Data Centre

Data centres: A challenging opportunity

New technologies have made many companies re-think the way they develop and deploy their data centres. Transformation is clearly under way, but it is not a seamless process. The technologies and solutions required can be complex, and expertise is vital for success. Simply installing a hypervisor does not make your data centre virtual. In this session, Canalys and its panellists will discuss the pain points that have been experienced during data centre transformation. It will look at best practices, and advise how the channel can capitalize on this growing opportunity.
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What is the impact of cloud computing on the channel?

Cloud computing: is it the greatest disruptive force in the IT industry for a generation? Or nothing more than well-constructed hype to describe the natural evolution of technology? This session will examine the real implications of cloud computing for the channel, and help resellers and systems integrators prepare their businesses for the inevitable changes in the way IT is delivered over the next three years. What role does the channel play in cloud computing? What value will channel companies bring to customers and suppliers? And how can the channel sustain revenue and profitability with a different delivery model and margin structure? This panel will hear the views of a range of vendors with different approaches to the cloud, and provide answers to some key questions. Should resellers innovate or follow? Should the channel invest in its own data centres or partner? What skills will a cloud services reseller need to develop? How does the cloud fit in with a traditional on-premises model?
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The future of enterprise security

Business use of mobile devices and demand for flexible working continue to rise. This is putting strain on legacy security infrastructure that has been slow to adapt to changing end-user needs. The rise of cloud computing and virtualization is putting added pressure on already stretched IT departments. Is security an enabler or hindrance for enterprises today? What are vendors doing to simplify security for enterprises? What new skills does the channel need to stay relevant in security? This panel will address some of the new security threats that enterprises face today and the opportunities for the channel to protect against these threats.
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Vendor specializations: a reward for value or an unnecessary investment?

All the major vendors are offering increased rewards to channel partners that have proven their technical competence with specific solutions and that meet can meet criteria to have a suitably qualified number of engineers on board.  This trend is forcing channel partners to make important investment decisions regarding which vendors they should support and then which solutions they should focus on.  Depending on your perspective the outcome is then for resellers to increase their loyalty to one or two particular vendors, in other words to ‘put all their eggs in one basket’. This deepening of vendor relationships is, arguably, also an inevitable outcome of the consolidation of enterprise technology markets around a handful of mega IT brands. This panel will then debate the benefits, and drawbacks, of specialization programmes. Are the barriers to investment too high? Do the rewards justify the risk? Does the industry need more specializations, or less?
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Ubiquitous working

Can businesses reduce the consumer IT gap?

Much to the frustration of the over-worked CIO, he frequently hears his users complaining that ‘my home is far more advanced than our office’. The CIO finds that technologically the office is always falling further behind, however hard his team is working. Watching Internet TV has become routine at home, as has video sharing, backing up to the cloud, remote printing, presence and video conferencing. These applications run across multiple devices and in all shapes and sizes. At work these services have yet to be deployed, or have simply been banned.

Can the office technology gap be closed? Can resellers make their customers more productive by encouraging technology to be adopted more quickly? Are most CIOs simply too old to keep up to date with the kids? Should CIOs be prepared to give more freedom to users to do as they please, on any device, at any time? Or are the business burdens of security and compliance simply so great that we must accept that the technology gap will continue to widen?
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Doing business with social networking

As consumer social networking has soared in popularity, many businesses have been understandably keen to explore ways of using these services, or build their own, to reach out to different communities, from consumers and end users to clients, potential customers, partners and business contacts. Professional social networks, such as LinkedIn, have proved popular as a means of business networking, advertising corporate news and events, and for recruitment. Meanwhile, corporate identities have also appeared on consumer-focused sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, used for marketing purposes and sometimes for receiving and responding to feedback and complaints. But, beyond the hype, what actual value does engagement with these services really bring, especially in a B2B context? This panel session will explore the opportunities and challenges presented by social networking in business and how best to take advantage of these services. It will discover both how you can make better use of these tools inside your company, and how you can encourage your customers to use them.
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How can resellers capitalize on collaboration?

Collaborative tools, including telepresence, shared documents and presence are the norm among the next-generation workforce. Many business leaders today have realized that if they fail to invest in collaborative tools they will be outpaced by competitors that can attract a better workforce, increasing their productivity. But how effective are they? Do they represent a real business opportunity for the channel? This panel session differentiates the good, the bad and the ugly in collaboration, focusing on how resellers can enable their customers to move beyond e-mail and telephony to a truly collaborative environment. Vendors from different sectors of the IT industry will come together to discuss their roles in collaboration solutions, covering devices, voice and data optimization, messaging, video and web conferencing, networking, computing and storage infrastructure, and business applications, all delivered through on-site deployments, and via hosted and managed services. The panel will also explore the future of collaboration and the challenges resellers and vendors alike will face as collaboration evolves from static tools today to dynamically intelligent systems.
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The variety of client devices is exploding, how can the channel profit?

The mobile computing market is currently experiencing significant change that will create both challenges and opportunities for the channel in EMEA, from how products are procured, supported and used at work (and away from work), to managing the diversity of enterprise and individual-liable products in the workplace. The strategies of the major vendors are also changing as they protect existing business and attempt to identify or compete in new market sectors to ensure long-term success. How many mobile devices will we use for work in the future? What will they be? How will the devices interact with each other? How will they connect to wide and local area networks? Who will buy them? Who will sell them? What applications and services will we use? Who will provide these and how? All these issues and more will be debated in this panel session.
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