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:

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.

Vendor member news
Cabling
Mobile
Moves, adds & changes
Open source
Opinion
Secondary market
Services
Storage

Vendor member news

TERiX expands footprint in Canada
Taking advantage of what it believes is an underserved support market, TERiX Computer Service announced that it has expanded direct coverage and support offerings in Canada’s major cities. “Our international strategy for 2009 includes Canadian expansion and French-speaking business offerings,” said Jim Olding, TERiX Managing Partner and Executive Vice President.  “We’re growing by leaps and bounds in Europe and Asia Pacific regions and a direct Canadian expansion has been planned for some time.” TERiX services will be expanded with local offices and Regional Stocking Locations at major cities including Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa and Toronto as part of the roll out.  TERiX is offering its complete “better service better value” proposition and all of its current offerings provided in the US and 48 countries are available to the Canadian market, including SUN, IBM, HP or Dell servers and EMC, NetApp or STK storage. 
Visit www.TERiX.com.^Back To Top

Cabling

Belden extends industrial product offering
Belden extends its industrial product offering with the addition of a rugged new line of Hirschmann Industrial Ethernet Cordsets and Patch Cords. When this new connectivity is used in conjunction with Belden’s diverse line of Hirschmann Industrial Ethernet Switches and Belden’s Industrial Ethernet Cable, a complete (end-to-end) industrial solution is realized. To ensure reliable performance in extreme or mission-critical environments, Hirschmann Industrial Ethernet Cordsets and Patch Cords are manufactured using Belden’s patented Bonded-Pair technology. Bonded-Pair cables have the individual insulated conductors bonded together along their longitudinal axis to assure uniform conductor-to-conductor spacing for maximum electrical integrity. These cables are also chemical- and temperature-resistant and incorporate rugged RJ45 or over molded M12 (IP67 rated) industrial connectors to ensure reliable performance in extreme or mission-critical environments.   
Visit www.belden.com. ^Back To Top

Mobile

Mobile VoIP could transform mobile landscape
Mobile VoIP is moving beyond its initial function as a new mechanism to get inexpensive international calls, reports In-Stat. While Mobile VoIP still poses a direct threat to operator voice revenue, it also represents a dynamic new capability that promises numerous applications. In-Stat projects that by 2013 Mobile VoIP applications will generate annual revenues of $32.2 billion, driven by over 278 million registered users worldwide. One new application integrates Mobile VoIP into a unified mobile interface to social networking sites. In another new development, MVNOs and 3G operators without legacy networks are using Mobile VoIP to more cost effectively add voice to data offerings. In yet another scenario, a few carriers are using a form of Mobile VoIP, UMA, to support better indoor coverage and off-load macro networks. “Applications such as Skype and Vonage have influenced users to think of voice as a data application,” says Frank Dickson, In-Stat analyst. “The increasing penetration of Wi-Fi in mobile devices was the beach head that Mobile VoIP applications needed. As user habits are being shaped by rich on-line communication experiences, mobile carriers control over devices and data applications is waning. Mobile carrier attempts to slow the spread of on-line Mobile VoIP are proving challenging as well.”
Visit www.in-stat.com. ^Back To Top

Moves, adds & changes

Apptio recruits HP execs on heels of $14 million in funding
Apptio announced it has expanded the company's management team with the appointment of Larry Blasko as vice president of sales and Michel Feaster as vice president of products. This is the first in a series of leadership, sales, marketing and research and development efforts that will accelerate Apptio's growth and allow the company to address the huge market demand for better IT Financial Management solutions. Larry brings over 15 years of experience building and leading high performance sales teams in the enterprise software industry. Prior to joining Apptio, he was a vice president of sales for HP Software (which he joined via the Opsware acquisition), leading a team that delivered over $100 million in annual revenues. Michel was previously with Mercury Interactive and HP Software where she held numerous sales and product management roles including LoadRunner product manager and director of products for Quality Center. Michel was also the primary architect during HP's $1.6 billion acquisition of Opsware, leading the integration of the companies and managing the automation business which ultimately established HP Software as the market leader in data center and service automation.
Visit www.apptio.com. ^Back To Top

