Biz tech

Lenovo increases focus in Lankan PC market

Lenovo hosted its first Consumer and SMB channel partner meet in Sri Lanka last week. At the meet, Lenovo's senior management shared its Emerging Market Group and India successes and also outlined its business strategy for 2010-11, with a clear focus on what it means to channel partners.

The meet emphasized and reaffirmed Lenovo's commitment to its Tier 1 and Tier 2 channel partners and served as an ideal forum to recognize performing partners and encourage partner feedback on the exponential opportunities for Lenovo's Home and SMB business.

In addition to sharing its strong focus on the Sri Lanka market, Lenovo also announced an impressive range of ThinkPad, ThinkCentre, IdeaPad and IdeaCentre range of products at the meet.

Lenova India, Vice President Alex Li, said, they see Sri Lanka as a booming market with great potential.

"This is our first channel meet in Sri Lanka, this year. We take this opportunity to bring our partners together to exchange valuable feedback and empower them so that we can grow together and achieve success as one team.

"We are also happy to introduce an impressive range of exceptionally engineered PCs that reflect our heritage of innovation.

"We are confident that our impressive products combined with our partners' steadfast support will help us win in this market," he said.

Lenovo aims to replicate its India success in Sri Lanka and increase its momentum in the island nation's PC market.

Strong channel partnerships are a core element in Lenovo's strategy for success.

Lenovo has been working closely and strategically with partners over the last three quarters and have together achieved significant results.

Lenovo's recent No 1 ranking in Partner Profitability by CRN is a testimony to this.

Lenovo's achievements also include the receipt of five distinguished awards at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow.

Lenovo products are distributed in Sri Lanka by Trident Corporation under the flagship of Thakaral Group Singapore.

Local talent set to make waves internationally:

Colombo University wins Imagine Cup

The finals of the local leg of the Imagine Cup, which took place in Colombo recently, saw students from academic institutes across the island competing for spots on the team that will represent Sri Lanka at the global competition in Poland in June.

The competing teams presented projects covering a diverse range of issues faced locally and internationally and presented innovative and practical solutions to many of these problems.

Team Collectivists of the University of Colombo comprising Gayan Garusinghe, Chanaka Upendra, Sudam Liyanage and Hasini Adhikari walked away with top honours at Microsoft Sri Lankas Imagine Cup 2010 for their presentation titled 'Speak up!' which is a common platform for social workers around the world to communicate their efforts, needs and hopes and to raise their voice on behalf of victims, making the world aware of the tragedies and the possible solutions.

The finals of the local competition saw eight teams competing for spots on the contingent that will represent Sri Lanka at the international finals in Poland later this year.

Of the other competing teams, team HELY of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology and team Saggezza of the University of Moratuwa placed first and second runners-up respectively, for their presentations titled 'isponsor' and 'Ideal Lanka'.

The eight finalist teams comprised three teams from the Colombo University (Teams Collectivists, Saturnin and GreenBros), two teams from the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology - SLIIT (Teams JIIB and HELY), two teams from the Moratuwa University (Teams 4-Alliance and Saggezza) and one team from the Peradeniya University (Team MakeIT). Speaking on the Imagine Cup and how it has grown over the years Microsoft Sri Lanka Country Manager Sriyan de Silva Wijeyeratne, emphasized the constant raising of the level of competition and standards of the competing teams.

'This event has grown from strength to strength, with teams from local universities working year round on their projects and presentations, setting the bar being higher every year and demanding a greater amount of dedication and hard work.

Our teams this year have really outdone themselves in terms of innovative thinking and a high standard of presentation and the other judges and I am very impressed with team collectivist's presentation. I look forward to our winners going to the global finals and proving themselves in that sphere as well,' he said.

Having attracted over 500 participants this year in Sri Lanka, this competition offers a rich opportunity for young IT enthusiasts to showcase their talent and creativity on a global platform fostering innovation and engendering the entrepreneurial spirit amongst the country's youth.

Intel Solutions Summit promotes new opportunities

Intel recently concluded its largest annual Channel customer conference for the Asia-Pacific region, attended by key channel partners from Sri Lanka.

The Intel Solutions Summit outlined the company's focus areas for 2010 and the new opportunities available to help ignite market growth for Channel partners.

The Sri Lankan contingent to the international forum consisted of Ramesh Umashankar, Naleem Farook, Shafraz Hamzadeen, Naushad Sheriff, Indika De Zoysa, Sumedha Fernando, Disney Fernando, Rajiv Shivshankar and Sanjeewa Pitawela.

Commenting on this year's conference, Intel EM Limited, Sri Lanka Liaison office Country Business Manager, Indika de Zoysa, said The Intel Solutions Summit provided top resellers with insights into technologies and solutions, giving the reseller community an in-depth look at the trends that are driving the industry.

"The knowledge acquired by our partners via the forum will support business growth and development."

Intel Asia-Pacific, Reseller Channel Organization, Director Kamil Hasan, was one of the executives speaking at the APAC Intel Solutions Summit (ISS) where over 400 premier resellers attended to receive updates on cutting-edge technology, initiatives and obtain world-class training to help grow their business.

"The Channel business is changing rapidly and is expanding from being primarily desktop-oriented. Intel's objective is not only to help Channel partners lead with today's products but also create new growth avenues.

Our key focus areas therefore for 2010 are driving preference for the 2010 Intel Core Processor Family; enhancing membership benefits to suit the needs of a changing market; and creating new Channel opportunities."

Historically the Channel has led transitions of new technologies. The ramp of the 2010 Intel Core Processor Family has been no different, with the Channel in APAC ramping new Core rapidly.

Hasan announced a slew of initiatives to continue driving preference for the same. These include an early booking program to prepare Channel ahead of ramp, special training to ensure simplified messages and related product promotions.