| |
Network News Volume 53 Issue 3
Special
points of interest:
| • |
2005
Executive Summit for Services Leaders Preliminary
Agenda |
| • |
Sponsors—New
Members |
| • |
Index
Computer Remarketing becomes Silver Sponsor |
| • |
Open
Access Committee Update |
| • |
SIA
Executive Roundtable recap |
| • |
Static
Control Victory |
| • |
Sun
to give free Operating System |
|
|
ServiceTrends 2010
By: Claudia J. Betzner
The 2005 Executive Summit for Services Leaders will be
at the Hotel Del Coronado in “americas finest city,” San Diego,
California on March 13—15, 2005. You will recall we
originally planned for the event to be at South Seas Resort
on Captiva Island, Florida but after four hurricanes wrecked
havoc on the resort and closed it down for almost a year to
complete repairs we had to move the location. The good news
it we already know the 2006 Summit will be at South Seas on
February 26, 27 and 28, 2006 so mark your calendars for both
years. Now you can plan your schedule 15 months out.
As your Board of Directors began planning for the 2005 c-summit
we started thinking about what the future will hold for the
Service Industry with all the changes that are envisioned in
the next 3—5 years and since this is a high level executive
summit we understand you must begin now to re-engineer your
company for the changes. Therefore, we decided on a very forward
futuristic agenda on day one with more interaction and roundtables
on day two discussing the changes in those things that drive
the market and service industry. Technology, Economy, Security,
Medical breakthroughs….we are bringing in not one keynote
but three keynoters which are all futurist and can provide their
vision of what the future will bring. We are assembling
the best of the best.
Day Two will begin breaking down what the Futurist predicted
on Day One with discussions of how to deal with Changes and
what the Industry Leaders believe those changes will actually
be affecting the Service Industry. We will have panels of service
practitioners along with companies like Microsoft discussing
and identifying the paradigm shifts.
 The
SIA Board has gone through this process to identify what each
Board member’s vision is of the SIA and the industry in general.
From that we are developing a long term strategic plan for the
association and the industry which includes a seal recognizing
manufacturers that subscribe to the principals of open service
with an annual award program at the annual conference, continuing
to pursue affiliated relationships with other trade organizations
that add value to our members, adding communications and business
system sectors. Launching a “partnership in success business
to business” forum. The general consensus of the Board is that
we do not want to be the biggest...just the best. A couple of
hundred member companies whose c-level executives are pro-active
within the association and the industry, meeting at least once
a year in a business to business forum.We believe that is the
optimum size for interaction, networking and the business to
business forum we envision.
As a result of the strategic planning session SIA has now clarified
our mission statement:
The Mission of SIA
is to serve as a forum where every member can enhance their
business and to take collective action for the betterment of
the industry whenever necessary.”
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New Members
 |
New Members The past 12 months
Rollouts, Inc.
LMS Service
NetEagle Consulting
MedEquip Biomedical
Parco Wireless
Siemens Business Srvs.
Great Eastern Technology
First Source, Inc.
BIOCORDIS FRANCE
CSI Computer Specialists, Inc.
DecisionOne Corporation First Financial Computer Services,
Inc.
Ryzex Repair, Inc.
Skill Medical Technology
Technology in Medicine
Halifax Corporation
Chuck McNew, CEO
John Scott, V.P.
Alexandria, VA
703 658 2400
Getronics
Robert Trottier, V. P.
Tewksbury, MA
978 858 7287
POSDATA
William McCubbins, Pres.
Gerry Knight, V.P.
Gig Harbor, WA
253 853 2350
C P & S
Jose Bernal, CFO
951 Clint Moore Road
Suite A
Boca Raton, FL 33487
561 241 5133 or call Devin Rojas at 818 991 5822
Maintenance Alternatives Corp.
