Round Table

ARN's cloud computing roundtable takes a look into this market phenomenon and how channel partners and preparing for an on-demand future

Scalable, dynamic and process-oriented are all major selling points for cloud computing. But Data#3’s Pat Murphy also pointed out cloud solutions offered environmental benefits for customers around more efficient use of infrastructure and services.

One of the questions raised during the roundtable was how much of the cloud conversation centred on internal, rather than external, hosted clouds.

One of the major customer concerns around third-party cloud offerings is security of information and access to data. Although vendors and integrators can address things like identity management, Data#3’s Pat Murphy questioned how to address the governance piece and laws associated with data sitting in India.

Cloud computing is a transformative phenomenon affecting all manner of channel and end-user organisations. ARN brought together several industry representatives to discuss where cloud computing adoption is today, and ways IT providers can monetise this broad-reaching opportunity.

While most of the roundtable conversation ran to business and leadership lines, attendees did have an opportunity to discuss emerging technology trends. All agreed a raft of transformative changes were occurring through the proliferation of the Internet. This was triggering new convergence, cloud computing and software-as-a-service opportunities.

Females in Information Technology and Telecommunications (FITT) undertakes a group member survey to highlight key challenges and issues facing women in ICT. Its 2009/2010 report was based on responses from 300 members across Australia.

One of the questions posed to women around the table was whether they’d experienced any difficulties over their career in the ICT industry, or indeed, faced the metephorical glass ceiling.

Bringing more women into ICT leadership roles is an ongoing issue, despite efforts from individuals and organisations to achieve parity. While vendors typically have a better blend of the sexes, at least across HR, marketing and customer-facing roles, numbers appear poor across the reseller and distribution community. ARN recently invited a collection of female leaders from the ICT industry to share their extensive knowledge and opinions on why the trend continues to occur, and what businesses can do about it.

Bringing more women into ICT leadership roles is an ongoing issue, despite efforts from individuals and organisations to achieve parity. While vendors typically have a better blend of the sexes, at least across HR, marketing and customer-facing roles, numbers appear poor across the reseller and distribution community. ARN recently invited a collection of female leaders from the ICT industry to share their extensive knowledge and opinions on why the trend continues to occur, and what businesses can do about it.

ARN recently pulled together industry experts to discuss mobility in the corporate environment and what the opportunities and challenges are for the channel. Included in this slideshow are highlight comments from the event.

Mobility, like many catch phrases in the ICT world, means different things to different people. For some, the idea of being able to remotely access emails and the Internet through their notebook or smartphone while in another state or country, is mobility.

IDC’s mobility analyst, David Cannon, shares his thoughts on what’s driving mobility today.

The make-or-break factor in any mobility solution is the connectivity – and relative connectivity costs – associated with it. According to eNerd’s Jamie Warner, Australians have the choice of the incumbent with great coverage but high costs, or other providers with enticive pricing schemes but inadequate bandwidth.

For Intel’s Andrew McLean, a key selling element of mobility was its compatibility with going green.

Mobility is a complicated mix of devices, applications, connectivity and support and needs. And it can mean extremely differents things to an SMB, mid-market corporate, blue-collar or white-collar organisation. ARN recently pulled together a panel of industry experts to discuss market trends and opportunities for the channel. This roundtable was sponsored by Dell.

While most of the conversation at ARN’s Sustainable IT roundtable focused on energy efficiency, a critical issue that can’t be forgotten is asset disposal. E-waste is a massive problem around the world and one that’s not easy to contain, Symantec’s Jose Iglesias said.

So how can the channel demonstrate environmental savings to their customers and drive interest in sustainable solutions? ComputerCorp’s Michael van Zoggel said integrators can only do what they can do and what they can measure and justify.

It’s one thing to talk about greening your own infrastructure by better utilising or buying more energy efficient assets, but what happens when those computing resources are being delivered by a third-party provider? Is outsourcing in fact, a way to minimise your carbon impact?

A collection of images and industry expert comments from ARN's sustainable IT roundtable.