HOME INTERVIEW: Karsten Micke, Hotsplots
It is not just consumer tech product vendors that take advantage of the powerful regional channel audience that gathers at DISTREE EMEA each year. The event is also an opportunity for a range of service and solution providers to harness the huge international channel reach that the delegate base can offer companies. One company looking to capitalise on the opportunity is Hotsplots, a provider of wireless hotspot solutions. Channel EMEA caught up with Karsten Micke, head of international sales at Hotsplots, to get the lowdown on the company’s plans for next month’s DISTREE EMEA in Monaco.
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Vuzion and Union Solutions announce partnership
Vuzion, the cloud aggregator, and Union Solutions, a specialist in data protection, data storage and data management, today announced a partnership to bring Union’s managed services solutions to small and medium sized businesses (SMBs). A recent IDC study revealed that cloud adoption and digital transformation by SMBs is growing, with 56% of UK SMBs using some form of cloud-based service . To support this growth, Vuzion and Union Solutions have partnered to deliver infrastructure management, data protection and site disaster recovery using the Microsoft Azure public cloud.
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Dimension Data publishes IT predictions for 2017
Dimension Data, the global ICT solutions and services provider, has published its top IT predictions for 2017. The focus on digital is set to remain the key trend in the industry for the next 12 months. Dimension Data’s CTO, Ettienne Reinecke, claims digital is about building truly customer-centric business models on IT including the network, data centre, applications, and other infrastructure - which may be on-premise, or cloud-based. Reinecke said: “Today, there’s no such thing as a digital strategy – just strategy in a digital world. And while the digital age is creating a degree of uncertainty for some organisations, it’s also opening the doors to exciting possibilities and ushering in an era of infinite potential.”
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Intelisys eyes five cloud growth technologies for 2017
Intelisys Global, a technology services distributor responsible that claims to offer a new and highly profitable channel procurement model to the UK, has identified five key cloud technologies as valuable additional channel sales revenue streams for 2017. By bringing multiple telecommunications and cloud services providers together, Intelisys Global aims to provide its sales partner community with access to all the education, sales tools and support they need to add new cloud services to their portfolio.
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Cisco hands out Middle East channel awards
Networking giant Cisco recognised sixteen partners from the Middle East region for their outstanding performance in 2016 during its annual partner conference which took place in San Francisco, California. The Cisco partner summit awards are designed to recognise best-in-class business practices and serve as a model to the industry within their respective countries and regions. Areas of consideration include innovative practices, architecture-led successes, strategic business outcome-focused programmes, seizing new opportunities and sales approaches.
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Coolshop chooses Mirakl’s marketplace solution
Mirakl, a marketplace solutions provider, has announced today that Coolshop, one of Europe’s fasting growing online video game and accessories stores, is using Mirakl’s business-to-consumer (B2C) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) marketplace platform as a foundation for future growth and expansion. Operating from stores in seven countries - UK, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Netherlands and Denmark - Coolshop has served over 1.6 million customers since its foundation in 2003. Originally focused on computer games, the business has expanded to sell across 22 categories.
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Yasser Zeineldin, eHosting DataFort
Why are businesses shifting to managed services for their IT needs? Yasser Zeineldin, CEO at eHosting DataFort, explains.
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AskIT, a free on-demand, one-on-one support service for anyone looking for help with a technology-related issue, problem or question, has been launched in a beta version by technology association CompTIA. AskIT provides consumers with free technical assistance and support for common everyday issues and problems related to computing, connectivity, peripherals, security, software, and more.
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Switch to cloud or wither away
Todd Thibodeaux, CEO at IT industry association CompTIA, pulls no punches in his message to channel companies and their need to adapt to changing market dynamics. Speaking to Channel EMEA at CompTIA’s recent EMEA conference in London, Thibodeaux said: “Channel partners that do not make the transition to cloud now will see their business wither away. Some still believe they can survive with the old model, but this will become harder and harder. Our best practice roadmap is screaming a simple message as loud as possible to them: change your business model now.”
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TechAccess gains Huawei CSP status in UAE
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) VAD outfit TechAccess has gained certified service partner (CSP) status from Huawei for the UAE. TechAccess began its relationship with Huawei earlier in the year and is the vendor’s only GCC-wide distributor. TechAccess has assigned a dedicated team to cover several countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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