Robert Field, President
951 Petaluma Blvd. South
Petaluma, CA 94952
800 479 2004 |
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Announcing
New Sponsor—Index Computer Remarketing
INDEX COMPUTER REMARKETING, INC. was founded in 1992,
to fill the niche of providing computer parts to the maintenance
industry. We have kept pace As customers and their needs have
grown,. Our home is a state of the art 40,000 square foot facility
two miles from Fort Lauderdale International airport, where
we maintain a large inventory of notebooks, plastic piece parts,
spare parts, servers, desktops, monitors, Printers, Point of
Sale and much more. Each member of our sales staff and technicians
have on the average of 11 years experience in the pc computer
and computer parts industry. Additionally, the in-house service
department offers dependable repairs and tech support on all
system boards, controllers, notebooks and equipment that Index
sells. Personal attention, commitment and customer satisfaction
is a priority at Index Computer Remarketing.
We are a name brand spare parts stocking distributor that supplies
notebook parts, server parts and other piece parts for various
machines. These parts are usually discontinued, out of production
and/or extremely hard to find. We also carry all makes and models
of whole systems, monitors & peripherals. What is not mentioned
is that Index Computer Remarketing is a worldwide IBM, GE and
Solectron top 100 vendor, in which we provide large or small
quantities of IBM, HP, DELL, TOSHIBA & Much more, from a
proactive and reactive stand point.
Other attributes :
- Index is qualified by IBM vendor standards
- Index is also a State of Florida minority owned business
& awaiting GSA approval
- Index employs 65 people in Fort Lauderdale and Miami
- Index stocks over 50,000 parts in our Fort Lauderdale facility
alone
- Index has over 13,000 satisfied customers comprising of
end users, third party maintainers, fortune 100-500 companies,
Importers/exporters, governmental, educational & municipal
facilities etc.
- Index offers inventory in three flavors NEW, REFURBISHED
or NOB (new open box)
| ü |
Knowledgeable Sales Staff |
| ü |
Extensive Inventory |
| ü |
All Parts are Quality Tested and Certified |
| ü |
Careful foam injection Packaging |
| ü |
No Minimum Quantity Orders |
| ü |
Same Day Shipping |
| ü |
All Parts are Guaranteed |
| ü |
Multi-vendor service |
| ü |
Shipping until 7:30pm (Est |
Index Computer Remarketing
3891 SW 30th Ave
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
954 730 0900
Forest Bates, V.P. Sales & Marketing; Craig Shembri, President
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SIA Open
Service Committee Report….Randy Parks
We are pleased to report that the SIA Open Service Committee
has made much progress during the past few months. Members recently
received an email with instructions to access a brief web based
survey we launched to help identify manufacturers that support
the principles of Open Service. (Special thanks to Ray Zambuto
for his efforts in leading the development of the survey.) The
survey also allows for comment on manufacturers that do not
abide by these principles. Our hope is to offer recognition
to the manufacturers that support Open Service in the form of
an SIA Open Service “seal” of approval. Malcolm Ridgway is leading
the effort to design this “seal”.
We are also happy to report that the more extensive survey conducted
in conjunction with D.F.Blumberg & Associates titled “SPECIAL
SURVEY OF ISO/TPM EXPERIENCES WITH OEM PRACTICES TO PREVENT
COMPETITION” is nearing completion. We delayed the release of
the survey to allow time for additional service organizations
to participate. This survey will likely provide the foundation
for our communication plan for next year.
 Among
the new participants in the SIA-DFBA survey were service companies
from another service industry association, ASCDI, the Association
of Servicing Computer Dealers International. ASCDI has shown
much interest in working together with SIA on issues relating
to Open Service and our discussions will continue. We currently
plan to present the results of these surveys in December and
launch a communications campaign to get the word out on Open
Service by early next year. If you have any issues related to
restrictive practices in the service and support marketplace
please don’t hesitate to share them with an SIA board member.
Lexmark—Static Control Legal Update
There was a resounding victory for Static Control on October
26, 2004…The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned
the decision of a judge in Lexington, Ky., in the case of Lexmark
v. Static Control and vacated the preliminary injunction against
the sale of Smartek chips. You will recall SIA was
very active on the DMCA and had introduced and wrote the portion
of the bill “Right to Repair Act” discussing the legality of
loading software into RAM when the system is turned on.
