Our regular update from the UK
It had to happen eventually - after five years faithful service, the office HP inkjet gave up the ghost over the weekend, forcing a quick trip to the local PC store for a replacement.
In the intervening five years, the printer market has changed immensely, with printers now being sold at or even below cost, in the hope of extracting ongoing revenues from ink reloads from the hapless customer.
At least, that’s the theory. Our local reseller sold us a Lexmark scanner/copier/printer for just 59.95 pound. The cartridges in the pack are worth two-thirds of that price.
Of course, the salesperson grinned - you don’t have to buy the manufacturers’ cartridges. Well, actually you do, if you want to keep the warranty valid. But at 59.95 and with generic cartridges available at half the branded cost, it doesn’t take a genius to work out the long-term profitability of using generic cartridges.
Which is why the reseller quietly sold me a supply of generics. “Just don’t tell Lexmark,” he hissed ...
Tech Data sells off Azlan Training division
Tech Data, the parent company to IT distributor Computer 2000, has sold off its Azlan Training division to a company called - appropriately enough - Global Knowledge.
The move is the end of an era for Computer 2000, which has been running the Azlan operation since the late 1990s. Financial details of the deal have not been announced.
The take-over is more of a merger between the two company’s IT training operations in the UK and Western Europe and will, says Tech Data, create Europe’s largest IT training provider. The combined business will operate in 12 countries and generate revenues of approximately $100 million.
Bob Lewis, Global Knowledge’s European managing director, said that, by acquiring Azlan Training, the company has a unique opportunity to re-define the competitive landscape in a fragmented IT training market. “Joining forces with Azlan Training will enable us to offer a broader portfolio of courses, delivered reliably through an enhanced schedule and geared to suit all learning requirements,” he said.
Plans call for the combined company to operate under the Global Knowledge brand in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.
Entanet starts selling higher-speed broadband
March 31 was a red letter day for British Telecom (BT), as the telco upgraded around two-thirds of its UK exchanges from ADSL to ADSL Max (2)+ - allowing users access to download speeds up to 8 MBps. The change has generated interest from business Internet users and Entanet, BT’s main broadband distributor, has promised to upgrade customers on its books as quickly as possible. According to Carol Davies, Entanet’s broadband manager, the arrival of the higher speeds gives business and consumer users of ADSL a wonderful opportunity. “With these new higher speeds, customers will be able to get much more out of the Web. It will be much quicker to download large files and use video and audio on-demand on the Web,” she said. “We see massive potential for VoIP and other services once the Higher Speed products have been rolled out and this is a tremendous opportunity for our reseller partners in the UK.” Davies went on to say that it is important for resellers to note that the new speeds will be available across most of the UK and that around 95 per cent of exchanges will be upgraded this spring.
Resellers, she said, will be able to give customers a clear indication of what speeds they can expect by going to a new area on the Entanet Partner Site that has been set up to show which exchanges are being ‘lit up’ by BT for the higher speed services. As part of the changes, Entanet says it is offering continued guidance and support to resellers and will also continue to offer free migration to any partner and their customers that want to make the switch to Entanet’s range of broadband connections. “Scores of users migrate to Entanet every week. It costs them nothing and puts them onto a service that delivers the highest standards of reliability and performance,” said Davies.
Interestingly, Entanet has been participating in the trials of the higher speed products since early December 2005 and, says Davies, the trial was a success with users experiencing an average downstream line rate in the region of 6 Mbps. In addition, she said, average fault levels for end users upgraded to the higher speed trial products have been lower when compared with faults generated by existing fixed rate products provisioned over the same period. “Resellers have an opportunity to add value here,” said Davies. “It is well worth checking that your customers have their connection set up properly and that their routers will support the new higher speeds, that the correct drivers are downloaded and installed, and that they have microfilters on each phone socket.”
Wick Hill Watchguard distie of the year
Wick Hill has been appointed worldwide distributor of the year by WatchGuard, on the tenth anniversary of the two companies working together to market WatchGuard’s security appliances in the UK and Germany. The distributor says its won the award against competition from WatchGuard’s other distributors and major resellers from all over the world including North America, Europe and Asia/Pacific.
Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of Wick Hill, said that WatchGuard is a great product that has been successful by clearly targeting customers’ security requirements. It has, he said, evolved and adapted to users’ needs in the changing security landscape over the years. “Now it provides solutions which are upgradeable by licence key, so customers know they can keep on using the products within their current environment for many years to come. WatchGuard has the right formula,” he said. According to Kilpatrick, another reason for WatchGuard’s success has been the commitment and skill of its resellers in taking the product to customers and growing the market. Nick Banks, WatchGuard’s sales director for the UK and Southern Europe, said that the award is a reflection of the great service the distributor provides to the reseller. “They have an excellent sales team and offer a level of pre- and post-sales support that resellers are confident of using time after time.’
US Robotics rides the Skype wave
US Robotics - arguably one of the best-known names in networking and communications hardware - has branched out into telephone territory with the launch of its Skype certified speakerphone. The speakerphone, which sells through resellers at 49.99 pounds, comes bundled with Skype’s free/low-cost Internet telephony software and is designed to give PC users an easy-to-use speakerphone that operates independently of a phone line.
Rizwan Akbar, US Robotics’ product manager, said that the speakerphone demonstrates the firm’s commitment to bringing reliable, easy to use products. “It’s simple to install and use and is a great complement to Skype’s Internet calling that allows users to make free voice calls using their Internet connection,” he explained.
According to Akbar, the speakerphone features powerful echo-cancellation, yet works just like a normal speakerphone, except that it plugs into a PC or Apple Mac’s USB port. There is, he said, no need to carry an extra power adapter, as the speakerphone is USB powered. In addition, users interested in having a private conversation can plug their own headphones into the available jack and still use the speakerphone’s speaker. “Compared to other devices on the market, the US Robotics speakerphone maintains exceptional voice quality in a easy to carry unit. You normally wouldn’t expect a speakerphone with this sound quality to be so small.”
Computer 2000 UK, www.computer2000.co.uk, www.techdata.com;
Entanet, www.entagroup.com;
Wick Hill, www.wickhill.com;
US Robotics, www.usr.com.
Steve Gold (sg@mail)