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:

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

FALL USA CONFERENCE: October, 2009
Location under review

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.

Cisco
Cloud
HP and Sun
IBM
Intermec
Market
Saas
Storage

Cisco

Cisco confirms global job cuts
Cisco Systems confirmed that it has eliminated a number of positions in the U.S. and abroad. Overall, sources said, the number of employees affected was fewer than the 1,500 to 2,000 that Cisco CEO John Chambers hinted at on the company's earnings call for the second fiscal quarter. According to the networking giant, the staff reduction is part of the "limited restructuring" process Chambers previously alluded to. The job cuts come after normally resilient Cisco's revenue dropped 7.5 percent year over year to $9.1 billion for the second quarter. Coming off the down quarter, Chambers said Cisco expects third fiscal quarter revenue to drop between 15 and 20 percent year over year, prompting him to call the current economic state "The biggest challenge of our lifetime."  Cisco has vowed to continue its aggressive cost-cutting initiative, which Chambers said will reduce operating expenses by $1 billion by the end of fiscal 2009. Along with job cuts and resource realignment, other cost-cutting initiatives within Cisco include a hiring freeze and a sweeping reduction in corporate travel.
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Cloud

Terremark launches the Enterprise Cloud in Europe
Terremark Worldwide, Inc. announced the availability of its Enterprise Cloud services to customers throughout Europe. The Enterprise Cloud's availability in Europe provides customers a true, multinational cloud infrastructure that is connected to the cloud infrastructure currently available at Terremark's Network Access Point (NAP) of the Americas in Miami and its NAP of the Capital Region near Washington, D.C.  Terremark's Enterprise Cloud, a revolutionary managed cloud computing platform for mission-critical applications and IT infrastructure, combines the agility and scalability of cloud computing with world-class datacenter and computing infrastructure, access to more than 160 global networks and best-in-class managed services, allowing enterprises to meet the real-time needs of their business with greater efficiency and economy than ever before. At the center of the Enterprise Cloud is an easy-to-use web application that allows customers to dynamically provision, configure, deploy and manage servers in just minutes from a pool of dedicated computing resources. A variety of preconfigured server roles are available across Microsoft Windows, Linux and Sun Solaris operating systems. The portal provides a full reporting interface that allows instant insight into resource utilization and system performance.
Visit www.terremark.com.
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HP and Sun

HP and Sun Microsystems sign multi-year partnership agreement
HP and Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced an expanded multi-year partnership agreement that enables HP to distribute and provide software technical support for Sun's Solaris 10 Operating System on the HP ProLiant server and blade system platforms. Under the terms of the new OEM and support agreement, Sun becomes a strategic HP ProLiant OS distribution partner and Solaris is now elevated to the lineup of key operating environments for the HP ProLiant platform. The new deal sets a course for the companies to work together to expand demand for both Solaris and OpenSolaris on both HP ProLiant servers and server blades into new markets. To further reduce operational costs, the companies will collaborate on integration of Solaris 10 and HP Insight software on HP ProLiant servers to deliver usability and management enhancements.
Visit www.hp.com or www.sun.com.
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IBM

Devon IT announces comprehensive new thin client solutions orderable from IBM
Devon IT announced its new line of thin client solutions orderable with IBM part numbers. Devon has worked directly with IBM to launch this complete line of thin client solutions that complements IBM's Virtual Client Solutions (VCS) infrastructure. The IBM Virtual Client Solutions bring important benefits to the IT department. In addition to delivering security and control, the Virtualized Hosted Client Infrastructure will enable companies to support more users with fewer resources, while offering the best possible desktop experience from virtually anywhere and on virtually any device. Devon's Line of Thin Clients with IBM part numbers provide a complete set of desktop, mobile and specialized thin client solutions that will meet any end user requirement.
Visit www.devonit.com.



