the

valueplus
presents

May 2013
03 06 09 11 14 17
The future of security HP Cloud Maps EMC: Velocity channel program update NG Firewall for WAN Optimisation VMware eyeing new market opportunities Cisco: Bringing business solutions to life

quarterly

A special publication from Redington Gulf Value Division

Turning the tidE

With best-in-class technology and strategic alliances, Redington Value offers unique value proposition and growth opportunities to channel partners

For more information or to place an order on EMC, please write to sales.value@redingtongulf.com

06

HP Cloud Maps

09

Partnering for success

contents
02 Bright outlook 03 The future of security 06 HP Cloud Maps 09 Partnering for success 11 Using an NG Firewall for WAN Optimisation

11

Using an NG Firewall for WAN Optimisation

Eyeing new market 14 opportunities Bringing business solutions 17 to life

from the director:

Dear Partner

s we enter the summer months in the Middle East and Africa region, we could expect certain businesses to face some heat. There has been a consistent declining trend in traditional computing hardware but at the same time a consistent incremental trend in certain mobile categories for both consumers and enterprise. While some partners are focused on upgrading themselves to the new trends, I would also urge partners to focus more on building stronger

bonds with the new age device categories and remain updated on the latest trends. Stronger customer engagement will enable partners to become consultants to their customers with higher level of trust which ultimately leads to easier adoption of newer technologies by end customers. These bonds are built over time through institutionalizing partner engagement within the organization. For example, at Redington different functions are involved

in building stronger bonds with partners such as Credit, Sales, Product and most importantly Marketing. I hope you would also work on institutionalizing customer engagement within your organization and if you have any thoughts, please feel free to write to me at valueplus@ redingtongulf.com. Yours sincerely,

Raj Shankar Managing Director, Redington Gulf

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April 2013

The ValuePlus Quarterly

Viewpoint by Ramkumar

Bright outlook
(physical or virtual) and also for load balancing solutions to optimize usage. In addition, the demand for Intrusion detection and prevention systems is also on the rise after some of the recent security threats to IT infrastructure in the region. Converged infrastructure solutions are also witnessing an increase in demand with some leading vendors coming up with complementary solutions with other vendors and selling as a stack. In addition, the demand for video based solutions for communicating within the enterprise is also on the rise. Redington Value will continue to engage with the channel on the new and upcoming technologies and solutions through its partner engagement programs. These programs include weekly webcasts, which are conducted every Tuesday and Wednesday at 1530 hrs GST, Redington Value Video Channel on You Tube (www. youtube.com/redingtonvaluetv), Redington Value Partner Program- Partner Connect (www.redingtonvalue.com). To know more about these programs or to join our mailing list to receive updates on a regular basis, please write to valueplus@redingtongulf. com. Regards Ramkumar B. Senior Vice-president, Redington Gulf, Value Division

Redington Value YouTube channel clocks up 700 views

Redington Values new YouTube channel, launched just two months ago, has already racked up more than 700 video views. The YouTube community has shown a genuine interest in the informative sessions posted up on the RedingtonValueTV channel on YouTube, which went live in February. The videos, ranging from around five minutes long to 20 minutes long, focus on providing real product insight from Redington Values best pre-sales consultants. The biggest hit so far has been the informative session on EMC Cisco VSPEX, which has clocked up more than 190 views since it was uploaded a couple of months ago. Red Hat storage, which has garnered 188 views, is the second most popular video on the channel. Meanwhile, sessions on the modes of deployment of a Barracuda Load Balancer, wireless architectures using HP networking, and Red Hat Satellite have also proven very popular with viewers. Other talks include informative sessions on TrendMicro Smart Protection, Dell SonicWalls Next-Generation Firewall and Neverfail Continuous Availability, among others. www.youtube.com/redingtonvaluetv

Dear Partner: Redington Value division closed its financial year on 31st March 2013. The year in terms of revenues was very encouraging across Middle East and Africa where we managed to grow topline by an impressive double digit growth year on year. While our growth has been encouraging, we noticed a few interesting trends in terms of channel buying behavior, which I would like to share in the next couple of paragraphs. There has been an increased interest in Application Security and delivery solutions as compared to pure end point security solutions. Channel is looking for solutions that secure their applications on servers

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The ValuePlus Quarterly April 2013

HP ESP | interview

The future of security

Stephen walsh, channel Director, EMEA, HP Enterprise Security

HP has recently bolstered its security portfolio with an aim to create a proactive mindset among its customers and protect what matters most. We spoke to Stephen Walsh, Channel Director- EMEA, at HP Enterprise Security Products, to find out the value-proposition the company offers to partners and customers.

P Enterprise Security Product group is made up of HP ArcSight, HP Fortify and HP TippingPoint. Can you tell why has HP decided to create this business unit? Last year at HP Protect 2011, we announced the combination of ArcSight, Fortify and TippingPoint into one single entity called HP Enterprise Security Products. Part of the HP Software division. TippingPoint originally joined HP as part of an acquisition. ArcSight and Fortify were separate acquisitions in their own right. At that point, TippingPoint was part of the HP Networking group. ArcSight and Fortify were part of the HP Software group. So strategically, we looked and thought, Hang on, this doesnt make any sense. We want to be a major player in security. Enterprise Security Products is a completely security-focused business unit that has bought together the award-winning offerings of ArcSight, Fortify and TippingPoint and our unparalleled security research capabilities into a unified platform, the Security Intelligence & Risk Management Platform.

