The Forum is designed to help resellers from the IT, telecoms and software industries manage and plan their business opportunities during an uncertain time when, although most markets are on the verge of coming out of recession, there are still harsh economic realities to be addressed.

Canalys expects the 2010 event to be the largest independent channel conference that Europe has ever seen, with up to 1,000 movers and shakers from the channel community expected.

The Forum is designed for technology resellers across EMEA to:

1. Help resellers switch on to the latest technology trends and so enhance the efficiency, effectiveness and value of their customers' businesses.
2. Deepen their relations with the vendors and distributors that serve them, and to encourage them to build new relationships too.

Few resellers have the budgets to attend a high-profile international forum, and as a result competing channel conferences have mainly been attended only by vendors and distributors. The Canalys Channels Forum is different: selected resellers are invited to attend and have most of their travel costs funded by Canalys. Resellers can request an invitation by registering at the Canalys channel community website, called Candefero. The invitation criteria are strict and although some candidates will inevitably be disappointed even they can benefit from post-event video’s and other materials that will be posted on Candefero.

Over the two days resellers will be able to listen to top executive keynotes, be updated on industry trends by leading Canalys analysts, and select from an interesting variety of panel sessions which will be based around two themes “ubiquitous computing” and “data centres”. The ubiquitous computing track will look at how mobility is creating new opportunities to sell mobile devices and a wide range of software and services, including back-up, archiving, collaboration, wireless, security, video and communication solutions. The date centre track will dissect the reality from the hype looking at the rise of cloud computing and virtualisation and the services models needed to support them.

All experienced executives know that a prime benefit of attending an event is the formal, and informal, one-to-one meetings that they can have there. The agenda is designed to facilitate as many of these meetings as possible via an innovative one-to-one meeting system that Canalys has pioneered in previous years. In 2010 this system has been developed further so that it supports most of the major smart phone platforms. Resellers will be able to setup meetings both in advance and at the forum, and review their personalized agenda on their smart phone in real time. Updates and reminders can then be requested via SMS and e-mail. Canalys expects several thousand confidential one-to-one meetings to take place during the Forum, with resellers requesting meetings with the participating vendors, distributors and the Canalys analyst team.

IT, telecoms and software vendors

This conference is a must-sponsor event for vendors that have the responsibility for managing and building channels in EMEA. At the forum they will be able to meet the elite of the reseller and distributor communities The one-to-one meetings will allow them to discover what the channel really cares about, and where it is heading. They can evaluate ideas, recruit new partners, announce new initiatives and be reinvigorated by the energy on show.

Distributors

Distributors play a pivotal role in the technology industry, and the value they provide is reflected in the role Canalys has delivered for them at this event. Participating distributors will be able to host their most important partners throughout the two days, gaining the kind of face-to-face time that has become so rare in this increasingly web-based world. Canalys is providing an excellent corporate hospitality opportunity to the distributors, by offering a combination of knowledge gathering and relationship building all in the most luxurious surroundings of Barcelona’s best hotel. Many of EMEA’s largest distributors have already joined up for the event but other opportunities exist. If you are a distributor and your company is interested in participating then please let Canalys know of your interest.

Press and media

This forum provides the channel press with their best opportunity of 2010 to hear from the industry’s top executives, meet with many of the top vendors and distributors, and discuss issues with the leading resellers from their own country. One of the limited number of media invites can be requested here.