Computer 2000 Blog

Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update – February

Christopher.Jones — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:21:52 +0000

Last time out we went a bit System Centre mad, so this time we’ll start with news of Windows 8. The beta version of the product is due for release this month and the feature I’m looking forward to most is Hyper-V 3. I blogged about a while back with what hopefully would be in the product, well some more details relating to Storage, management of storage with PowerShell and the new VHDX format disks.

Back to System Centre and a new product in the family that may have escaped your notice. System Centre Advisor, which is now a benefit of Software Assurance for Windows Server or Microsoft SQL server. So what is System Centre Advisor, to find out more and download the 60 day free trial click here.

Great Virtualisation demands Great Management and not just of the host, virtual machines and applications, but of the network, storage, updates, power and cluster resources on multi-vendor hypervisor platforms. Well the latter is you distinguish a virtualisation solution from a Private Cloud solution. Learn how to build your Microsoft Private Cloud from the ground up here. To emphasise the point Microsoft have release a Cloud Services Management pack.

We’ll finish with Configuration Manager, I came across a couple of really useful resources. Firstly the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Survival Guide and secondly the System Center Configuration Manager 2012 TechNet Virtual lab.

That’s it for this time, have fun!

Sean Taylor
Microsoft Solutions Architect

Microsoft and HP team up on public and private cloud services

Christopher.Jones — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:55:57 +0000

HP and Microsoft have announced a new four-year partnership to deliver public, private and hybrid enterprise cloud solutions built around Office 365 and its on-premise equivalents. Microsoft solutions will be offered via HP’s cloud data centres. Brandt Faatz, vice president of Workplace Services at HP Enterprise Services, stated: ‘This alliance with HP not only broadens Microsoft’s geographic reach, it gives customers maximum flexibility to choose a cloud computing solution that meets their organisation’s specialised messaging and collaboration needs’.

Microsoft expected to open up webstore

Christopher.Jones — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:00:26 +0000

Microsoft is expected to start accepting submissions for its Windows 8 app store when public beta of the new operating system is made available this spring. The company has been encouraging developers to build applications for some time. Many of the new applications are expected to make use of the new Metro-style touch user interface.

Cisco reveals CloudVerse strategy

Christopher.Jones — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:00:53 +0000

Cisco has revealed details of its CloudVerse unified framework, which is designed to simplify building, managing and connecting public, private and hybrid clouds. It has also announced support for ‘cloud-to-cloud’ connections in ASR 1000 and 9000 Series routers for dynamic resource allocation and optimisation between data centres and the cloud and new mobile and contact centre capabilities for its Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS). Cisco also launched its Intelligent Automation provisioning solution for delivery of cloud services into data centres and Network Services Manager, which enables on-demand management of physical and virtual networking resources.

Switch and router sales see continued growth

Christopher.Jones — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:30:27 +0000

IDC recorded growth of almost 11% sequential in the worldwide market for Ethernet switches in Q3, with year-on-year growth at just over 6%. Revenues reached of $5.9 billion. The worldwide market for routers grew by 2.9% year-over-year. Most of the growth came in the Asia/Pacific region, where switch sales increased by almost 28% and now account for a quarter of worldwide revenue. China experienced a remarkable 44.1% year-over-year growth. Revenues generated by 10GbE switches increased by almost 30% and almost doubled in terms of port shipments, due to continued adoption in data centres and campus core deployments. A record total of 2.09 million 10GbE ports were shipped in the quarter.

Tech Data announces changes to its European organisation

Christopher.Jones — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:30:56 +0000

New European Executive Board and two geographic regions formed to optimise business efficiency between its European functions, specialist divisions and country operations.

Tech Data Europe today announced changes to its European organisation which will enable Europe’s leading technology distributor to optimise the business efficiency of its central resources and specialist divisions whilst enhancing the support for its country operations.

As a result of Tech Data’s acquisition strategy in Europe and the diversification of its distribution business, a new European Executive Board (EEB) has been formed to represent the company’s technology areas and country and business operations. The EEB will drive the strategic direction of the company’s European operations and ensure it takes advantage of the growth opportunities that exist in both its traditional IT business, its specialist divisions and its services. In addition, to provide greater focus and consistency in execution, the European country operations have been divided between two Regional Senior Vice Presidents. One will be led by Andy Gass who will be responsible for the following country operations: UK & Ireland, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Portugal. The other will be led by Jonas Elmgren who will have responsibility for Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and Czech. Both Regional Senior Vice Presidents will report into Néstor Cano, President, Europe.

“The formation of an EEB and two regional operations will enable the company to be even more efficient and agile in its decision making at a strategic level, while allowing us to benefit from the strength and experience of country managers in their own markets,” said Néstor Cano, President, Europe. “These changes are consistent with our major business goals and provide our country operations with the opportunity to take full advantage of the technology areas in which we operate, utilising our existing pan-European infrastructure and resources, whilst they focus on excellence in execution in sales and marketing to develop and grow our business.”