Therefore, bringing them together and focusing our security research and security investment in that area made a lot of sense. You dont have the Application Security Centre team anymore its just part of this? There are different parts of security services and offerings capability across HP. HP is such a large organisation, youll find HP Labs has a security focus , Technical Services has a security focus , but in terms of a product sales motion, HP Enterprise Security Products is really where the HP brand products are centred. How do you see the security spending in this part of the world now? Do you see it going up? Yes, and that makes a big change for us, as well. Ive been in the security space for nearly 20 years. And way back then, security was always thought of as an afterthought. And also, going back the next year to budget for security, the CTO at that point would say, Well nothing happened. Why am I spending more money? Nowadays, an interesting thing for me is the number of

CSOs reporting to the board not reporting to the CTO. So security is now actually a board-level agenda item. And when its got to that point, then people start to actually budget for security. Security has always been reactive in nature. Do you see people moving to a proactive role? Do you actually push your customers to look at proactive solutions? The software industry has, since its inception and up until very recently, only considered security as an afterthought something bolted on after the fact, on a per layer basis. From an application perspective, deploy, then fix, has been the habit of developers. Development has in the past focused on getting a functional product to the market as soon as possible As we have come to realise, this model is no longer viable in todays highly interconnected world with the explosion of mobile devices and cloud services and with threats and attacks keen to exploit vulnerabilities quickly and quietly. Whilst there are security considerations incumbent on

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April 2013

The ValuePlus Quarterly

INTERVIEW | HP ESP

us all as IT users, its true that software vendors do have lots of tools to help make their products more secure than ever before. You can use the metaphor of application security as a house. As homeowners we need to lock our doors, not leave the keys out in plain sight, and check every so often that our locks, windows and doors are in good shape.

I think HP has recently come out with a Cost of Cybercrime report that said there are significant gaps in the risk strategies of the customers. What are these gaps that you see in the strategies of customers, certainly in the EMEA region? Organisations are concerned with costs, risk, and especially the risks associates from IT security, for obvious reasons that make headlines constantly these days. Application security has increasingly become part of businesss IT security concerns. Application security is intimately tied to risk and budgets now just ask any business that has been hacked in this way! CEOs and CIOs are increasingly determined to do all they can to protect their digital assets. This might be customer or patient data, financial records, bank account details, or just the intellectual property that lets the business carry on with its day-today operations. The bad guys would like to steal the ideas (intellectual property), the data, or to control or damage the systems that run the business processes. For the past two decades

organisations have been spending something like $280 billion to deal with the cyber security challenge. This has historically been met with endpoint, perimeter defences like network firewalls and malware/ spyware filters or antivirus. However, these systems now work so well that software application vulnerabilities are the new choice of entry point for many attackers. The recent annual HP/ Ponemon Cost of Cyber Crime report even identified overall cost savings that could be gained from the effective deployment of such tools. The costs of hacks or data loss are more than the costs of deploying and running the incident detection and management tools!

product, in terms of the ability to correlate other information as well. Some people in fact use HP ArcSight when theyve already got another SIEM product. In some areas, were using HP ArcSight to manage an RSA environment and other information and correlate and deliver that more valuable information into the SOC. What does this merger really mean for your partners do you have a unified partner programme?

those security specialisations if they meet the requirements of the programme and receive the benefits of the programme in its entirety. The structure of the programme is broadly similar across all of the HP portfolio. Why HP? I think there are a couple of different reasons for why HP. One is that HPs been around a long time. Weve continued to help our partners, help our customers derive business value

The costs of hacks or data loss are more than the costs of deploying and running the incident detection and management tools
Yes we do and that is HP Partner One, which is a global panHP partner programme. By becoming a member of this programme, it provides our Partners with even greater alignment into HP, a wealth of resources and the ease of doing business. There are similarities across all the business units but clearly the way we segment this is, if youre just interested in reselling our IPS solutions then you just need to look at the HP TippingPoint specialisations and requirements. If youre just interested in Application Security then with HP Fortify specialisations, the same. But clearly, a partner can be authorised to sell across all of in our product for a long time. Part of this is stability you know who we are. Were looking much more at a customer being able to take an holistic approach, and actually saying, Look, HP has best-of-breed products, not just in security but in servers, storage, networking, software, security management. In all these areas, they are the best-of-breed provider. And they have this heritage. When our CEO, Meg Whitman goes and talks to customers, she asks, How do you enjoy doing business with HP? And people actually always say to her, We want to do more business with HP. Its a good company to do business with.

SIEM is obviously a big focus area for HP is that what HP Arcsight does? The HP ArcSight Security Intelligence platform helps safeguard businesses by giving complete visibility into activity across the IT infrastructureincluding external threats such as malware and hackers, internal threats such as data breaches and fraud, risks from application flaws and configuration changes, and compliance pressures from failed audits. As Gartner suggests for the last seven years, this industryleading security information and event management (SIEM) solution has been positioned at the top right corner of the magic quadrant. But HP ArcSight itself can be much more than a SIEM

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The ValuePlus Quarterly April 2013

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focus | HP

HP Cloud Maps
Deploy cloud-based apps faster and realize cloud benefits sooner

rganizations building cloud environments, whether for internal use or to provide services to others, face challenges in delivering application services. Preparing to deliver a catalog of cloud services requires many steps. Designing and configuring server, storage, and network infrastructure is just the start. They must also define the application service end-to-end, ready for use, so that it consistently meets business needs. This means characterizing workloads, specifying an optimized application environment, optimizing reliability and scalability, and automating workflows. All of this takes time, trial and error, and a good measure of specialized know-howwhich adds up to higher costs, complexity, and risk. Because of

the sheer volume of applications that todays enterprise has to deal with, it is impractical for any customer to have a deep understanding of them all. One organization might lack the cloud-specific expertise necessary to successfully deploy an application. Another may struggle to ensure the performance levels users expect. Even then, when applications are deployed, they often lack the performance and reliability end users require and expect. Some organizations attempt to take shortcuts with techniques such as cloning and snapshots, common in traditional virtualization methods. While this aids in deployment, it does nothing to accelerate the design process, and it cannot address applications that require both physical and virtual resources.

