Upcoming Meeting Notice

The Association of Service and Computer Dealers International (ASCDI) is a 30 year old, worldwide non-profit organization made up of companies who provide technology solutions, technical support or value added services to the business community.

Members and non-members are invited to learn how to grow your business, find new business opportunities, hear from industry representatives and enjoy some fabulous networking events at our conferences:

WINTER CONFERENCE: March 4 - 6, 2009
Hard Rock Hotel - LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE: June 17 - 19, 2009
Prague, Czech Republic

Click here for more information on ALL ASCDI MEETINGS, to view the agendas, lodging details, attendee lists and to REGISTER AT THE EARLY BIRD RATE.

Meet the new members
Book review
Funding
Global
HP
IBM
Market
SaaS
Sun

Meet the new members

Automated Systems Design, Inc. dba ASD, Inc.
ASD is a nationwide technology deployment company specializing in the design and installation of IP based network infrastructures.  These services include rollouts of structured cabling systems, VoIP networks, wireless networks as well as moves, adds and changes or upgrades. ASD is a reseller of Shoretel, Interactive Intelligence and Avaya IP Office.  We are a manufacturer of structured cabling products called iCAT-ITS and iGLO-ITS.  Our security and access control authorization is from KeyScan, Bosch, Panasonic, Axis and S2.

ASD was formed in 1987 and is headquartered in Roswell, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. Every year ASD performs thousands of installations in as many zip codes across the U.S.A.  The unique business model of ASD allows end users and systems integrators the opportunity to service its clients nationally with a single source.
Visit www.asd-usa.com.


ComputerPlus Sales & Service, Inc.
CPLUS, a privately owned company founded in 1989 by Glenn and David Yarborough, offers nationwide, on-site Critical Hardware Support and Print Management services.  With our Rapid Response Technology, experienced team of mobile-enabled technicians and expert call center staff, CPLUS delivers exceptional maintenance on servers, storage, printers, and PCs+Laptops through service contracts and on demand service.
Visit www.computer-plus.com


ServiceKey, LLC
ServiceKey ISMO is an Independent Service and Maintenance Organization which allows its partners to provide branded, multiplatform IT maintenance and support services throughout North America for mid-range servers, networking and storage equipment. With ServiceKey ISMO, channel partners can tailor basic or complex solutions under their own name, from simple 24/7 help desk support to four-hour on-site service, while owning the service level agreement (SLA) and its revenue stream. ServiceKey is unique in that it does not sell direct to the end-customer and does not sell hardware, therefore ServiceKey does not compete with the channel but helps augment channel services offerings.

ServiceKey was founded and is co-owned by Angela Vines and Leo Bebeau. ISMO was created by ServiceKey LLC, a company with over 25 years experience in channel management and strategies, as a way to address the need for higher margins and stronger brand identity in today’s competitive channel. 
Visit www.servicekeytss.com.^Back To Top

Book review

Fixed Mobile Convergence
This book, written by real experts on the subject, does a solid job of explaining the concept of Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC). The beginning chapter provides an excellent introduction to the concept of convergence and a brief history of the evolution of convergence to FMC. Subsequent chapters explore the business case for FMC, and isolate its elements—Fixed, Mobile and Convergence—explaining in considerable detail the technological underpinnings and general characteristics of each. A number of use-case scenarios, sprinkled throughout, are helpful in advancing the reader’s practical understanding of FMC. The book is informative without being overly technical. It also is well-written, so is an easy read. If you have a need to develop a solid understanding of FMC, I highly recommend this book.

Authors: Alex Shneyderman and Alessio Casati
Publisher: McGraw-Hill (January 2008)
ISBN-10: 0071486062
ISBN-13: 978-0071486064
Price: $79.95Back To Top

Funding

UnboundID secures $2 million in Series A funding
UnboundID Corp., a developer of identity management software for internet-driven consumer-facing architectures, announced that it has officially closed on a $2 million Series A funding round led by Silverton Partners. UnboundID will use the capital infusion for additional product development and market expansion efforts for a new class of identity management technology, which the company plans to launch in early 2009. In addition to closing the funding round, UnboundID announced the appointment of Andy Land to its management team. A former Sun Microsystems identity management technology expert, Mr. Land will lead product management for UnboundID. Previously, Mr. Land held product management and sales positions at Alterpoint, Motive, Vignette, Verizon and Abbott Laboratories. Mr. Land began his career as a United States Naval Officer and is a veteran of the first Gulf War.
Visit www.unboundid.com.
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Global

