ChannelTrends: The IT Industry Responds to the Crisis in Japan

The global technology industry is extremely interconnected and depends on a number of “cogs” to work in synch. That becomes particularly evident when a catastrophe strikes a key world IT collaborator, as happened last week with the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan. Our first and foremost concern is for the health and safety of all those affected, especially with the mass cleanup and overwhelming nuclear power plant issues the Japanese people are facing. This week’s column is a bit different, as I wanted to highlight the philanthropic side of the IT channel, which goes as far and as deep and any fault line.  

It’s not all about dollars and cents…

While companies that step up to help out during disasters typically receive good PR for doing so, the interconnected nature of the IT channel and industry seems to be the driving force for these decisions. Many philanthropic organizations do so quietly, but others use their corporate awareness to drive larger contributions for charitable causes. The skeptics may say otherwise, but the number of solution providers, vendors, distributors and associations that assisted with relief efforts in Haiti just a year ago serves as a testament to the giving nature of our community. Based on the initial coverage, I expect the tragedy in Japan to be no different. This help comes in many forms and this is just a small sample of the ongoing efforts by channel companies to help victims of the disaster:

• With Apple’s feet-on-the-streets capabilities in Japan, they opened their stores as safe havens for employees and displaced residents. You can even donate using your iTunes cards!


• D&H Distributing is donating one percent of its March 17^th and 18^th U.S. and Canadian sales of products from its Japan-based vendors to the American Red Cross  for tsunami and earthquake needs.


• IBM will donate up to $1 million in technology and services to Japan's relief and recovery efforts, and will allow employees to aid related charities through payroll deductions.


• The Cisco Foundation also will match up to $1 million of the company’s employee donations.


• Kodak is making a $100,000 donation directly to the International Red Cross to in Japan to assist survivors of the disaster.

If you are interested in helping out, here are a few ways to make donations specifically for Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief (this list is not comprehensive):

1. American Red Cross  


2. Global Giving


3. Salvation Army

Add Hosted Unified Communications to Your Portfolio 

In other news this week, Intermedia introduced details of its hosted PBX VoIP Telephone Service to channel partners this week at the company’s annual Partner Summit in New York City. Intended for the SMB segment, the hosted PBX provides advanced features and capabilities small businesses need to run their daily operations, and gives VARs and MSPs an offering that can compete with existing direct market web-based solutions.

“Given the publicity around Skype and Google Voice, companies are taking notice of VoIP solutions, but they want one built for businesses, not consumers, with more professional features,” says Bob Leibholz, SVP of sales and business development for Intermedia. “Our resellers can move into the voice marketplace with a business-grade service that can be tightly integrated into Microsoft Exchange and the Outlook experience.”

The Intermedia reseller portfolio also includes hosted Microsoft Exchange, so VARs and MSPs can offer a hosted convergence platform to their customers, including: voice, email and instant messaging. That allows these SMB customers to improve their employee and system productivity with an integrated communications system, which typically increases their customer satisfaction at the same time. With the ability to “white label” the hosted PBX offering, it gives solution providers another value added option for their portfolio.

Brian Sherman is founder of Tech Success Communications, specializing in editorial content and consulting for the IT channel. His previous roles include chief editor at Business Solutions magazine and industry alliances director with Autotask. Contact Brian at Bsherman@techsuccesscommunications.com.