In short, while all cloud platforms accelerate the provisioning of cloud services, most are unable to similarly accelerate the process of developing the application service catalogespecially one that includes mainstream business applications. The solution to speedier, more robust application delivery lies in better toolstools that move IT departments from providing server cycles, to delivering services that transform their offerings from infrastructure-based services to application-focused services, and that speed the design and lifecycle management of cloud services and applications. If youre using HP CloudSystemor its related software, HP Cloud Service Automationthose tools are available now. Theyre called

HP Cloud Maps. Applications in the clouddone right with HP Cloud Maps HP Cloud Maps are prepackaged, optimized, and tested templates for use with HP CloudSystem and related software to automate the deployment of applications in the cloud. Leveraging the deep partnerships HP has with key independent software vendors (ISVs), its expertise in cloud infrastructure and software, and the knowledge and intellectual property developed in the course of realworld HP customer deployments, HP Cloud Maps enable: Repeatable, proven deployment that reduces risk and assures improved service levels Optimized performance, with built-in disaster tolerance, capacity planning, compliance, and life cycle management

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The ValuePlus Quarterly April 2013

HP | focus

Savings of up to 200 staff-hours in design, development, and deployment for each application environment Fast assembly of application service catalogs, with a portfolio of CloudMaps for over 100 leading business applications Push-button simple delivery of new applications, often in less than an hour What Cloud Maps can do for your business HP Cloud Maps provide a readymade suite of applications for your service catalog. Through the HP CloudSystem environment, HP Cloud Maps automate the provisioning and maintenance of physical and virtual infrastructure, operating systems, and applications, enabling greater flexibility, compliance, and reliability. Improve agility, lower costs HP Cloud Maps provide the fastest way to design new services for deployment in the cloud. They offer you: Quicker cloud service provisioning and delivery With Cloud Maps you increase business agility by developing cloud services quickly, often in less than an hour. You can deploy an application on HP CloudSystem and HP Cloud Service Automation software in minutes, with push-button ease. Faster, simpler service catalog creation Wizard-based designs or templates speed and simplify the creation of a full catalog of cloud services for import into HP CloudSystem. You can save days or weeks of time architecting infrastructure for applications and services. Dramatically lower costs

Employing Cloud Maps can save costs by carving as many as 200 staff hours2 from the process of designing, developing, and deploying a new service. Youll find that the high-quality applications deployed using Cloud Maps demonstrate lower maintenance costs, too. Optimize performance and availability HP Cloud Maps let you optimize the performance and availability of applications delivered by HP CloudSystem. With HP Cloud Maps, you gain: Quality assurance through partnerships We developed HP Cloud Maps based on proven best practices and policies, the result of decades of close partnerships between HP, our key ISVs and systems integrators (SIs), and our customers. Youre assured of the optimized performance and service levels that come from leveraging thousands of hours of industry-leading intellectual property developed by HP engineers. Greater availability and lower risk HP Cloud Maps deliver proven, reliable, and repeatable application deployments, helping eliminate design and ongoing application maintenance errors, and increasing security and availability through proactive, built-in compliance policies. And only HP Cloud Maps support rapid updates for the most reliable, consistent cloud services with on the-fly patch management, version management, and upgrades. Proven designs HP Cloud Maps integrate best practices and policies, improving the overall

design of your cloud-based infrastructure and applications and contributing to a more robust set of offerings. Respond to business demands HP Cloud Maps let you provide a cloud that meets your business demands with a comprehensive catalog of application and business services for cloud environments. With HP Cloud Maps you can take advantage of: A complete solution HP meets all your cloud service design

HP Cloud Maps are unique. Based on best practices and policies developed in partnerships with key independent ISVs, SIs, and thousands of customers, they leverage industry-leading intellectual property in application performance, availability, deployment, and lifecycle management. And they add practical,real-worldcloudexpertise gained from engagements all over the world. HP Cloud Maps bring together everything needed to streamline and fast-track the development and rollout of cloud-

Employing Cloud Maps can save costs by carving as many as 200 staff hours2 from the process of designing, developing, and deploying a new service
needs, providing everything from infrastructure and application design all the way through to automated lifecycle management and compliance in complex, heterogeneous environments. Professional services HP enables customization for unique customer environments, helping customers to deliver customized applications and business services in the cloud in less than 30 days. Leading applications With HP Cloud Maps for leading applications from partners such as Apache, JBoss, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and more, HP helps you deliver on your business needs. based servicesespecially services based on popular enterprise applications. Whats inside HP Cloud Maps HP Cloud Maps consists of intellectual property and tested engineering components, such as: Templates for infrastructure, OS, middleware, database, and application configurations that can be imported directly into HP CloudSystem or related software, saving days or weeks of architecture design time Sizers to help guide capacity and performance planning Wizard-driven workflows and scripts that automate and speed installation and provisioning, and simplify repeatability

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April 2013

The ValuePlus Quarterly

focus | hp

About HP Cloud Platforms

HP CloudSystem HP CloudSystem is a complete, integrated platform for building and managing cloud services. It allows you to build and manage services across your choice of clouds, whether they are public, hybrid, or entirely within your premises. Based on HP Converged Infrastructure and HP Cloud Service Automation software, HP CloudSystem combines servers, storage, and networking together, using an integrated approach to automate the application to infrastructure lifecycle. The result is a complete cloud solution that can deliver services in minutes and reduce total cost of ownership up to 56%.3 HP Cloud Service Automation Available as part of HP CloudSystem or as a standalone software solution, HP Cloud Service Automation is a comprehensive, unified management solution that offers application and infrastructure provisioning for private cloud, public cloud, and hybrid IT services. Want more information? To learn more about HP Cloud Maps, visit: hp.com/go/cloudmaps And for more information about HP CloudSystem, see: hp.com/go/cloudsystem For details of HP Cloud Service Automation, go to: hp.com/go/CSA

