IT Channel News Briefs, Oct. 21 |
 |
By Staff
21 Oct 2008 | SearchITChannel.com |
|
|
Information technology (IT) channel news in brief for Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008.
Avnet opens global integration center
Avnet this week opened a new 228,000-square-foot technology and logistics facility. The Avnet Global Solutions Center will support Avnet Technology Solutions' VAR and OEM customers that need to test configurations and customizations. The Chandler, Ariz., center doubles the company's integration capacity in the United States and meets ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 specs for quality assurance and ISO 13485 specs for medical compliance.
SAP gives Business ByDesign partner add-ons
SAP is trying to bolster its struggling hosted Business ByDesign offering with four free partner-built add-ons for payroll, payment reference data, B2B collaboration and tax management.
Payroll service giant Automatic Data Processing has integrated its services and HR functions with Business ByDesign. London-based CB.Net offers a continuously updated payment reference data service to validate and verify payment information. Crossgate AG offers a collaboration service that enables customers to electronically exchange purchase orders or invoices with partners without worrying about document standards, channels or protocols . And Vertex fields automated U.S. sales and use tax processing, aiding customers in their business tax management and compliance.
Business ByDesign, SAP's ERP Software as a Service, lists for $149 per user per month.
IBM unveils SMB mainframe
IBM today announced the System z10 Business Class, a new mainframe designed for midmarket customers. Big Blue described the mainframe as an entry-level version of its System z10 Enterprise Class mainframe and said it comes with a price tag of under $100,000. Compared to its predecessor, the System z9 Business Class, the z10 BC is 40% faster, has 50% more capacity and offers four times as much memory, IBM said. The company is also offering qualified customers no interest and no payments for 90 days through the end of 2008.
McAfee offers network-based NAC
McAfee's addition of network-based NAC brings the security company up against Juniper Networks, Cisco and other networking-centric vendors that also offer network access control (NAC) products, SearchSecurity.com reported yesterday. McAfee, Symantec and other security companies generally offer agent-based controls for managed devices, but analysts say both approaches to NAC are necessary.
"The hyper-focus in the market has been on guest, unknown and unmanaged machines, because that's clearly the highest risk," said Robert Whiteley, a principal analyst and research director at Forrester Research Inc. "Data also shows about three-quarters of the companies deploying NAC are worried about both [managed and unmanaged devices]. This favors vendors with broad portfolios."
Check out yesterday's IT channel news briefs.
|
|
|
|
