Microsoft cloud creates competition

Solution providers say Microsoft and not Google will be their biggest competitor for managed and hosted software and services over the next 24 months, says Channel Insider.

According to a Channel Insider survey of 300 veteran managed services companies, 37% of the channel community says Microsoft will take or inhibit more of their services growth over the next two years.

Of all the traditional hardware and software vendors entering the services market currently supported mostly by the channel, Microsoft's threat perception numbers dwarf both IBM and Dell, which are at 23% and 21% respectively.

The credit crisis sweeping the global economy is beginning to impact solution providers as end-user customers cancel or postpone IT projects due to their inability to obtain financing, reports Channel Web.

Solution providers say despite the $700 billion congressional bailout package and the Federal Reserve's half-point rate cut earlier this month, they expect no quick fix to the economic malaise sweeping the US.

Arlin Sorensen, CEO of Heartland Technology Solutions, a solution provider in Iowa, says he had projects scheduled for the fourth quarter postponed until next year. "The impact we are seeing is in the midmarket. There is a lot of uncertainty and people are waiting to see what happens."

Ipitomi, a provider of technology and telecoms services operating in the UK and Europe, won a Channel Network award in the SME Vertical Market Solution category for its IP telephony solution, states Choregus.

Now in its seventh year, the Channel Network Awards recognise the significant contributions made by organisations to the ICT channel over the last year.

Adrian Coppin, MD of Ipitomi, said: “It's a great achievement for Ipitomi's services to be recognised by the industry as adding real value to our customers.”