Reference white papers to help customize the Cloud Maps for your specific implementation The Cloud Maps collection Thanks in part to an unparalleled array of ISV and SI partners, HP Cloud Maps provide a broad portfolio of predefined cloud application templates. They comprise a comprehensive and continually growing set of solutionsmore than 100 HP Cloud Mapsfrom infrastructure and application design to automated lifecycle management. With HP Cloud Maps, you can quickly and confidently build cloud service catalogs and respond to business demands by deploying applications with push-button ease. Many types of HP Cloud Maps stand ready to meet your specific requirements: HP Cloud Maps for infrastructure provisioning Detail the design of the server, storage, and networking infrastructure for running applications. Many include basic application deployment,

as well. HP Cloud Maps for application deployment Spell out the automated deployment of enterprise applications. HP Cloud Maps for lifecycle management Specify infrastructure provisioning, application deployment, and lifecycle management, including patching, code release, and compliance. HP Cloud Maps are available for HP CloudSystem and HP Cloud Service Automation solutions. Youll find a large number of doit yourself HP Cloud Maps as well as a wide range of packaged and wizard-driven ones. HP Cloud Maps speed your journey to the cloud At HP, weve found that our customers view the transition to the cloud as a journey, a process of maturation from physical infrastructure to virtualized assets, from servers to services, and from skepticism about the benefits of cloud to fully embracing its use. Wherever you are in this journey, HP Cloud

Maps can help. The accelerated application deployment afforded by HP Cloud Maps moves you into the clouds fast lane, helping you reach your destination sooner. And because they help you offer the industrys leading business applications to your employees and customers, HP Cloud Maps smooth out the rough spots in the road. HP Cloud Maps are yet another reason that HP CloudSystem is simply the best choice for your journey to the cloud. Summing up HP Cloud Maps deliver optimized performance and service levels for HP CloudSystem and HP Cloud Service Automation software, providing the industrys only prepackaged and customizable application and infrastructure designs for the cloud. They reduce development cost for new services, reduce risk, and improve quality. And they get you to the cloud faster and more easily. Ask yourself: Can your cloud deployment afford to be without HP Cloud Maps?

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The ValuePlus Quarterly April 2013

EMC | feature

Partnering for success

EMC Velocity Solution Provider partner program is constantly evolving to drive bigger growth, provide .greater choice and differentiation for partners
his year, EMC transformed the Velocity Channel Partner Program by creating a simpler, more predictable, and more profitable experience for EMC channel partners globally. The Velocity Channel program significantenhancementswillmake EMCs industry-leading cloud computing and Big Data technologies and solutions available to more customers particularly in the rapidly growing mid-market segment. With a continued emphasis on ensuring that Velocity Partners are

exceptionally well prepared to sell and/or service EMC products and solutions, customers can be confident they are working with the industrys most competent solution providers to support their business requirements. The enhancements are summarizedasthefollowingpoints: New Target Products Rebate for Premier and Signature Partners: Provides top Velocity partners with a predictable income stream via rebates paid on sales of targeted EMC technologies that align to the companys key mid-market

initiatives.Eligibleproductsinclude EMC VNX and VNXe unified storage, EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain backup and recovery solutions, and server Flash caching solution EMC VFCache. This rebate is paid from the first sale and is in addition to and can be combined with EMCs existing performance-based Specialty2 rebate. Changes to Velocity Specialty Requirements Focus on Fortifying Selling Capabilities: The program no longer requires partners to earn an implementation certification to achieve a Specialty2. While EMC

encourages partners to become services-enabled, removing this requirement from the reseller program now allows pure-play resellers a more direct path to achieving Velocity Specialties, where benefit opportunities accelerate. For partners who include services in their business model, EMC has strengthened its Velocity Services offerings (details below). - There is no longer a revenue requirement for partners to achieve a Specialty. - Three Specialties are now required

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April 2013

The ValuePlus Quarterly

feature | emc

for Signature (top tier) partners worldwide, reflecting the most advanced level of competency required of the top tier partners in positioning and selling a broad range of EMCs technologies. EMC Isilon Partner Program Integrated into Velocity Program: Former Isilon partners can now become eligible for Velocity benefits on other EMC products, and existing EMC resellers can become eligible to earn benefits from selling Isilon all within the integrated Velocity program. More Products Eligible for Financial Benefits in Velocity Specialities : To help partners align their portfolio with the growing demand for cloud and Big Data solutions, the following products are now eligible for financial benefits within the Backup and Recovery Specialty: EMC Mozy cloud backup, EMC Atmos objectbased cloud storage platform, and EMC Centera content addressable storage. EMC Isilon scale-out network attached storage platform is also now eligible for benefits within the Consolidate Specialty. Amplified Demand Generation: More Market Development Funds (MDF), More Qualified Leads: EMC is doubling its investment in demand generation funds, programs, and resources to develop highly qualified opportunities for partners and accelerate revenue growth. Velocity Services Invests in Enhanced Tools, Offerings, and Resources to Accelerate Services Enablement with Partners: - Expanded library of online and video-instructor-led services

trainingprovidesamoreconvenient and efficient way for partners to access EMCs industry-recognized EMC Proven Professional technical training. - New online labs allow partners to more efficiently and effectively honepracticalimplementationskills on EMC technology in a proctored virtual environment. - New offering in the EMC Cooperative Services portfolio provides partners EMC guidance on their solution design, as well as post-implementation review. As with all EMC Cooperative Service offerings, the partner maintains full controlofthecustomerrelationship, and has the depth of EMC expertise in the background to ensure quality implementations Also, in 2012 EMC introduced several new channel initiatives to make the partners channel experience simpler, more and profitable. These include: EMCVSPEXProvenInfrastructure: Equipping its Velocity partners with theindustrysmostflexiblereference architecture, VSPEX is based on best of breed components designed in conjunction with Brocade, Cisco, Citrix,Intel,Microsoft,andVMware. Partners can fully leverage the EMC brand and industrial design in their VSPEX offerings, demonstrating EMCs understanding of the importance of the solution provider brand as the trusted adviser. After just two quarters since launching in April 2012, partners sold more than 1,300 VSPEX systems, making it by far the fastest-growing reference architecture in the market. The partner benefits are: 1. Increased Market Opportunity

