Customer demand for virtualisation, security and unified communication technologies has helped large UK resellers outgrow the European IT market over the past year.

Maurice Healy has resigned as CEO of Calyx, the Anglo-Irish reseller group he navigated through a €104m MBO last year, ENN.ie reports. His replacement is Tara Brady, who joined the company from Getronics in June as chief operating officer.

Healy remains a shareholder.

Integralis, the German-owned, IT security services firm, pumped out a H1 statement today, showing sales up 18.4 per cent to €80.4m (H107: €68m). As it's quoted in Germany, the firm is a little spare with the profit details. But it says operating profit was up 51.1 per cent and it notes a big uplift in cash flow from operating activities to €2.6m. And the biggest order backlog to date.

A country / region breakdown of sorts can be gleaned from the company's statement (in English).

Best Buy next month becomes the first “independent” US retailer to start selling the iPhone, as Apple looks to establish the shiny device as this year’s tickle me Elmo.

Duncan McIntyre no longer works at Morse, the reseller he ran for 10 years until July 2007. That was when Morse demerged the sexier bit of the group, Monitise plc.

A strong performance from EMEA and APAC helped Insight Enterprises to raise sales nine per cent to $1.4bn in Q2.

2e2, the private-equity backed reseller group, is buying Netstore for £57m in cash.

The Mail on Sunday has run an expose on secondhand computers tipping up in Ghana, in which the intrepid reporter obtained an NCR PC containing National Health Service patient data. Worse, much worse, is the picture the article paints of PCs being sent to the developing world for supposed recycling, as opposed to re-use. The Mail visits a "toxic pollution dump" in Ghana - and it is truly shocking. So what are UK end-use organisations and resellers to do? Use reputable brokers and charities for computer disposal, for starters. Make sure that PCs are destroyed in the UK - not sent abroad. And make sure that PCs for re-use are properly data-wiped. But we all know the drill. Is it really that difficult to turn theory into practice?

The dirty secret of your NHS

Systemax shrugged off the credit crunch in Q2, with sales jumping 17 per cent to $758m for the three months ended June 30. The direct marketing IT reseller and PC builder, noted stronger demand in North America and Europe in the quarter and it held gross margins steady at 15.3 per cent.

Northgate Information Solutions has bought Anite's local government and secure information systems businesses for £54.3m - minus £3.8m owed by the parent company to Anite Public Sector, and an unspecified amount left behind to grease working capital. Northgate is owned by the private equity house Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Press release.

BT’s reseller arm, BT Global Services, had a good Q1 on the revenue front, jumping 13 per cent to £2.052bn for the period ending June 30. But margins are under pressure - and the financial community doesn't like it, marking shares down 10 per cent in early trading.

CLP Computer Office Supplies looks set to be bought by a US company called Geo Vision International Group, for an undisclosed amount of stock and cash. The press release is somewhat ambiguous. The headline reads: "Geo Vision International Group to Acquire CLP UK". But the first sentence says GEO is "negotiating acquiring" CLP.

Sun Microsystems plans to rapidly move its entire US customer base, short of its largest accounts, to an indirect sales model.

UK reseller Morse will take a one-off charge of up to £4.5m to slash costs this year, it told the stock market today. Executive chairman Kevin Loosemore said further details of the cuts, which will begin immediately, will be revealed with the firm's preliminary results on 9 September. The cuts follow the departure of CEO Kevin Alcock early this month. A restructuring programme was launched to improve margins. ®

NEC Computers yesterday signalled its intent to become 100 per cent indirect in the UK over the next year.

Dimension Data raised £60.2m in a new share issue yesterday to help buy out the minorities of its Asian subsidiary, Datacraft. But the placing, equivalent to eight per cent of the newly enlarged share capital, has left two investors with very big stakes in the multinational reseller.

SCC has bought up a bit of a loss-making French IT reseller. The bit is described as the "principal region – Île de France" - of Arés, along with 130 techies.

Management at Hamilton Rentals has carried a £10m MBO from the rental outfit’s parent, 2e2.

A massive question mark settled over Fujitsu Siemens Computers this weekend, as its parents reportedly pondered whether to continue supporting the Germany-based PC manufacturer.

Insight Enterprises has gained Cisco Gold Partner accreditation in the UK through the back door - by buying a small reseller that's already got the badge.

The reseller giant is shelling out $1.5m in cash for MINX Ltd, a dealership in Elstree, Herts. Probably more significantly, it is also taking on $4.6m in existing debt. And it may pay out another $700k in 12 months, if performance targets are met.

MINX brings revenues of $26m to the table and a sheaf of awards from Cisco. Founder and MD John Pepper will take charge of Insight UK's new networking solutions team, which consists of MINX - as was - and a smaller group who already work at Insight.

Press release. ®