Intel leadership change channels

Chip giant Intel has reshuffled its UK and Ireland channel operation with Christine Harrison being promoted internally to UK and Ireland channel manager, while Gerald Grattoni, who previously held the post, moves to the role of business development director of the same region, reports Hexus.

"With the economy as it is, one of my priorities will be to provide leadership, guidance and consistency to our channel," said Harrison. "Our existing channel programmes work well and we need to make sure that they remain effective."

Harrison has been with Intel since 2002, having previously been distribution manager and then selling into the retailer and system integrator channels. She will report directly to Intel's European sales and marketing director, Sam Bellamy.

As businesses continue their rapid adoption and migration to cloud-based services, Trend Micro is pledging to keep working with its solution providers in the delivery and management of software-as-a-service (SaaS) accounts, writes Channel Insider.

Demonstrating its commitment to working with channel partners on services, Trend Micro announced its Hosted Security for the Channel programme, a new initiative to educate and enable solution providers on the mechanics and benefits of working with a hosted provider in the delivery of SaaS security applications.

According to Channel Insider's 2009 Market Pulse Report, SaaS is only second to its cousin, managed services, in terms of growth potential and profitability for solution providers. Research firm IDC says the SaaS marketplace will grow more than 40% over the next three years.

Blue Coat Systems, a company specialising in application delivery networking, is investing $1 million in a global channel rewards programme, according to Al-Bawaba.

The programme aims at encouraging authorised, premier and elite resellers to engage customers in evaluations of Blue Coat ProxySG appliances and to demonstrate the benefits of accelerating internal, external and real-time applications.

“The $1 million incentive programme enables our partners to demonstrate immediate time-to-value and fosters the consultative relationships required to help customers align their network investments with business requirements,” said Nidal Taha, Middle East regional director of Blue Coat Systems.