The 32-page decision, including a scathing rebuke of Lexmark’s
monopolistic misuse of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) in a concurring opinion, is an utter repudiation of the
lower court’s decision rendered by Judge Karl Forrester.
The decision refutes each conclusion made by Judge Forrester
and found to the contrary that Lexmark’s toner loading
and printer engine programs are most likely not subject to copyright
protection, or if copyright protected, then Static Control’s
circumvention or reverse engineering is permissible and does
not violate the DMCA.
“This is a finding that Lexmark had no right to invoke the DMCA. It
is not just a victory for Static Control,” said Static Control
CEO Ed Swartz, “it is a victory for the entire remanufacturing
industry, American businesses and the American consumer.”
It was the American consumer that was featured in Judge Merritt’s
concurrence. “We should make clear that in the future companies
like Lexmark cannot use the DMCA in conjunction with copyright
law to create monopolies of manufactured goods for themselves
just by tweaking the facts of this case….” “The great thing
about this and the Chamberlain decision is that no one is going
to be able to use the DMCA-chip argument to close out an aftermarket,”
said Skip London, vice president and general counsel for Static
Control. The case will be remanded for reconsideration of the
issues and law as outlined by the Court of Appeals.
This is a very positive decision for the Service Industry and
helps to undo some of the negative decisions of the last few
years regarding the DMCA and hopefully will keep other monopolistic
manufacturers from practices that prohibit a free and open market
for service.
Sun to Give Out Operating System for Free
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - After investing roughly $500 million
and spending years of development time on its next-generation
operating system, Sun Microsystems Inc. on Monday will announce
an aggressive price for the software - free. Sun, which
has never completely rebounded from the tech collapse in 2001,
hopes the no-cost of Solaris 10 will not only attract customers
but also expand the number of developers who write programs
that work on computers running the operating system.
The result, Sun believes, will be renewed demand for its servers
and services. The company also will charge subscription fees
for Solaris support and service programs that are typically
sought by the businesses and organizations that Sun targets.
``Hewlett Packard sells a printer at a low price and makes a
lot of money on printer cartridges. Gillette gives you the razor
and makes a lot of money on the blades,'' said Scott McNealy,
Sun's chief executive. ``There are different ways to drive market
penetration.'' Solaris 10 will be unveiled Monday at an event
in San Jose, though it won't be formally released until the
end of January. It will work on more than 270 computer platforms
running on chips from Sun, Intel Corp. or Advanced Micro Devices
Inc.
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SIA Executive
Roundtable
By. Jon Scott, Sr. V.P. Halifax & SIA Board
Format of the meetings include:
- Dedicated time to discuss key industry issues impacting
our companies;
- Topics “framed up” by a facilitator(s);
- Discussion open and interactive – facilitated, not a lecture
or presentation; and, identification of follow-up items or
discussions are noted
Feedback from previous Roundtables has been excellent and
attendance has been strong.
 The
Chicago executive roundtable consisted of a discussion of the
Managed Services Environment followed by a discussion of industry
Merger and Acquisition Dynamics. The discussions were facilitated
by Dave DeGiorgi, president & CEO of EAD Systems, Jim Graham,
president & CEO of Kinetic Biomedical, and Jon Scott, a
senior vice president with Halifax Corporation.
Managed Services
A distinction was made between the concept of outsourcing and
managed services. It was discussed that outsourcing seemed to
be a more tactical activity whereby a specific task was assigned
to a company, say, managing a call center. Managed services
was described as a broader group of tasks the were outsourced
to another company, leaving the company doing the outsourced
work much more latitude is designing and determining how this
work would be done. Further comment was that the approach used
by CSC or EDS aren’t the future of managed services but that,
for example, the Accenture model of the world -- consulting
companies that have invested in management talent and knowledge
of specific vertical markets verticals who package up and these
services, is the real direction. It was also brought up that
the managed services and outsourcing have moved from a 1999
viewpoint of cost reduction and process improvement focused
on best practices and core competencies to a current viewpoint
of owning the customer relationship, broadening and deepening
the services provided and extending and expanding the definition
of services. This last point is especially valid using a recent
example where IBM has demonstrated its ability to provide outsourced
services well beyond just IT/Data center focus through its relationship
with British Petroleum where it manages many more services including
overall management of BP’s finance groups.