The EEB members are:

Néstor Cano; President, Europe
Alain Amsellem; Senior Vice President, Finance & Business Operations
Andy Gass, Regional Senior Vice President
Jonas Elmgren, Regional Senior Vice President
Nimesh Davé; Senior Vice President Broadline & Processes
Rod Millar; President Brightstar Tech Data (Mobility)
Simon England; Senior Vice President, Value Added Business: responsible for Azlan (Enterprise), Datech (Design Software) and Maverick (Professional Audio Visual)
Henk Makaske; Senior Vice President, Triade (Consumer Electronics)

These changes are effective 1^st February 2012.

Azlan appoints Nigel Dunn to head HP Business Unit

Christopher.Jones — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:01:34 +0000

Azlan, the enterprise division of Computer 2000, has appointed Nigel Dunn as Director of its HP Business Unit. Dunn, who has previously worked as General Manager of Azlan’s HP Value Storage Business and has a strong history with the company having worked at Frontline and Datech. More recently, Nigel has worked with Tech Data in a consultative role on strategic initiatives in Europe.

Dunn will take full responsibility for all for day-to-day business on HP ESSN (servers, networking and storage) solutions, working with the existing Azlan HP team to drive business development initiatives and growth programmes for HP and its partner network.

Colin McGregor, Director Azlan, stated: “We are delighted that Nigel has agreed to join the Azlan management team. He brings with him many years of experience in value-added distribution and an outstanding record of achievement, and will play a key role in helping Azlan to deliver our growth aspirations with HP.

Commenting on his new role, Nigel Dunn said: “Azlan has an unrivalled reputation in value-added distribution and a tremendous opportunity to grow its business with HP. I am looking forward to working with the team and with HP and its partner community to deliver the high standards that are always expected of Azlan.”

Azlan is the leading UK distributor for HP server networking and storage solutions, Cisco, IBM Software, Brocade and Juniper Networks. It has been leading the way in the development of value-added distribution services for networking and communications resellers and was named as Networking Distributor of the Year in the 2011 CRN Channel Awards, which were presented at an event in London in November 2011.

Gartner predicts strong 2012 for smartphones

Christopher.Jones — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:36:44 +0000

Gartner has revised its predictions for the coming year saying that growth in mobile phone production will now be slightly higher at 7.5% and while it has reduced the forecast for media tablet production – from 110 million to 107 million in 2012 – it is still expecting a 63% increase year-on-year in this segment.

PC production unit growth for 2012 is projected to increase 5%, down from Gartner’s earlier forecast of 10.1% – much of this is due to the uncertain economic situation and there will also be a slowdown in production due to the knock-on effects of Thailand floods, the company said. Increasing smartphone sales mean that they will become the main driver for semiconductor revenues, which are forecast to reach $309 billion in 2012.

The DRAM market is expected to return to modest growth in 2012 and Gartner predicts that at 16.6%, with NAND flash, it will be the fastest-growing segment due to strong sales of mobile consumer devices.

Microsoft Datacentre Security & Management Update

Christopher.Jones — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:59:21 +0000

The big news this month is the System Centre 2012 products are all available as Release Candidate, the announcement came as part of Transforming IT with Microsoft Private Cloud event on Tuesday if you missed it you can watch the webcast here. Along with the Release Candidate news was a major shift to make the licensing of the products more straight forward. Say goodbye to the individual management server and management licenses and say hello to the suite licenses and no charge for the management servers, including SQL usage rights. For those of you who need to understand the new licensing model in more detail, Microsoft are running an in person event at Cardinal Place on Tuesday 14^th February, register here. If you thought that was enough for one day Microsoft had one more surprise, the new Private Cloud Certification track.

Whilst we are focusing on System Centre 2012, I thought I would be useful to recap on some of the resources available for the new releases of the products. Configuration Manager 2012 Release Candidate guides are available here, for Operations Manager you can have a look at what’s new and preparing your existing environment to transition to the new release. If you’re interested in Service Manager and Orchestrator have a look at this. Virtual Machine Manager now includes the ability to manager Citrix Xen Server. To check out the new features of Data Protection Manager have a look at this article.

Well after all that I’m a bit System Centred out so that’s it for this week, have fun!

Sean Taylor
Microsoft Solutions Architect

Get registered to sell Adobe CLP licensing

Christopher.Jones — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:04:03 +0000

Any reseller can now apply to sell Adobe CDP but you need to register before March to be sure of getting onto the current scheme and enjoy the full benefits of the new Adobe Partner Program. Once you are enrolled, you’ll be able to take advantage of free training for Adobe certification – and all the benefits that go with that, including higher rebates, co-op marketing, leads, deal registration, access to a partner portal and account management – and enhanced credibility for your business.