IT spending businesses grows
Figures just released by IDC show that the UK's PC market experienced what the research company calls 'promising growth' of five per cent, year-on-year, during the first quarter of 2003. The growth, the IT research firm says, is being driven by a steady growth in company expenditure on IT products, most notably in the notebook arena, where shipments have grown by 14.7 per cent year-on-year.
Ian Gibbs, a research analyst with IDC's European PC Group, said that, despite the problems of the UK's manufacturing sector and downgrades in gross domestic product forecasts, the pick-up in business hardware investments seen in the first quarter is encouraging. 'Although many businesses are not yet indulging in full-scale renewals, PC rollouts are taking place step-by-step,' he said. 'As such, commercial desktop shipments have grown by just over 10 per cent and commercial notebooks by just over 12 per cent year-on-year,' he added.
Consumer market
IDC says that shipments to the consumer market were disappointing in the first quarter, with a 12.7 per cent decline in consumer desktop PC shipments offsetting the positive gains of the commercial market. This, the research firm says, resulted in only 1.0 per cent growth in the desktop market overall. Consumer notebook sales, however, continued to boom, recording another strong quarter with 22.8 per cent year-on-year growth.
On the vendor front, IDC reports that HP enjoyed PC shipment growth of 17.2 per cent year-on-year, and increased its market share to a size equal to nearly a quarter of the UK PC market. With year-on-year desktop shipment growth of 14.9 per cent, and notebook growth of 23.9 per cent, IDC says that HP has comfortably out-performed the market, mainly thanks to some aggressive pricing strategies.
Worryingly for the reseller business, Dell recorded growth of over 25 per cent during the first quarter, resulting in the direct-sell vendor scoring 24 per cent (and second place) in the UK market.
Aladdin expands UK distribution
After several product acquisitions in its home US market, Aladdin Systems has announced an exclusive agreement with Koch Media, the UK software distributor. The deal allows Koch to distribute Aladdin's full range of PC products, including StuffIt Deluxe, Internet Cleanup and Easy Uninstall, to the UK's retail markets.
Announcing the deal, Mark Leitch, Aladdin's vice president sales, said that renewing the distribution agreement from Ontrack (the previous publisher of Internet Cleanup and EasyUninstall) provides a smooth transition for Koch Media's dealers. 'It also ensures these branded titles and Aladdin's new PC software for the UK market are readily available,' he explained. Craig McNicol, Koch Media's managing director, meanwhile, said that the home office market in the UK is growing steadily. 'The positioning of Aladdin's range is enhanced by packaging and keener price points to create immense appeal amongst the huge installed PC base,' he said.
Symantec signs up Unipalm for UK & Ireland
Staying with the security theme of this issue's dealer report, Unipalm has signed a value-added distribution contract with Symantec for the UK and Ireland territories. The move means that Unipalm is now offering dealers in the UK and Ireland a range of security offerings for their customers, including Symantec's security-focused software, hardware and DeepSight early warning service. Unipalm says it plans to add its own training and support services to strengthen the offering to the indirect sales channel.
Announcing the deal, Dave Ellis, Unipalm's security director, said that Computerlinks, Unipalm's parent company, has had a relationship with Symantec in other European countries for several years. 'This new partnership adds the UK and Ireland to this extensive reach,' he said, adding that the deal allows Unipalm to provide an even more comprehensive range of security offerings. 'Russell Smith, Symantec's EMEA vice president of channels, said that, as a value added distributor, Unipalm will not only be providing support for resellers in the UK, but with an office in Dublin, channel partners in Ireland can also benefit from this new relationship.' Unipalm plans on hosting a number of launch events with Symantec, as well as offering sales and technical training, joint marketing opportunities, sales support, product demonstrations and evaluations to its resellers.
Microsoft looking for security resellers
You'd hardly think of Microsoft as a key security software supplier, but I can report that the software giant has launched a security partner program, with the express intention of signing up resellers in the IT security marketplace. Membership is being restricted to only those Microsoft Gold Partners who already specialise in security. So far, only seven partners have signed up - Unisys, Fujitsu Services, Lynx Technology, SCC, DNS Ltd, Vistorm and Silversands - although Microsoft claims that other may join the program later. To qualify under the program, Microsoft says that partners must commit to train at lease two consultants and one engineer from their company on ISA Server, passing an official exam within 30 days of joining.
On the strategic side, meanwhile, member companies are being asked to work with Microsoft to develop, commit and deliver on a mutually agreed business plan. Hilary Wittmann, the software giant's security solutions marketing manager claims that Microsoft rewards companies that demonstrate expertise. It's only right, she said, to highlight those partners that have earned excellence in delivering security solutions for the Microsoft environment. 'If our partners give support to this programme, then we in turn will support them in gaining the highest level of security endorsement,' she explained. I'm not so sure that this endorsement on its own will bring the customers flocking to the doors of its partners, but then, I always was a bit cynical about Microsoft.
HP looking to double software sales
Now that dust has settled on its merger with Compaq, HP has announced plans to double its software sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) over the next 12 months. To do this, the vendor is actively encouraging its resellers in both the business and consumer marketplace to increase their sales.
According to Cesare Capobianco, HP's general director of enterprise systems, two initiatives have been launched to encourage resellers to boost their sales. Both programs offer resellers rewards for boosting sales, as well as giving sales staff access to HP's sales utilities and databases across the Internet. Interestingly, HP claims there are already 500 partners authorised to sell its OpenView and OpenCall software across Europe and hints that, for the right partner, the door is open for them to also stock HP's value-added software. The danger with this strategy, of course, is that the viability of existing partners' `sales patches' is diluted if other resellers start encroaching on their market.
HP's initiative neatly coincides with the splitting its UK distribution into two distinct tiers, one for distribution fulfilment and the other for sales and marketing partners. The move, announced late last year and now coming into force, means one set of distributors will have to rely on the other when it comes to dealer shipments.
IDC, www.idc.com;
Koch Media UK, 0044-1256-707767 (GB), www.kochmedia.co.uk, www.aladdinsys.com;
Unipalm 0044-1638-569600 (GB), www.unipalm.co.uk;
Microsoft UK 0044-870-6010100 (GB), www.microsoft.co.uk;
HP 0041-58-4445526 (Zwld), www.hp.com