With VSPEX, channel partners can now sell complete, highlyflexible solutions to their customers, resulting in a higher attach rate of components, and a bigger sale. VSPEX allows partners the option to mix and match server and network components based on customers specific infrastructure and application requirements to improve profitability while optimizing the value delivered to the customer. 2. Faster Time to Market VSPEX offers channel partners complete configuration and sizing guidelines for the most common workloads that can reduce the requirements collection phase of the sales cycle. VSPEX adds significant value to the partners sales process by reducing integration and validation costs while still getting all the benefits of delivering complete solutions. EMC is enabling its channel partners with training and technical and sales collateral to help the partner quickly bring VSPEX to market. The broad awareness, integration into EMC campaigns and demand generation tools helps partners to generate leads for their VSPEX solutions.

3. Partner Branded and Customizable Solution VSPEX allows partners to brand their VSPEX solution and increase their mindshare in the customers environment. 4. VSPEX Labs Partners can leverage EMCs investment in the new VSPEX Labs to test additional infrastructuresincollaborationwith EMC and other VSPEX partners. New Channel-only Solutions: In addition to VSPEX and building upon the success of the channel-only EMC VNXe family of products first announced in 2011 in 2012 EMC introduced EMC VNXe3150, which is optimized for organizations building virtualized, private cloud environments. EMC also announced the EMC Avamar Business Edition, which gives more customers access to the power and simplicity of an industry-leading EMC purpose-built backup appliance. EMC Global Partner Summit: The first annual inaugural partnerexclusive event was held at EMC World 2012 and is designed to help partners gain valuable insight to the future direction of the companys products, solutions and partner programs.

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The ValuePlus Quarterly April 2013

BARRACUDA| highlight

Using an NG Firewall for WAN Optimisation

Intelligent data analysis, combining inexpensive links and rule-based data stream assignment at the application level all help save connection charges, writes Klaus Gheri, VP of Product Management, Barracuda Networks

s the reach of technology increases across the world and malicious activity grows with it, security vendors have equipped themselves to deliver the sophisticated end-toend solutions required to combat todays cyber criminals. The Middle East is one of the worlds bright spots for economic growth, and technology plays a huge part in this. To achieve its vision of further expansion and prosperity, installing the right IT infrastructure with the appropriate security layer is an absolute must. Organisations in the Middle East are experiencing exceptional demand for improving and overhauling their

IT security and data protection systems. In particular, the offering of cloud-based security platforms is proving key to resellers that are continually looking to ease internal processes and open up new revenue streams for the Channel. WAN bandwidth for connections to external sites is also fast becoming an important topic for many companies in the Middle East. There are two reasons for this: The transition to cloud-based applications and IPbased Unified Communications (UC) concepts. MPLS lines are the ideal solution for data when it comes to high availability and capacity. However, these are

often expensive or not available outside metropolitan areas. So, IT managers look for ways to optimise their networks and use alternative links such as DSL, by using a Link Balancer, for example. But, just like every element that is added to the IT infrastructure, this also has to be installed and set up, managed and maintained. IT teams in mid-sized companies often reach the limits of their capacities here, both in terms of personnel and in terms of the required specialist knowledge. One way out of this dilemma is to choose Next Generation (NG) Firewalls, which, in addition to their classic security role, also take over Traffic Intelligence functions too. They do

far more there than just simple link balancing and content blocking. Thanks to the enhanced diagnosis features in an NG Firewall, it is possible not only to make much more intelligent priority selection choices, but also to determine the optimum route for a data connection. If the choice of route is complemented by information about the routes availability or quality, then they can also use the available bandwidth with the highest fail-safe levels and much more effectively, making investments in additional bandwidth unnecessary. IT staff also save time in operations because they can manage their diverse functions in a consistent manner, too.

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April 2013

The ValuePlus Quarterly

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highlight | BARRACUDA

NG Firewalls ensure security by analysing the incoming and outgoing data traffic, filtering out malicious links and blocking suspicious data packages
The WAN optimisation issue is not just one that affects large companies. Each company with several sites has to incorporate these into the company network. Bandwidthandavailabilitydemands remain low as long as the offices only need email and internet access. However, in todays world critical company applications should be accessible at all times and from any location. If the data line fails, then work in the branch office comes to a standstill.Thisdangerincreaseswith the use of cloud applications, IP telephony and Unified Communications (UC). Connection charges, particularly in international business operations, are reduced considerably compared to conventional telephone connection costs thanks to internet-based channels. However, at the same time they strain the data line and their data packages should be transmitted with a minimum latency period. Email data are more patient when compared with telephony functions. A delay of one minute for the transmission is usually of no consequence. So, when an IT administrator gives transmission

priority to the Voice-over-IPApplication, this traffic shaping is a first step towards WAN optimisation. Method No. 1: The security guard at the gates keeps the alleyways clear The cloud is an additional way of optimising company networks. IT security in particular benefits from cloud services, because the mechanisms for protecting against attacks precede the company network. The firewall, IDS/IPS (Intrusion Detection and Intrusion Prevention Systems), filtering and spam detection function is like guards standing in front of the companys data gates. All of the data traffic from and into the company is thus guided through the cloud security. This has several advantages: The cloud solution relieves the company network, is absolutely scalable, flexible and optimises the WAN, because the data traffic from the various