The facilitators used two case study examples as discussion
material. The first, from a June 14, 2004 Fortune Magazine article
about IBM’s growth strategy, where the following points were
made on IBM’s managed services strategy:
- IBM’s overall growth goals are to create a new F500 company
each year based on sales growth.
- IBM’s CEO, Palmisano’s goal is to do this through new managed
services
- Palmisano came from services…hardware makes up only
32% of IBM’s revenues down from 49% in 1993
- Expand tech borders to new business models…
- Palmisano says “We have essentially replaced one set
of business with another without tanking the company.”
- Palmisano believes there exists $500B of possible future
managed services revenues available to the industry
- How will IBM accomplish this?
- “Give me your toughest problem.” says Palmisano to F500
CEOs
- Move beyond just taking over data centers…
- British Petroleum – IBM manages IT and finance &
accounting functions
- Mayo Clinic – “long held dream” to remake the practice
of medicine and IBM intends to help
- P&G – IBM is managing PG’s human resources
- Phillips and Cisco – IBM does their product support
- Other IBM actions…
- Palmisano assigned the corporate CFO to run services
to boost margins
- Termed this new managed services direction as “Business
Transformation…”
- Has transferred much of IBM’s own HR, finance and procurement
to the same centers it markets to its customers
The second case study example came from familiarity with ARAMark’s
strategy in the medical services industry. The following points
about ARAMark were discussed:
- World-class multi-billion provider of services to many industry
segments
- Well recognized provider of housekeeping and food services
to healthcare industry
- Recently made large acquisitions of medical IT providers
in the healthcare industry including Service Master Hospital
Services for a reported $900M and the CTS division of Premier,
Inc., for a reported $100M
- Actions indicate a strong desire to move into value-added
services as an addition to existing customer/market segments
A point made was that Gartner/Dataquest has estimated that
by 2005 over 50% of IT services delivered to Fortune level customers,
will in fact be contracted by one partner but delivered by another
for capability, economic or other reasons. Given this, as a
services provider, unless you are quite large, your strategy
will or should include having some of your services aggregated
under a larger provider.
 A
point made was whether IBM’s strategy could be a repeat of the
1970’s “conglomerate” mentality whereby many larger companies
acquired a diverse portfolio of companies that sometimes defied
logic, and, after a time of difficult integration or rationalization,
spun those same acquisitions back out again.
Other points discussed were the similarities and differences
in Asia and Europe related to outsourcing. Points were made
that in Europe OEMs continue to hold stronger dominance in the
services aftermarket, which could slow the managed services
growth, and in Asia where there it is more of a culture to use
many companies for services. Discussion also surrounded the
whether loss of the direct contract contact and direct customer
ownership with customer (by being aggregated) damaged the ability
to create close ties to the customer and whether the layering
of margins will make this practice uneconomical.
In summary, some of the very large medical and IT service providers
are moving into both new and adjacent segments. One apparent
reason is that they may feel they have ‘topped out’ in selling
to their existing services to their existing customers and it
may be easier to sell new, or adjacent services to these same
customers.
Mergers & Acquisitions
There has been a definite trend toward industry consolidation
among both IT and medical service providers. This has raised
questions among members as to what is driving this trend and
whether it will continue. In fact, two SIA board members have
had their companies acquired by larger, publicly traded companies
in the past 12 months.
Some important reasons for this M&A trend discussed were:
- Substantial cash sitting on sidelines looking for a place
to be invested – since treasury cash returns are low why not
acquire an additional strength or capability?
