Cisco network hardware four-month plus lead times

Now, I’m by nature an optimist – a glass half full person. However, something that has been happening over the past few weeks has got my colleagues and I, a little worried.

 It’s a story about supply and demand. It’s about Cisco network hardware becoming in short supply.

 When we looked on the official Cisco lead times tool, some of the run-rate Cisco routers and switches had lead times up to four months, with some in excess of that.

 Potentially, a planned network upgrade project with budgets approved could be seriously delayed. A January 2010 project could become completed in April or May 2010 – running the project in the next Financial Year. That will not please your Finance Director.

 As Hardware.com is an independent reseller of Cisco hardware and has a stock holding of over $15 million – we will be able to access Cisco equipment in the short-term and get hold of kit quicker that the Cisco partners who don’t hold stock.

It may come to the point whereby the distribution channels start running out of Cisco kit and paying list price for refurbished Cisco equipment may not become uncommon. As I say it’s about supply and demand.

So start planning and ordering sooner rather than later.

Mark Cadbury, Marketing Director

Hardware.com

Innovation is the key to progress

An American General, Eric Shinseki, once said “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less”.

 About a week ago there was an interesting event in Cambridge, called “Diving with Dolphins”, which is essentially a technology innovations event.

 Here are some of the interesting things that I thought I would share with you:

Broadersheet – a personalised newspaper for your iPhone, all the news from around the world that you care about, from trusted sources.

Click ‘n’ fit – an image recognition and processing application that overcomes the limits of 2D photography so that you can order shoes online.

Cronto – An image processing mobile phone application that decodes a visual cryptogram, combining user ID and transaction verification to ensure authentic bank transactions. Protection from Trojans and online scammers.

Heatlight – uses household boilers to create light from waste heat.

Magnifye – The world’s strongest permanent magnet with the potential to create a new generation of tiny, mobile MRI units.

Ratplug – a universal charger that will upload and download media to any mobile phone or USB device while you charge the battery.

Ecoolsolutions – Datacentre managers are wasting money by overcooling their datacentres, this is a solution that uses improved air management cutting energy consumption by over 15%.

Ninetiles – a “future network” that creates a virtual circuit before data is transmitted, it will overcome delays by effectively managing streaming media.

Shearline – Using tiled arrays of optical fibres to create high-brightness, high-resolution displays. The screens are constructed in modules so that unusual sized screens can be created to fit into the space available.

It’s all good stuff and cutting edge innovation.

Mark Cadbury, Marketing Director

Hardware.com

Hardware.com has now got a news section

We have just published a number of news articles that have been written from different sources that now appear on the Hardware.com website, under www.hardware.com/news

There is a variety of news stories varying from the announcement of a new Smartpac Repair Manager to Unified Computing Solutions from Cisco – as diverse as the industry itself.

It’s about delivering more value for our customers while exploring some of the issues that face the IT department and the people that run it.

There are stories on refurbished Cisco, support and maintenance becoming reality across Europe, network reliability versus performance management, Cisco reusing returned equipment, trends on network expenditure, surveys, short-term versus long-term strategy, the truth about optics, virtualisation, cloud computing, security, datacentres & green IT and the politics surrounding public sector IT projects.

Enjoy reading about the issues facing the network hardware industry.

Mark Cadbury, Marketing Director, Hardware.com

Information overload

As a Director and a marketer I receive a great deal of information, almost all of which is via email, on not only technical information, market research, marketing news, network hardware & software news but also blogs from business gurus, social media messages that have no relevance to me whatsoever and unsolicited opportunities to spend endless amounts of money.

 Now, I do sift the information, and try to compile a number of emails for reading at a later date or out of normal office hours.

The question I have is – are we being overloaded by information, snippets, facts and figures? All of which are difficult to disseminate into something concrete let alone an action plan – or is it simply a sign of the times that there is too much information, spurious or otherwise?

 The Internet, data storage requirements, networks and the accessibility of data has lead to overload. The efficiencies of the IT function have meant so much data is now available and it’s available instantaneously. I take my hat off to the network managers, the IT Directors, the datacentre managers who make all this happen.

 Is all this information improving our personal and professional lives or not?

 I, personally, think that it’s changing the way we think and disseminating information is a core skill of the modern business person.

 Mark Cadbury, Marketing Director

Hardware.com

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How to hire people in the network hardware world – or anywhere for that matter

Now, I am no expert on recruiting people, the hour or so that you spend with someone is always a difficult way to ensure that you have got the right person. Whether you’re hiring a web developer, a Cisco certified pre-sales consultant, a web developer, a marketing executive or an IT specialist – the key thing according to the “Father of Excellence” –Tom Peters, Management Guru, is to do this:

“I urge you – beg you – command you to inform your HR department today that Attribute No. 1 in the hiring of anyone in any job, non-technical or technical, shall hereinafter and forevermore be enthusiasm, effervescence—exuberance.”

