2007 Year in Review

There was a plethora of international and local news covered in CRN during 2007 which affected a vast degree of the local channel community. It is difficult to say exactly what defined the year, but talk around Unified Communications, virtualisation and green IT seemed to dominate the major vendors’ plans. Throw in the standard mix of channel recruitments and cuts, alongside some big movers and shakers with new country heads at Microsoft and Cisco, and you have the recipe for a jam-packed year.

It was not just the channel that witnessed huge changes during the year. CRN also refined its focus and direction to cater for the local channel audience. In May we announced details of the first-ever local channel awards ceremony, the CRN Channel Champion Awards. Taking the lead from successful versions of the awards in the US and UK, the awards proved a huge hit when they took place in November. The night rewarded those who have truly achieved greatness in the local channel. It was also a massive channel networking event and raised $70,000 for the Cancer Council of Australia at the same time. The magazine and website were both redesigned in September to cater for the growing demand around online news and more in-depth magazine features. These are just the start of the improvements readers can expect to see in the future from CRN.

So take the time to enjoy a look back at the year that was in Australia’s fast-changing IT channel!

January
January saw the arrival of a new A/NZ managing director at software giant Microsoft. Tracey Fellows stepped up to the role after Steve Vamos moved over to a US-based vice president position. Fellows gained the hot seat after being internally promoted from business and marketing operations director.

Apple launched details of the mighty iPhone with the vendor’s chief executive officer Steve Jobs using Macworld as the platform to unveil a device that marries iPod and mobile phone functionality and runs Mac OS X applications ¬and Apple TV. The Australian release of the iPhone is yet to be confirmed, but with the success of the device in the US you suspect Australian punters could be as eager to grab the ultimate gadget.

In other news, channel feedback found partners reacted positively to the initial take-up of Microsoft Vista, while distributor Synnex posted gains for its fourth quarter and fiscal year.

February
In February CRN made one of the first indications that direct giant Dell could look to embrace the channel community. At the time, analyst firm Current Analysis believed the return of Michael Dell as chief executive could signal the vendor moving into the retail space. It was a prediction that turned out to prove highly significant later in the year.

On local shores distributor Firewall Systems realigned the way it approached its business and created Distribution Central as its vendor portal. As part of the new business, the distributor opened a new division called NetWorld Systems which was created to look after the firm’s technical service-oriented network infrastructure partners.

Also in February Australian Internet telephony provider Engin partnered with mobile phone giant Nokia to provide the first mobile Internet phone to be released in Australia.

Vendor EMC overhauled its channel group in a move it claimed would ramp up partner sales and profitability.

March
In March local distribution giant Ingram launched a new solutions division to offer resellers a better deal with cross-vendor solutions. The division promised to reduce the number of distributors for resellers and provide advice to partners on how they can lower the cost of developing solutions.

Elsewhere, Cisco and IBM announced they were combining technical support services for mutual customers, highlighting increasingly close ties between the network equipment maker and computer services company.

However less favourably, local news found that Australia is one of the least developed countries in terms of global innovation capability, according to an evaluation of 26 nations by Forrester Research.

There was good news for local distributor Express Data which officially launched its partnership with Telstra to provide the telco giant’s carriage services and other managed services.

April
Las Vegas was the host city of April’s Cisco Partner Summit, which saw global partners come together to hear the networking vendor’s future channel plans. CRN was able to catch up with Australian then-managing director, Ross Fowler, who revealed that the SMB space represents a great opportunity for local resellers to attain Cisco certification.

Telco giant Telstra also amped up its SMB focus by launching the Telstra Business Accreditation Program, designed to help partners deal with the fast-changing nature of ICT services in the SME sector.

Open source vendor Red Hat and chip maker Intel teamed up to encourage Intel resellers to look towards the Linux marketplace. The Global Channel Acceleration Program was a joint effort from the vendors, designed to provide resellers with a faster route to selling supported pre-certified offerings.

In the channel, local integrator Dimension Data was commended for its high service levels.

May
Only three months after a CRN story signalled a possible intent from Dell to move indirect, the vendor unveiled its first official channel plans. Dell does this by confirming it aims to launch an Authorised Partner program as a key building block of its new channel engagement strategy.

The battle against counterfeiters continues after two men are found guilty of selling fake Microsoft software and Certificates of Authenticity (COA) to an Australian reseller and were duly sentenced to five months in a Taiwanese jail, the culmination of an international investigation by Microsoft itself.

May also saw one of Australia’s largest technology shows, CeBIT Australia, hit local shores at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Hardware manufacturer ASUS Tek highlighted the vast opportunity in the local market. On a visit to Australia, general manager Benson Lin predicted revenues of more than US$20 billion in 2007 across the APAC region.

June
June witnessed the broadband announcement Australians have been waiting for, with details of the government’s $1 billion infrastructure which will enable 99 percent of Australians to receive high-speed broadband Internet.