IBM price jumps
It is a tough economic environment out there, and with IBM trying to scare up a little midrange business, sometimes that means making more deals and sometimes that means raising prices so the deals you have give you a little more dough. Here is the scoop on the Power Systems, System p and System i price changes. On January 20, IBM raised prices on many features used in these machines by 10 percent or so, and many features had much larger price jumps. The ones that affect i shops include 11 percent increases on PCI IOP adapters and PCI twinax workstation I/O adapters. Prices on RIO-2 (for p products) and HSL (for i products) I/O adapters, for memory cards used on older Power5 and Power5+ machinery bearing i and p labels as well as newer Power System iron, for activating processors on existing machines as well as for buying new Power5+ processor cards, and for certain RAID disk controllers also rose by 10 percent. You can see a full list of the features that had their prices changed at this link. The announcement letter for these price changes, number 309-758, is available here. In addition to the feature price changes, IBM also increased some feature conversion prices relating to processors, memory, and other features which you can see here.
Visit www.ibm.com.
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Intermec

Saudi Post selects Intermec CN3 and IP30 to improve efficiency and service
Saudi Post, the leading provider of mail and parcel delivery services in Saudi Arabia, has awarded Intermec Technologies a contract to equip its postal delivery team with CN3 mobile computers and add-on IP30 handheld RFID readers. The contract is a core component of the strategic partnership between the two organizations, and reflects Saudi Post’s commitment to implement the most advanced technology available to improve delivery efficiency and provide enhanced services for its customers. This contract is the latest in a series of major postal wins for Intermec. As a leader in the class of small, advanced, rugged mobile computers, the CN3, with up to four integrated radios including GPS, will enable Saudi Post to stay connected with its postal workers through voice and high-speed data in real time, no matter where the workers are located. The integrated GPS system provides postal workers with hands-free, turn-by-turn voice navigation, making driving safer and more efficient. The versatility of the CN3/IP30 solution provides RFID read-write capability in a single device.
Visit www.intermec.com.
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Market

IDC reports 14% decline in Q4 factory revenue in worldwide server market
IDC reported that fourth-quarter factory revenue declined 14% in the worldwide server market on a year-over-year basis. All of the top five server vendors saw declines in their quarterly and annual server revenue, the first time since the first quarter of 2002. The research firm said that IBM, which held onto its number 1 spot in the worldwide server systems market with a 36.3% market share in factory revenue, recorded a 15% decline in its revenue to $4.9 billion. Although IBM experienced significant weakness in System x, demand for its power-based systems improved in the quarter. HP, which maintained the number 2 spot with a revenue market share of 29%, reported fourth-quarter factory revenues of $3.91 billion, a 10.1% decline from last year. According to IDC, HP was helped by a relatively strong October during its fiscal year end. Dell posted quarterly factory revenues of $1.42 billion, down 9.9% from $1.58 billion in the prior-year quarter. Dell maintained third place with a factory revenue market share of 10.6%. Sun Microsystems' fourth-quarter factory revenue was $1.25 billion, a decline of 14.1% from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year. Sun's factory revenue market share was 9.3% for the quarter.
Visit www.idc.com.
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SaaS

SupportSoft introduces Dynamic Agent
SupportSoft, Inc. announced the release of its next-generation Dynamic Agent, a software solution that makes it simple for enterprises and service providers to automatically resolve customers’ routine tech problems, as well as deploy enhanced services. The solution can provide “point-of-pain services” in the form of “1-click fixes” that let organizations provide just-in-time support and help customers resolve their own issues.  Further, by building on their automated support platform, organizations can now create a new and convenient marketing channel to orchestrate new methods of driving revenue.  With real-time access to the customer’s context and system configuration, personalized and timely offers can be presented -- for example, renewals at or before warranty or subscription expiration; additional data storage upon or before reaching storage capacity; or the latest bandwidth enhancement during periods of high usage. From a marketing perspective, organizations can drive more traffic to their web site and extend brand presence to the desktop.  
Visit www.supportsoft.com.
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Storage

IBM adds to Tivoli Storage Manager
IBM has released its first major overhaul of Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) in seven years, adding sought-after new features like data de-duplication. "Dedupe" has become a hot spot for storage vendors, who realize the technology can help businesses eliminate redundant data in their storage, thus freeing up space and saving money.
Dedupe is typically an add-on feature, but IBM is hoping TSM 6.0 wins converts because it now offers the technology built-in. Version 6.0 of the data management software also offers integration with IBM's DB2 database and adds new reporting and monitoring tools. According to IBM, beta TSM 6 customers have achieved as much as a 300 percent improvement in backup performance.
Visit www.ibm.com
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