Raju warned of IBM takeover
Satyam’s disgraced chairman Ramalinga Raju had made an emotional pitch that the company faced a takeover threat from IBM, to avert which he wanted the board’s support to diversify into other areas. Returning from the US ahead of the December 16 meeting, at which the company decided to go in for the Rs 8,000 crore acquisition of two companies related to his family, Raju had told the board that IBM and another company were going to take over the Indian information technology company firm because of its strong cash balances, a member present at the meeting said. Raju also warned that after the takeover of Satyam, pink slips could be issued by the acquirer to enhance profits, the member said on the condition of anonymity. To avoid this, Raju urged the members, in an informal pitch before the meeting commenced, to take what is known in the corporate world as a ‘poison pill’. His suggestion was that Satyam should enter sectors where IBM and others of its kind would have no interest. Subsequently, the board was given presentations on Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties with the valuation, an issue on which some members, though they agreed in principle, wanted more clarity and said the company should adhere to certain basic parameters before going ahead with the deal.
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HP

HP wins DARPA computer security system contract
HP announced that it has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) – the central research and development organization for the U.S. Department of Defense – to develop a scalable network monitoring system. The contract, valued at $3.6 million, entrusts HP to develop a scalable network intrusion detection system that provides visualization and defense against cyber threats. Currently being developed by HP, the system detects threats using proactive technologies and by monitoring fluctuations in network traffic to improve real-time analysis as well as visualization. Hidden data, which is potentially harmful, changes the flow of data distribution. These fluctuations can be used to identify harmful data in seemingly innocuous data exchanges. By using generalized information theory to observe network traffic, scalable network monitoring is able to recognize when hidden data is being transferred, even if the network itself is not aware of the intrusion.
Visit www.hp.com/security.
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IBM

iRise & Ascendant Technology launch visualization solution for IBM Lotus
iRise and Ascendant Technology announced the immediate availability of iRise for IBM Lotus Connections, a pre-configured set of visualization templates that gives organizations a unique way to visualize new community and social networking applications based on IBM Lotus portal and social stack solutions. Jointly developed by iRise and Atech, iRise for IBM Lotus Connections offers a visualization toolkit of generalized IBM Lotus solution-based page templates, masters and styles used to accelerate the assembly of high-fidelity, working simulations of proposed social networking applications. Starting with a library of pre-configured content and by leveraging the power of iRise Studio, business analysts can bring together a working preview of proposed solutions in a fraction of the time it would take to generate paper specification documents or build coded prototypes. Atech will also be leveraging iRise for IBM Lotus Connections to rapidly create simulations of composite applications during proposal pursuits and on client engagements. Both iRise and Atech are selling iRise for IBM Lotus Connections.
Visit www.irise.com or www.atech.com.
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Market

PC market growth evaporates in fourth quarter
Despite market optimism early in the fourth quarter, the pace at which the economic environment unraveled and the extent to which PC purchases were affected was faster than anticipated. Following roughly six years of growth, with the last five averaging 15% increases, worldwide PC shipments were down 0.4% year on year in the fourth quarter of 2008 (4Q08), according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. The dramatic slowdown was enough for a sequential decline of 2.5% from the third quarter in place of an expected increase for the holiday season. The weakening economic environment, including falling home and stock values, deteriorating credit, and implications for trade and consumer spending, was clearly the dominant factor limiting growth. Low-cost portables, vendor competition, and holiday promotions were simply not enough to overcome the economic tide, even with the market for mini notebooks (also known as netbooks) taking off. Growth of portable PCs was cut roughly in half from nearly 40% year on year in the first three quarters of 2008 to roughly 20% in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the pressure on desktop PCs pushed volume down roughly 16% from a year ago after only a small decline earlier in the year. Despite the dramatic slowdown in fourth quarter shipments, annual volume was up 10.5% in 2008.
Visit www.idc.com.
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SaaS

Epicor Retail Software as a Service POS solution continues to gain traction
Epicor Software Corporation announced its Retail Software as a Service (SaaS) solution continues to gain traction with retailers. Epicor’s integrated Retail SaaS solution is a pay-as-you-go model that consists of merchandising, allocation, replenishment, business intelligence, POS, sales audit and CRM. Epicor SaaS is deployed on IBM’s industry leading SurePOS 700 series hardware. SaaS services include hosting of all applications on secure redundant servers, the procurement and management of wide area networks, helpdesk support, system maintenance, including 24/7 data security and backups; disaster recovery and ongoing updates and upgrades to the latest Epicor software releases. With a proven four-month project timeline from project kick off to live, the Epicor Retail SaaS solution offers significant speed-to-market benefits.
Visit www.epicor.com.
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Sun

Sun delivers industry leading virtualization solutions for SMBs
Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced that it has expanded its portfolio of small- and medium-sized business (SMB) solutions with the introduction of two new virtualization solutions that combine Sun's leading x64 server and open storage products with VMware ESX and Microsoft Hyper-V software. Sun also announced a new world-record VMmark benchmark result on the Sun Fire X4450 server, demonstrating superior performance among all 24-core systems with the best result based on Intel Xeon processor technology. . To test Sun's solution in a free 60-day trial through Sun's Try and Buy program, visit www.sun.com/tryandbuy.
Visit www.sun.com/smb.
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