- Limited number of investment opportunities – shareholders
continue to demand high returns so having cash sit on the
balance sheet isn’t attractive to investors. Microsoft’s $3
per share dividend announcement is an example of shareholder
thinking on the subject.
- Needs of the big providers to identify “lower cost to market”
companies to allow them to continue to reduce their cost of
service delivery to meet the competitive price pressures of
the market
Summary
The Roundtables continue to be excellent venues for executives
to openly discuss challenges and opportunities with their industry
peers. At the conclusion of the Chicago Roundtable a cocktail
and dinner event followed allowing participants to get to know
the SIA board of directors and one another better in an informal
environment.
The next Roundtable is planned in San Francisco on December
9 at The Grand Hyatt on Union Square in conjunction with the
SIA’s December board of directors meeting.
Back to Table of Contents
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2005 Executive
Summit for Services Leaders
Agenda as of November 17, 2004
Future look at Service – ServiceTrends 2010
This is a Futuristic high-level Strategic Summit and it will
look at Service, Technology, The Economy and Security in the
future and how they will affect Service and more importantly
on day two we will discuss how to deal with those changes coming
in 3 – 5 years which will affect our Service Industry.
| March 13, 2005
– Sunday |
| 12:00 |
Annual Golf Tournament - SIA
and AFSMI |
| |
|
| 6:30 p.m. |
Welcome and Networking Reception
with Exhibitors |
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|
| |
| March 14,
2005 – Monday |
| 7:00 a.m. |
Continental Breakfast with Table-top
Exhibitors |
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|
| 8:00 a.m. |
Welcome by presidents of SIA
& AFSMI |
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| SIA Exec. Dir.,
Claudia Betzner, Summit Moderator |
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AFSMI CEO, John Schoenewald –
Participating Moderator |
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|
| 8.15 a.m. |
Keynote Address – A Noted Futurist |
| |
|
| 9:15 a.m. |
Break |
| |
|
| 9:30 a.m. |
Keynote: The Future of
the Outsourcing Industry – Punita Pandey (confirmed)
|
Ms. Pandey will
share her perspective on “the future of the outsourcing
industry including its potential, opportunities, and risks.
NetCustomer CEO, Punita Pandey. She can also share her entrepreneurial
experience in founding netCustomer. She will discuss challenges
and key lessons learned from her experience. In addition,
Ms. Pandey will share her perspective on the future of the
outsourcing industry. She will highlight its potential,
opportunities, and risks. |
| |
|
| 10.30 a.m. |
Break |
| |
|
| 10:45 a.m. |
Breaking the Mould: The
Catalysis of Radical Innovation – Wolfgang Grulke (not confirmed) |
Wolfgang Grulke:
“Breaking the mould: The catalysts of radical innovation”
Or “Changing the Game: Don’t change the rules- change
what you are.” Or “Strategic Thinking and Strategic
Action: A process to make your radical future a matter of
choice”
Innovation has become the economic religion of the 21-century.
With today’s markets changing at warp-speed, no existing
business believes it has a future without strong focus on
innovation.
They need visionary individuals who are passionately proud
of what they do.
These business radicals are the activists who rock the boat,
ruffle feathers and make a difference.
