Stories by Reseller News Staff

Gen-i took home three awards, including Reseller of the Year, at the 2011 Microsoft New Zealand Partner Awards on Thursday night.

The APAC smartphone market will double in size by 2016, according to a new forecast by telecommunications analyst Ovum.
Ovum predicts the APAC market will hit shipments of 200 million by 2016, accounting for 30 percent of the global number of 653 million shipments.
Android will be the main responsible for this growth and will outperform Apple, with a 20 percent lead on market share, Ovum adds.
“The smartphone market will see significant growth over the next five years, once again outperforming the wider mobile phone market. We will see dramatic shifts in dominance for smartphone software platforms, with Android storming into the lead with 38 per cent market share, compared to Apple iOS’ 19 per cent, by 2016 in AP alone,” says Ovum principal analyst Adam Leach.
“The success of the Android platform is being driven by the sheer number of hardware vendors supporting it at both the high and low ends of the market."
The Windows Phone platform will be just behind Apple iOS, with 22 percent market share by 2016, followed by the BlackBerry OS, with 9 percent market share.
“We expect at least one other platform to achieve mainstream success within the forecast period. This could be an existing player in the market such as Bada, WebOS, or MeeGo, or it could be a new entrant to the market place,” adds Leach.
According to the analyst, the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft has redrawn the smartphone market and will result in a significant reduction in shipments of Symbian-based handsets as Nokia transitions to Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform.
“For Microsoft the deal provides a committed handset partner that has the potential to make Windows Phone a mainstream smartphone platform. The risk to Microsoft is that other handset makers may choose not to compete with Nokia and may turn their backs on Windows Phone,” adds the analyst.

Datacom has ranked second in the sixth annual TIN (Technology Investment Network) 100 list of globally-focused technology companies and topped the a list of ten “Ones to Watch”.

Canon says its new premises in Christchurch's Hazeldean Business Park showcase how its technology can be integrated into workplaces.
The eight building commercial site is on the outskirts of the central business district. Canon has used its new premises to showcase HD videoconferencing technology, document scanning, document management and print offerings.
“We have reviewed the operation and reassessed from the ground up," says Canon country manager Mike Johnston. "Processes that can be better managed by our specialist partners, as with our distribution arrangements with DHL, have been outsourced accordingly. Where we have felt our services would benefit with a dedicated space to meet their needs, as with our technical staff in Christchurch, we have made sure they have been catered for.
“The result is a well refined and streamlined approach which ultimately enables us to be more efficient in our operation and in our service delivery to customers,” he says.
Canon says its contact details in the region will remain the same.

Industry sources say Datacraft owner Dimension Data may be planning to acquire Integral/Axon, however Datacraft country manager Robin Hartendorp said he was unable to comment on whether any deals were pending.
One industry member said the acquisition deal under negotiation, and said it could be among the biggest by value in the local IT industry.

In an effort to support partners, Cisco NZ has hired eight new staff around the country in sectors such as virtualisation and telepresence.
The vendor is also creating a commercial and partner marketing group within its ANZ business, led by marketing and operations manager Suzanne Hansen. She will continue to be based in Auckland.

Symantec recognised three companies at a dinner in Auckland last night to celebrate its 2010 Partner of the Year awards.
The award winners are:

Datacom director Jonathan Ladd has been appointed Datacom Group CEO following the recent sudden death of former CEO Michael Browne.
Ladd is based in Sydney and has been a director at Datacom for four years. The company says he worked closely with Browne on many aspects of the company's development.

Renaissance Group has posted an after tax profit of $473,000 for the first half of 2010, up 150 percent on the previous corresponding half year but well short of the after tax surplus of $1.46 million it announced for the corresponding 2008 half year.
In the latest half year announcement, the company's revenue was up seven percent for the period year on year, to $100.8 million. Net debt was reduced from $3 million to below $500,000.

Michael Browne, who was last month promoted to become Datacom's group chief executive, has died as the result of a heart attack.
The company confirms Browne, who was 46, died on Saturday.

Canon has merged its Australian and New Zealand call centres to form the Oceania Contact Centre, which employs 92 staff.
The company previously had a centre in Sydney which served Australian customers, and a smaller team of 12 in its headquarters on Auckland’s North Shore.

Renaissance has appointed Guy McKee as its general manager of Apple products.
The company says it is a new role which falls under the products business. It previously had a separate Apple division, which included long-serving channel manager Janet Bailey who is leaving the company.

Datacom has grown its year on year revenue and profit in ANZ and Asia for the year ended 31 March, with a 9.5 increase in operating revenue for the group and a 13.8 percent increase in net profit after tax. The increases brought revenue to $667 million and profit to $30.2 million.
The local business posted revenue of $295 million, a jump of 7.3 percent on last year, while Australia/Asia grew 11.4 percent to $372 million.

Microsoft New Zealand has announced the finalists in the Partners’ Choice CIO of the Year award, a new prize introduced at this year’s partner awards.
The three finalists are Air New Zealand's Julia Raue, Neville Richardson of Les Mills and Rob McNaughtan from Mighty River Power.
The awards are split into four sub-categories – Solution, Individual, Partnering and Supreme.

Microsoft’s efforts to encourage local entries in its global partner awards have paid dividends, with 29 entries, an increase of 22 over last year.
As reported by Reseller News last month, the vendor more closely aligned entry dates to promote partner entry in both the local and global awards.