skills and financial experience will be applied to improving business practices and managing specific areas of accounting and finance such as planning and forecasting, as well as internal controls and compliance.

Avnet and A-Data team up
2011-07-26
Mémory and flash vendor A-Data has signed a distributorship agreement with multispecialist Avnet Technology Solutions, in which Avnet becomes an authorised distributor of ADATA products in major markets throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. A-Data products are effectively available through Avnet offices in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.