locations is not checked at the head office, but by an external cloud security specialist. Method No. 2: Marching separately, communicating as one Not all types of data are of equal importance, as the example of telephony vs. email traffic shows. With their varying priority levels, costs can be saved when the important data are transmitted via an expensive MPLS line, and the less urgent via an inexpensive transmission route such as DSL, T1, cable, G3 or G4 for example. Instead of connecting the branch offices with a powerful MPSL line, a less expensive alternative often suffices too. This can be complemented by alternative, inexpensive links or by combining several of these less reliable links to form a VPN (Virtual Private Network). This variation can definitely achieve availability rates in the 99.999 percent range. This corresponds to an approximate downtime of five minutes per annum. An IT administrator can also fall back on corresponding standalone solutions to combine several links to form a VPN. However, this generates more work for installation, management and maintenance, which is why the combination with an NG Firewall also saves costs here too. But the main argument in favor of this connection is a different issue: namely the synergy of the analysis functions. Method No. 3: The firewall, to serve and protect NG Firewalls ensure security by analysing the incoming and outgoing data traffic, filtering out malicious links and blocking

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The ValuePlus Quarterly April 2013

BARRACUDA | highlight

suspicious data packages. Their performance is directly related to their analysis ability. The layer 7 application control in an NG Firewall is capable of assigning data packages to individual applications, of determining their authors and the content, as well as either blocking them or granting them passage depending on the rules defined by the administrator. Individual functions within an application can even be controlled using the SSL interception and content breakdown as well as the DeepApplication-Content detection. For example, allowing general access to a social network like Facebook, but only allowing employees from the marketing department to post there. The firewall works like a toll keeper, controlling the incoming and outgoing data. WAN optimisation can also be achieved using traffic intelligence whencombinedwithtrafficshaping functions. The firewall analyses the data traffic, identifies which applications want to transmit data across the WAN via which protocol and from which user. It

then not only decides whether or not this is allowed or should be blocked, but also determines how much bandwidth should be made available on which of the various data lines. This decision is based on rules that have been defined by the IT administrator. If one of the lines fails or has performance problems, then a fail-over mechanism ensures that the remaining connections step into place to take over smoothly. In order for this to work, the firewall devices at the various connected locations should test the lines status at regular intervals. Method No. 4: Saving data means accelerating data The classic techniques applied for WAN optimisation can also be integrated into the range of functionsofferedbyafirewall.These include: - Deduplication and compression - Caching/Encryption - The optimisation and bundling of queries for specific protocols (e.g. file sharing) - Forward error correction These methods reduce the data volume, optimise the data traffic and as such, improve the overall

WAN performance. These can also be performed by separate solutions or integrated into the firewall. The benefit of integration is that the analytical functions make the firewall better suited to optimising the WAN. In addition the consistent management in one device and with the same interface saves the IT team both time and effort. The evolution of the firewall to a guarantor for connections Today, an NG Firewall is far more than a gatekeeper with just a security role. It manages and guarantees the communication within the WAN: It analyses, coordinates and optimises the various connections in favor of performance and the IT budget. It contributes to WAN optimisation by outsourcing its classic security element to the cloud. But the tasks that an NG Firewall can assume dont end here by any means it can also take over archiving functions. The growing popularity of social media platforms in the Middle East has added to the security and fraud risks facing both consumers and businesses alike. Recent figures show that there are now more than 18 million Facebook users and nearly seven million Twitter users in the region, all of whom are potential rich pickings for a growing number of cyber criminals active in these channels. At the same time, social networks are becoming more business-oriented and thus of increasing legal relevance and their contents can now be stored virtually parallel to the analysis. Therefore, the firewalls career from guard to toll keeper could be complemented by a further job description: that of the archivist.

Toni El Inati, Regional Sales Manager, MEA, Barracuda networks

Barracuda Networks in the Middle East

The Middle East has become a major focus for Barracuda Networks, with more than 1,000 customers in the region currently using its solutions. The companys growing commitment to the region includes actively hiring additional sales and technical staff to drive activities in the region. This will allow the business to enhance further the high level of support that its partners and customers have come to expect. Toni El Inati, Regional Sales Manager, MEA, heads up the Middle East sales team from the new Dubai office in Dubai Internet City. He works alongside Rafaat Kastoun, who has recently been appointed Sales Engineer, MEA.

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtongulf.com

April 2013

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INTERVIEW | VMWARE

Eyeing new market opportunities

Redington Value speaks to Chris Norton, Senior Regional Director, Southern Africa at VMware, about cloud computing and virtualization opportunities in emerging markets such as Africa, as well as its newly established distribution partnership with the leader in cloud and virtualization technologies.
hat kind of opportunities do you see in the African market for virtualization and cloud solutions? Africa is already progressing steadily towards virtualization and the technology is a core requirement in any datacentre/ server room where companies are looking to drive maximum efficiency from their existing hardware. Virtualization also allows them to deliver more services off of their existing platforms. It enables them to address critical disaster recovery and business continuity issues

and progress on their journey to cloud. The premise of cloud is based on connectivity, and as that is often a challenge, I believe it will be a little while before the African subcontinent is globalised in respect of cloud computing. In the meantime it is a feasible solution where bandwidth is available and private cloud is still a contender for customer consideration. What were the reasons for choosing Redington as a distribution partner in Africa? The process we run in selecting

our distributors is fairly rigorous and detailed. We review many factors, and look at the distributors ability to support the channel in all aspects of distribution, as well as manage lines of credit on their behalf. We also consider factors such as complimentary solution components and business development capability, as well as presence in the major markets we want to address. Out of all the distributors that responded we assessed Redington and came to the conclusion that it was the closest fit to our requirements for the region. They put forward a fantastic proposal and their

presentation was well supported and concise. How do you plan to improve the speed and product knowledge of key resellers in the market around VMware technologies? We have already begun the on boarding process to help skill up Redington to be able to effectively support the channel in the regions that the company operates in. We are also reviewing the training process for West and Eastern Africa and looking at programmes to support partner and customer training on our technologies.