Open source

Zend teams with IBM, Microsoft, others on open source initiative
Zend Technologies launched the Simple API for Cloud Application Services project, a new open source initiative that allows developers to use common application services in the cloud, while enabling them to unlock value-added features available from individual providers. The project aims to facilitate the development of cloud applications that can access services on all major cloud platforms. Zend, IBM, Microsoft, Nirvanix, Rackspace and GoGrid are co-founding contributors to this community project. The Simple Cloud API project empowers developers to use one interface to interact with a variety of cloud application services, enabling them to more easily access new technologies from cloud vendors. The first deliverables will include interfaces for file storage, document database, and simple queue services from platforms like Amazon Web Services, Windows Azure, Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network and Rackspace Cloud Files. Although led by Zend, the largest corporate contributor to the PHP programming language, the Simple Cloud API can be translated to any object-oriented language for the Web.
Visit www.zend.com or www.simplecloud.org.
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Opinion

What Apple Did That IBM Must Emulate
by Martin Fincham
The IBM i server has an image problem, which is why going on a public relations offensive is the fundamental goal of our iManifest initiative. I am often asked to comment on IBM's decision to unify the System i (AS/400, iSeries) and System p (Unix) server lines--what we now know as Power Systems. My view is that the resulting engineering efficiencies and economies of scale must bode well for the future of the IBM i platform.
Read entire article.
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Secondary market

Compugen named first Canadian Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher
Compugen announced that it has become the first Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) in Canada. MAR is a new program offered by Microsoft enabling Compugen to provide genuine Microsoft software on professionally refurbished computers. This eliminates the risk of buying used computers without these protections. Compugen Finance acquires used Tier 1 equipment as part of its asset reuse and recycle programs - an extension of Compugen's Green IT initiatives. Items that can be refurbished, made warrantable and put back into service are sold into the education market, small businesses and major chains such as The Source where consumers can pick up excellent value in used equipment, as well as new PCs. Microsoft has developed its MAR program to ensure that Microsoft, retailers and refurbishers work together seamlessly to provide a superior end-user experience with refurbished equipment.
Visit www.compugen.com.
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Services

SMS buying assets of QSGI’s Data Center Maintenance business
SMS has agreed to buy substantially all of the assets of the Data Center Maintenance business of QSGI. This purchase expands SMS’s geographic presence and maintenance support capabilities for IBM zSeries, pSeries, iSeries and related peripheral equipment. “This deal significantly enhances SMS’s enterprise-support capabilities on IBM platforms while making our multi-vendor strengths available to QSGI’s customers," said Don Doctor, SMS's chairman and chief executive.  SMS is a rapid response Service Maintenance Integrator, specializing in multi-vendor maintenance services, short- and long-term consulting engagements, data center migrations, and asset life cycle management. SMS has more than 1,500 hardware maintenance clients, many of which are Fortune 1000.
Visit www.sysmaint.com. ^Back To Top

Storage

External storage devices will be among leading peripherals for SuperSpeed USB adoption
“SuperSpeed” USB technology, also known as USB 3.0, will see broad adoption across a range of PC and PC peripherals over the next several years, according to In-Stat. Among peripherals, SuperSpeed USB will be targeted initially at devices requiring high data transfer rates and large data stores, such as external hard-disk drives and Flash Drives. Other likely target devices include Portable Media Players (PMPs), LCD PC monitors and digital still cameras.  In-Stat projects that attach rates for SuperSpeed USB will soar to over 70% in external hard-drives by 2012, with similar attach rates in notebook and desktop PCs. Initial adoption will emerge in 2010. By 2013, shipments of USB 3.0 flash drives will approach 200 million units worldwide. Eventually, mobile phones will be the highest volume segment, simply due to the overwhelming volume phones shipped. Overall, SuperSpeed USB will represent over 25% of the USB market by 2013.
Visit www.in-stat.com.



FalconStor VTL delivers a unified solution
FalconStor Software, Inc. announced that a large international life insurance company has deployed FalconStor Virtual Tape Library (VTL) Enterprise Edition to optimize its backup performance across the company’s open systems, IBM System i and IBM System z (mainframe) environments. This heterogeneous enterprise-wide installation demonstrates FalconStor’s leadership in the VTL industry as the only vendor that can address all systems, from open systems in small to medium-size businesses to midrange servers and mainframes in large, distributed enterprises. FalconStor VTL connectivity to IBM System z is enabled by FalconStor’s longstanding collaboration with Bus-Tech, which plays an important role in this customer solution.
Visit www.falconstor.com.
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