CRN also made the trip over to Taipei to check out Computex, Asia’s largest IT show. In its 27th year and with plans to expand next year it showed that Computex is bucking the tradeshow downturn.

There is more CRN jetsetting as Interop took place in Las Vegas. Highlights included a speech made by the inspiring and incredibly switched-on John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco. CRN was also able to meet Intel’s newly appointed director of the chip giant’s Asia-Pacific reseller channel, Kamil Hasan, who promised to apply more reseller focus to the region. Hasan said he planned to action more commitment, alignment, return of investment and evolution of products for channel partners across APAC in the coming months in a plan he simply called CARE.

July
In July HP’s channel chief Adrian Jones claimed that the possible threat from Dell moving into the channel was not a huge concern for historically channel-friendly HP. Jones claimed HP’s robust channel program would starve off any threat for direct giant Dell.

Locally, Ingram Micro unveiled a six-part Reseller Business Program designed to shift some of its more up-and-coming reseller partners onto the next level. At the time John Walters, director of the Commercial and Solutions Group at Ingram, labelled the program “a momentous occasion for Ingram”.

CRN was also on the road again, this time in Singapore to run the rule over storage vendor NetApp’s progress and plans across the APAC region.

In other breaking news, ex-national sales manager at Altech and former country manager at AMD, John Robinson returned to head up network vendor DDC.

August
Good news for local telco service providers in August after a report finds that the total revenue from retail telecommunications services was up to $18.1 billion during 2005-2006. The ACCC’s report compiled revenue, usage and market share numbers from Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, Primus and AAPT.

D-Link was the latest vendor to extend its partner program and targeted the commercial, government and education sectors. Michael Bailey also joined to head up its Business Solutions Group.

More distribution news came in the form of the breakdown of the relationship between Altech and security software vendor Bullguard. Both sides had strong words to say about the deal’s collapse.

However, looking to expand its channel relationships was software vendor Knowledgeone who was touting new local partners. The firm had been selling direct for 23 years, but after refining its flagship product it was ready to unveil the offering to a wider channel audience.

September
September welcomed a new-look CRN magazine and website. To align both mediums with the growing demand for online news and magazines features, both were given major facelifts.

In news, AMD at last managed to take the fight to rival Intel with the release of its Barcelona microprocessor. Initial channel feedback suggested it could be a release that in years to come will see AMD finally reach a level playing field with its fierce rival.

Security vendors Trend Micro and McAfee both altered their local partner programs, with the latter launching an SMB-specific program. The McAfee program claimed to offer more marketing campaigns including co-branded direct mail campaigns and McAfee-funded roundtable discussions, all designed to assist partners’ business.

The high street was also given a shake-up with Fone Zone acquiring Apple retailer Next Byte. The total purchase consideration comprised of a $21 million cash payment alongside shares, too.

October
Being careful about who and what you slam is usually a good idea, but did not seem to bother Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in October, when he made some outlandish comments around the iPhone price drop. He also confessed it took him a couple of weeks before he started to like the iPhone.

More details emerge around Australia’s Broadband Guarantee as another eight providers get approved for the $163 million scheme, bringing the total to 14 companies involved. Those already included at this stage and registered included: Australian Private Networks, Elders, HarbourIT, Internode, Westnet, Westvic Broadband and Wideband Networks.

IBM continues to promote its green image and unveils that A/NZ partners will get preferential treatment depending on their approach to green issues. IBM was following up on its May annoucement which saw the vendor dedicate US$1 billion on green issues.

More good local news as Gartner finds that the local services market was worth $14 billion last year.

November
The channel’s night of nights took place in November with the hugely successful inaugural CRN Channel Champion Awards. Not only did the event at Sydney’s Shangri-La Hotel recognise the work of Australia’s channel, it also raised a huge $70,000 for the Cancer Council of Australia.

Distributor Avnet was on the acquisition trail after snapping up Melbourne-based ChannelWorx. CRN was also able to catch up with Avnet’s global COO to discuss the local market and the wider implications of the deal.

Asus released details of its significant $499 laptop which will be in local stores in time for Christmas. Due to the device’s low price point it was opening up computing to a wider market than ever before. Software giant Microsoft also shook up its channel after it added its first OEM distributor in nearly a decade by appointing Sydney-headquartered Altech to its OEM distributor line-up.

December
December is the month of Christmas shopping so CRN is having a look at the products set to be flying off the shelves this festive season. Our friends at sister title PC Authority gave in-depth reviews to the best Christmas options and highly rated the Canon PowerShot A460 with a generous five out of six.

Another item impossible to ignore is the new iPod Touch. A device very similar to the iPhone without the phone capability, the iPod Touch excelled in the performance, features and design categories. The question is should you just wait for the iPhone’s Australian release? Depends on how patient you are I suppose. When it comes to ultra-mobile PCs, the Samsung Q1 Ultra again rates highly. The seven-inch LCD screen was a highlight, offering a bright and clear display. The final item is the recently launched Asus Eee PC, which still stands to be a defining moment in low-cost computing.