So when you’re looking across the table at your next IT Manager, Datacentre expert or technical wizard, just prompt them and see if they are enthusiastic about their subject; do they really enjoy the work they do, is there a natural exuberance, that makes them irresistible to co-workers so that people would enjoy working with them?

It shouldn’t be over-the-top; otherwise they will go and pursue their own agendas, but an enthusiasm that is infectious. You know those people in your company, you know those people in your social life – they are the people that make things happen.

Hardware.com is now recruiting across the board, from IT web developers, marketing specialists, European account managers and technical pre-sales consultants – we will recruit based on enthusiasm to drive the next wave of our success.

Mark Cadbury, Marketing Director
Hardware.com

End of availability of the ProLiant G5 range has been moved up to 3 weeks

This should come as no surprise to Hardware.com customers; we have been informing our client base of the upgrade to G6 and the advantages of doing just this.

Hardware.com was the second to announce the new G6 server range when it was launched in April 09, HP asked us not to pre-empt their official launch so hp.com was the first.

HP generally has a 3-month overlap period between introducing a new server and the old version becoming end of life. Once the G6 started shipping in May ‘09 this indicated an end of life date in August and an end of supply date in September, HP announced yesterday that they will run out of G5s globally by the end of September.

What does this mean? It means if you are running your infrastructure on G5 you need to decide if you need any more G5 servers before you can migrate to G6, you have started planning the migration to G6 right? If you are going to need any more G5 servers you need to buy them now, HP is quietly expecting the panic buying of the G5 range to bring the end of supply date forward by as much as another week.

The second-hand market for G5s and servers in general is simply too risky; unsupported and unreliable is not what you need to hear when your data centre is the life-blood of your business .

There really is only one answer long term, you do need to move to the HP ProLiant G6, and do it now. There are some good deals to be had, especially given the generous trade-ins, upgrades and cash back promotions.

When you buy a new HP ProLiant G6 server, HP will give you cash for your old server, migrate to an HP BladeSystem and claim back up to £10,919 in cash backs with our help. Purchase an enterprise HP G6 server, we ship it to you, and within 60-days you can keep or return the equipment and receive a full rebate, Ts&Cs Apply.

Benefits of G6: Do more with less.

• Less costs – paying for itself in as little as 3 months, on power costs alone

• Less downtime – increased fault tolerance and easier management

• Less space – achieve the same power and performance in a smaller form factor.

At Hardware.com we have a dedicated team that will design the right solution for you needs and supply you the ProLiant G6 configured for your datacentre infrastructure requirements.

“Don’t try to configure it yourself, let the experts help you get what you need, if you look at the HP website and configure and develop your own system you will come unstuck” so said Hardware.com’s HP Solutions Architect, Julian Lawn.

Call the HP experts now (+44 1285 771 600) and find out the best way to ensure your datacentre server infrastructure is running with confidence.

Mark Cadbury, Marketing Director

Hardware.com

How to engage with IT Directors

Recently I have been thinking about how to engage with IT Managers and IT Directors – I have sent emails, called them, offered promotions, and incentives, new stories and even this blog.

 I have had limited success at really engaging and then the thought occurred – what if I was in the same situation?

 I would be happy to passively receive information – however when I was ready to engage and go down the purchasing route then it would be up to me and I would make the move.

 However, who would I engage with? Well, the ones who had provided me with useful information, something different perhaps, maybe something amusing and memorable, but I would have kept their details. I would rarely blindly go onto the Internet – Googling or even Binging as it seems to me that search engines rarely get the meaning of your search. I would then contact them directly.

 If I was an IT Director, or responsible for network hardware purchasing, then I would go to trusted sources, who reliably and quickly quote and deliver what I want , when I want it.

 So, if I carry on delivering useful information then I will reap the benefits when you’re looking to buy some network hardware.

 We don’t have to engage.

Hardware.com has to deliver the right solution, at the right price and at the right time, while informing you what we do.