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtongulf.com

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VMWARE | INTERVIEW

In addition we will host partner updates in the coming months to support the resellers and ensure that they can support their customers, as well as we will be launching awareness campaigns on some of the key solutions as well as some interesting ones, such as technology where we have to support zero touch windows 7 migrations for customers. I think it is important to note that VMware is committed to being visible in the markets we have chosen to drive into in 2013. What percentage of business is done through the channel in the MEA region? 100% of the business in the region is channel based, with particular emphasis on the regions we are responsible for. Can you please tell us about the plans to better support the channel and increase their revenues? There are many programmes available in the VMware partner programme that the channel can get involved in, and there are lots of ways that partners can qualify for additional margin, in order to make them more profitable. It is key to VMware Southern Africa that partners who differentiate themselves are rewarded for their investments and remain profitable. To this end, training programmes will be aligned with our tier-1 focussed countries, and our

VMware unveils VMware Horizon Suite in the Middle East

VMware has unveiled the VMware Horizon Suite, a comprehensive platform for workforce mobility that will connect end users to their data, applications and desktops on any device without sacrificing IT security and control. With updates to VMware Horizon View and VMware Horizon Mirage, as well as a new product, VMware Horizon Workspace, the VMware Horizon Suite will enable IT organizations in the Middle East to empower users with a secure, easy-to-manage virtual workspace that delivers a consistent, compelling experience across devices. Customers in the Middle East are looking for a comprehensive, enterprise-class solution to empower workers in a world where the proliferation of devices and consumer cloud services have changed user expectations, while putting IT security and governance at risk, said Sam Tayan, Regional Director, VMware MENA. VMware virtualization has helped thousands of customers in the Middle East change what is possible in the datacenter, and we believe it can have the same transformative impact in enduser computing. The VMware Horizon Suite will help our customers accelerate their journeys from the PC Era to the Multi-Device Era. A report by Forrester Research Inc. finds the use of personal devices outside of IT control alarming with 67 percent of employees using personally selected smartphones and 46 percent using personally selected laptops none of which were approved or issued by the company . And, a recent survey by VMware found that 83 percent of IT administrators wanted to prevent the use of consumer online storage and collaboration applications . The VMware Horizon Suite is designed to solve the security and governance challenges these consumerready applications and devices bring to enterprises, enabling IT to meet the demands of their users with a virtual workspace that is secure, compliant and easy to manage. The VMware Horizon Suite will bring together VMwares industry-leading desktop virtualization solution and technologies VMware has built from the ground up to support a mobile, collaborative workforce, including Project Octopus, Project AppBlast, Project AppShift, VMware ThinApp, VMware Horizon Application Manager and VMware Horizon Mobile into a single, unified solution. An integrated platform to support the mobile workforce, the VMware Horizon Suite is designed to transform technology silos of data, applications and desktops into centralized IT services that can be easily provisioned, managed and delivered to end-users.

distributors will align with VMware Authorised Training Centres to ensure global standards are adhered to. Do you think the channel needs a new approach to capitalise on the cloud era? Yes Cloud requires the reseller channel to review their longterm strategy from selling tin to brokering services. Some

partners have already done this and others are behind the curve. How will the relationship with Redington Value align with VMware objectives in East & West Africa? VMwares objective is to provide an increased and stable set of skills in the region in order to make our software and services viable to partners and customers alike. This will increase the visibility and

awareness of the intricate and critical solutions that VMware can provide to customers. We believe that Redington will expand our partner reach and also drive additional support and financial options to the partners in the Western and Eastern African region as well as Central Africa. We are excited about the possibilities that this partnership represents.

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtongulf.com

April 2013

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A PLATFORM WHERE OBSTACLES DISAPPEAR AS POSSIBILITIES EMERGE.

Move beyond.
In todays business environment theres no room for compromise. With VMware, IT departments can untangle complexity and enable a more agile enterprise without sacricing service levels for solutions, were revolutionizing the way IT serves the businessand providing a clear, pragmatic path to cloud computing. Go to The Source. vmware.com/movebeyond

2010 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved.

CISCO | IN DEPTH

Bringing business solutions to life

Thats where Ciscos Services comes in. Services play a crucial role in pulling together holistic, customized solutions that drive business outcomes across industries and customer segments. Advanced Services plays a key role here. Called a growing, strategic asset by John Chambers, our AS teams help customers identify, plan and solve their toughest business challenges. There is huge potential value in tying together our products, software and services, as many customers are looking for ways to unleash all the business potential the cloud, mobility, video, and other trends are driving, says Parvesh Sethi, SVP, Advanced Services. Our job is to bring to life solutions that help customers get the full value of their Cisco and infrastructure investments. Sethi believes that today, more than ever, maintaining close relationships with customers and knowing what keeps their leaders up at night is critical to our success. And our AS team is uniquely positioned to help Services do that. Key Investments for Better Business Outcomes Comprised of more than 5,500 professionals, with deep ties to Cisco partners, AS is well positioned globally to flex its broad architectural and delivery expertise, wherever our customers need us. Among the groups highest priorities are overall customer satisfaction, with a strong focus on security, mobility, video, and cloud, and managed services. Traditionally, our bread and butter has been in planning, designing and building, and offering managed services around Cisco architecturesfrom service provider mobility to collaboration and data center, says AS Vice President Hans Hwang. However, over the past few years, we have greatly expanded the way in which we help customers solve their business challenges. Hwang points to strategic investments in: Business engagement Solutions New, cloud-based models for consuming IT We are looking at vehicles such as automating things that used to be done manually as a means of delivering services, he says. Customers are increasingly looking to Cisco AS to help them transform their infrastructures across the entire life cycle. Momentum Moving Forward Sethi sums up his organizations competitive advantage in two words: Expertise and relevance. We have the largest and deepest breadth of knowledge around key architectures, he says. Our expertise and skills with the products we support, when combined with our Consulting Services and Technical Services capabilities, give us the ability to take a

Whats it going to take to become the worlds #1 IT company? Difficult to say, specifically. But its safe to assume simply selling customers a hardware/ software networking solution and moving on wont get us there.
ore and more, customers want Cisco to help them get the most out of their network investments through solutions that address CEO careabouts and CIO and CTO priorities. And as software accelerates the

capabilities of networked environments, the network is fastbecoming the center of intelligence that can be leveraged to create business solutions. In a nutshell, customers want trusted business IT partners, not just IT vendors.