Or “Ten lessons from the future” |
| |
|
| 12:00 |
Lunch (During lunch questions
will be gathered for the panel) |
| |
|
| 1:00 p.m. |
Strategic Challenges – A view
from those measuring & tracking the
industry Gartner, IDC, A.D. Little (not confirmed) |
| |
|
| 2:00 p.m. |
Break |
| |
|
| 2:15 p.m. |
Future Strategies: Panel Discussion
Moderator/Facilitator:
Participants: |
| |
|
| |
Wolfgang Grulke (not confirmed)
Two Service Industry Experts (practitioners)
One Technology Expert (e.g. Microsoft) |
| |
|
| 5:30 – 6:30 P.M. |
Vendor Forum – 4 – 6 simultaneous
in Exhibit hall |
| |
|
| 6:30 p.m. |
Reception and Networking Social
– Attendees with Exhibitors
Book signings |
| |
|
| March 15, 2005
– Tuesday |
 Day
Two will begin breaking down what the Futurist predicted
on Day One with discussions of how to deal with Changes
and what the Industry Leaders believe those changes will
actually be affecting the Service Industry |
| 8:00 a.m. |
Continental Breakfast |
| |
|
| 8:30 a.m. |
Introduction by Industry Expert |
| |
|
| 9.00 a.m. |
Roundtable Discussions discussing
yesterday’s keynote presentations – We will identify the
changes discussed and begin to narrow alternatives for handling
these changes that will affect the Service Industry |
| |
|
| 11:15 a.m. |
Break |
| |
|
| 11:30 a.m. |
Service Delivery Session – How
to deal with Changes |
| |
|
| 12.30 p.m. |
Lunch |
| |
|
| 1:30 p.m. |
Executive Summary (wrap up) of
Executive Summit
|
|
Presenter highlights 1) what was heard, 2) what was said,
3) conclusions, and 4) potential action. |
| |
|
| 2:30 P.M. |
SIA Annual Meeting
Topics |
| |
- State of the Association
- Industry Issues – Legal and Service
- Open Access Committee
- Walt Gasparovic Survey & Award
|
| |
|
| 4:30 P.M. |
- The Annual Town Hall meeting of SIA Members. This
is your opportunity to discuss open issues in the service
industry
|
| |
| 6:30 p.m. Grand
Finale – Dinner and Networking Social – Cruise (Included
in registration – spouses or guests can attend with a purchase
of a ticket at $100) |
Back to Table of Contents
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| Service Industry
Association
518 San Andres Drive
Solana Beach, CA 92075
Phone: 619 221 9200
Fax:858 720 8201
Email: cbetzner@aol.com
The Network for High Technology
Service Promoting Customer Choices
___________________
Www.
servicenetwork.
org
|
Service Industry Association is a non-profit organization made
up of high technology service companies promoting customer choices. |
| 
|
Sponsors & Board
Sponsors
Masterplan
Malcolm Ridgway,Sr.V.P.
Bruce Cree, President
Maintech
Frank D’Alessio, Pres.
Carole Greene, Sr.V.P. Mktng & Sales
Northrop Grumman IT CIS
Hugh Taylor, Pres. IT CIS
John Rinas, Exec. Dir. Serv Del
TFE Technology Holdings LLC
John Walker C.E.O. & Pres.
Acceletronics
Steve Schwarz, Pres. & CEO
RadParts
Dimitro “Dee” Romanyzsyn, Pres.
Stephens International
Doug Stephens, Founder & Pres.
POSDATA
William McCubbins, President
Gerry Knight, V.P.
D.F.Blumberg Associates
Michael Blumberg, President
CSI Computer Specialists, Inc.
Bill Pershin, President
EAD Systems
Dave DeGiorgi, President
Index Computer Remarketing
Forest Bates, V.P. Sales/Mktng
Craig Shembri, President
Board of Directors:
President: John Walker, Pres.
TFE Technology Holdings LLC
Sec-Treas: Open
Gen’lCounsel:Ron Katz, Principal
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP
Exec.Dir. Claudia J. Betzner
IT Service Group
EX V.P. Randy Parks, V.P Ops
TFE Technology Holdings LLC
Sec. Jon Scott, Sr. V.P.
Halifax Corporation (formerly MicroServ)
V.P. Benefits & S.I.G. Dave DeGiorgi, Pres. EAD Sys.
V.P. Membership
John Rinas, Ex. Dir. Serv. Del.
Northrop Grumman IT CIS
Medical Service Group
Exec.V.P. Dr. Malcolm Ridgway, Sr. V.P. Masterplan
V.P. Membership Steve Schwarz, President Acceletronics
V.P. Benefits & S.I.G: Open
Sec. Jim Graham, Pres. & CEO Kinetic Biomedical Corporation
V.P. Ray Zambuto, President CEO
Technology in Medicine
|
|