 So, here goes – if you’re in a Capital expenditure mode then Hardware.com can provide:

1. Free network design - giving you the best independent advice in otimising your network specification.
2. Network audits - professional advice on how you need to plan, implement, run and maintain an efficient network environment
3. New kit at competitive pricing – delivering solutions that offer choice, reliability and security within available budgets
4. Refurbished equipment - high quality, 28-point checks with 12 month warranty – up to 90% cheaper
5. Installation project management – offering optimum efficiency at a minimal cost so that you can ensure maximum return on investment

And if you’re in Operating Expenditure mode, then we can provide:

1. Maintenance – Smartpac packages giving you unrivalled support
2. Support – Smartpac provides the best service and support through single point of contact solutions
3. Testing – comprehensive confidence testing service on all network equipment
4. Repairs – extend the life of faulty, out-of-warranty kit; reliably, quickly and affordably
5. Leasing – flexible solutions giving you the latest technology at a price you can afford
6. Asset Management/Buy Back -  a fair market value for your old equipment for instant cash or credit towards new purchases.

Mark Cadbury, Marketing Director

Hardware.com

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2010, a great year for network hardware sales

Even the most miserly of us have to buy new light bulbs eventually.

On such logic the expectation of recovery rests. Consumers and businesses have to spend at some stage, when that happens is the interesting part.

The PC market, which is absolutely linked to the network hardware market, has shrunk in 2009 for the first time since 2001. HP recorded quarterly profits down by around 20% last week and this is a bellwether for the marketplace as a whole.

However, after a period of time hardware begins to wear out and the development of new hardware with its associated efficiencies means that equipment needs to be replaced.

The expectation for 2010 is that it will be a great year for hardware sales, so says a number of industry consultants. They calculate that PC sales growth is 10% a year, indicating that 36 million PC sales have gone missing. On the assumption that at least 50% were postponed, then there should be double digit growth in sales for the next few years.

The network equipment market is driven by many of these factors and if PC sales live up to the expectation then the IT projects that have been put on hold will start to be implemented, leading to significant sales growth in 2010.

In a recent poll that I conducted, although a small sample size, 23% felt we would come out recession at the end of 2009 and 38% Spring 2010 – those predictions are looking to be right.

Hardware.com is ready to service the needs of the business market with a full range of network products; from new and used Cisco, to HP servers and PCs through to repair and support services.

So while times are hard at the moment, the future looks bright and Hardware.com is looking to build our market share in the UK and USA, and is now expanding into Europe with a recruitment drive – European Account Managers, a European Marketing Manager, Web Developer and Pre-sales Senior IP Consultants.

So here’s to 2010, a great year ahead.

Mark Cadbury
Marketing Director
Hardware.com

Refurbished Cisco Network Equipment

Returned products to Cisco cost them $8 million a year and generated over 2.5 million kgs of waste – about 12 football fields knee-deep in returned products.

Now, after a change of internal policy by Cisco, they recycle and reuse that returned equipment, and most of it is usually in good working condition.

About 45% of all returned Cisco products are now used by Cisco internally – for customer demos, engineering labs, spare parts and charitable causes.

Cisco saves money and it contributes to a reduction in their large carbon footprint. So, if Cisco does it, then you should have no worries about doing the same.

At Hardware.com we not only repair Cisco networking equipment, including Cisco routers and Cisco switches, but we have a massive stock of refurbished equipment that has been tested leading to fewer failures than our competitors and has a 12-month warranty.

You can save up to 90% off list price with Cisco refurbished network equipment, for example on the Cisco 2950 router and Cisco 2811 switch, and you can upgrade to a support contract for complete peace of mind.

Contact Hardware.com to get a comparison quote and see how much you could save on used Cisco networking equipment.

Mark Cadbury
Marketing Director
Hardware.com

Used Cisco Network Equipment

Cisco profits were down 46% in Q4 compared to the same quarter last year. For the full Financial Year, income was down 24% from $8 billion in 2008 to $6 billion in 2009.

The positive angle was that there was a rise in orders from the previous quarter.

In these times of what Cisco CEO John Chambers called “the toughest economic challenge of our lifetime”, Cisco remains reluctant to sell used Cisco routers and switches.

At Hardware.com, we are seeing demand for used networking equipment flourishing, driven by recession and tightening budgets. There has been a fundamental change in the way IT Managers are thinking about network equipment procurement.

Clearly, Hardware.com is more in-tune with customer needs, as we are offering the customer what they want.  Used networking products have fewer returns than our competition due to rigorous testing procedures, fewer failures as the products have a “burned in” effect – already tried and tested and we offer a 12 month warranty on all refurbished equipment with the ability to upgrade to on-site support if required.

Refurbished Cisco Hardware is sold by Hardware.com at between 70% and 90% off the retail price and there is a large stock available as we have also been able to buy back  kit from companies that are consolidating.

There is definitely a wave of customers that are more comfortable with the second-hand market and realise the benefits.

Mark Cadbury
Marketing Director
Hardware.com