I really don’t want to revisit the topic of recession but how? So much tumult in the market in the past few months and an icon of the industry now ready to be submerged into another. Oracle’s recently announced buyout spells the end of an independent Sun Microsystems, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent companies and with a legacy of innovations.
With so much consolidation happening, a new world order could soon be the outcome when a semblance of sanity returns to the technology industry. So the inevitable question – how far to go before we see the light at the end of the tunnel?
Many of the companies that have held partner events of late in the region seem to shrug off the challenges and put on a brave face. All of them seem to be confident that there is a market for their technologies.
The cover feature tracks the story of FVC in the May issue and its MD K. S. Parag in the interview to RWME, says that technologies that help deliver cost savings as well as business benefits will still have a strong case for customer investments.
Nigel Hawthorn, VP, EMEA Marketing VP of Bluecoat had a similar opinion and he believes that his company which delivers WAN optimisation as well as security, should sail through the tough period. His confidence stems from the fact that they offer appliances that integrate WAN optimisation and security functionalities with control, making them compulsive value propositions for customers.
Over the first quarter this year, companies must have been working on their existing pipeline of projects. The challenges ahead will be to create new customer leads. Many of the vendors along with their VADs are enabling lead generation for their partners. This will be a period when those processes will have to be fine tuned.
It is a time when vendor and distributor support for their value added resellers will make it count. Any slackness on this front may have serious consequences, leaving some of the VARs struggling. A very supportive ecosystem should help the channel survive the slowdown.
On the volume distribution front, the sensational growth of Netbooks seems to have given the industry something to cheer about. However, has that growth come at the cost of cannibalisation of other notebook categories is a disputable point?
Here’s hoping that the second quarter is better for everyone in the industry.
With so much consolidation happening, a new world order could soon be the outcome when a semblance of sanity returns to the technology industry.