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtongulf.com

April 2013

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IN DEPTH | cisco

We have the largest and deepest breadth of knowledge around key architectures.
holistic view of our customers network environments and business needsone that is simply superior to any similar organization out there. Proof that customers recognize this value: AS has been one of the fastest growing businesses within Services. In fact, AS total revenue nearly doubled in the past five years, with Services revenue representing about 11 percent of total company revenue then compared with about 22 percent today. Services will be a key growth area for Cisco, Sethi says. And our customers are starting to realize that AS is one of the tools they can use to address complex, top-of-mind IT and business concerns of CIOs and CEOs. The new, flexible Services portfolio, constructed around customer outcomes, is one testament to Services efforts to extend Cisco ties with customers as trusted business advisors. Bringing Capabilities to Life To better understand how AS is helping customers use the network to solve many of their business challenges, here are a few recent examples from highprofile customers: America MovilThe worlds second largest telecom turned to AS when it needed a long-term technology partner to reach its goals of achieving 70 percent Internet penetration in Latin America, introducing enhanced video capabilities in the Mexican market, and consolidating its data centers to enable more Cloud services. The result was a Cloud Command Center in Mexico (run by Cisco Services employees) and the installation of identical Cisco infrastructure in each of the four hubs where it operates (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico). AS was chosen because it offered integrated solutions to meet America Movils challenges, enabling it to roll out more complete IaaS services while adopting a number of Cisco solutions, including Hosted Collaboration Solution and WebEx. ToyotaAS conducted a twoday workshop to assess the security ramifications of creating a BYOD (bring your own devices) strategy for the automotive giant. The goal was to allow employees to utilize the wireless devices of their choice safely and securely on the companys network. AS team members drew from their expertise in device and network management, coming up with a secure, holistic approach that was cost effective. In the process, AS created significant future services opportunity for a Unified Workspace Assessment and pilot, showing we could take the plan to the next level. MicrosoftAS entered into a service agreement three years ago with the software giant to design, build, and manage the Microsoft Retail stores. Recently,

a new concept emerged to build kiosks in malls around the United States and Canada to expand Microsofts footprint, and again they turned to Cisco. Over the years, AS has continued to grow the business, with awards from Microsoft for the quality of service. But last October, as Microsoft was about to launch Windows 8 and its Surface tablet, that service agreement proved invaluable. After receiving an urgent call less than 48 hours before launch that numerous issues (all

unrelated to Cisco equipment or designs) were detected at 35 new mall kiosk stores in the United States and Canada, AS quickly identified engineers throughout both countries and dispatched them to the respective malls to help the remote engineering teams test and turn up various broadband options. AS demonstrated the true value of a services-led relationship by implementing a unique solution that enabled Microsoft to successfully leverage its products and brand in the marketplace.

For more information, please write to sales.value@redingtongulf.com

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The ValuePlus Quarterly April 2013

Get Your Network Ready for Operational Efficiency

Start Preparing Your Network Today
Networking trends are affecting IT efficiency. Over seven billion enterprise mobile devices are expected by 2015, and video and other rich-media tools are expected to consume more than 90 percent of bandwidth by 2014. IT is being asked to improve efficiency and save money, while still fully supporting these new trends. Cisco Borderless Networks built with Cisco Catalyst switches can help you reduce implementation and deployment costs, network downtime, and operational expenses. Enable IT to increase operational efficiency and lower total cost of ownership, solving the challenges your staff face in supporting todays networking trends. Contact us to discuss potential areas for network improvement, review Ciscos latest offers, and look at our joint professional and technical services that help you take advantage of new investments more quickly and easily. For more information please write to sales.value@redingtongulf.com

Redington Value Channel Events

5
1. EMC VSPEX event in Nairobi, Kenya on 26th Jan 2013 2. Cisco and EMC event in Dar Es Salam, Tanzania on 13th March to 15th March 2013 3. EMC Event in Riyadh, KSA on 24th Feb 2013

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4. EMC Event in Jeddah, KSA on 26th Feb 2013 5. Dell SonicWALL Master Pitch in Dubai, UAE on 13th March 2013 6. HP and ALAN Technologies- End Customer event in Dubai, UAE on 17th December 2013

Breathe easy. Partner with Redington Value.

Redington Value is an end-to-end value-added distributor in Middle East and Africa. It assists value-added resellers with most optimal IT solutions across technology domains such as Unied Communications, Virtualization and Cloud Computing, Converged Infrastructure, End-to-end security, Mobility Solutions, Power Solutions, Cabling Solutions, Storage, Back-up and Recovery. They are also supported with in-house pre-sales expertise and regular sales/technical training and programs. For more information, contact sales.value@redingtongulf.com
Some recent recognitions:

Distributor of the Year 2012

Avaya

Distributor of the Year 2012

Dell SonicWall

Value Added Distributor of the Year 2012

Red Hat

Distributor of the Year 2012

Trend Micro

Redington Value is a value-added distributor for the following brands in parts of Middle East and Africa:

For more information or to place an order on Barracuda Networks, please write to sales.value@redingtongulf.com