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Compugen Named First Canadian Microsoft® Authorized Refurbisher
New Designation Supports Responsible Reuse of IT Assets and Extends Compugen’s Green IT Initiatives
Toronto, Ontario, 1 October 2009 - Compugen today announced that it has become the first Microsoft® Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) in Canada. MAR is a new program offered by Microsoft enabling Compugen to provide genuine Microsoft software on professionally refurbished computers. This eliminates the risk of buying used computers without these protections.
Rising awareness of intellectual property rights has made business owners and consumers ask their supplier whether they have the full rights they believe they are paying for when they buy a system that is refurbished and loaded with an operating system - can they get support, is the software legitimate, etc.?
Microsoft has recently announced the instigation of lawsuits against a number of used computer resellers whom they believe are acting with wilful disregard for licensing rights - operations that obtain off-lease equipment, wipe and refurbish, and resell it with an unlicensed operating system to unsuspecting customers.
"The time is right for action to be taken," said Steve Glover, President of Compugen Finance, the financing, refurbishing and recycling division of Compugen Inc. "A healthy supply chain is critical to consumer and business protection, and that means we all need to compete on a level playing field. There is pressure on suppliers to keep the price down, and legitimate suppliers have to compete with others who may ignore licensing requirements."
Compugen Finance acquires used Tier 1 equipment as part of its asset reuse and recycle programs - an extension of Compugen’s Green IT initiatives. Items that can be refurbished, made warrantable and put back into service are sold into the education market, small businesses and major chains such as The Source where consumers can pick up excellent value in used equipment, as well as new PCs.
"Compugen’s participation in the MAR program allows us to show our customers that our resale equipment comes to them from legitimate sources. MARs operate according to stringent guidelines that protect the software vendor, the reputation of the hardware manufacturer, the retailer and the consumer. The MAR program will help level the playing field and make it easier for us to show our customers - through the new certificates of authenticity provided - that their purchases are fully legitimate, warranted and they are protected down the road," said Kevin Luff, Vice President of The Source. "We back what we sell and Compugen makes it easy for us to do this with the used equipment they provide."
Microsoft has developed its MAR program to ensure that Microsoft, retailers and refurbishers work together seamlessly to provide a superior end-user experience with refurbished equipment.
"The MAR program is rapidly expanding around the world and we are excited that Compugen is joining as the first MAR partner in Canada. The criteria for joining is very selective, so this designation speaks to the overall calibre of Compugen as a large, established refurbisher, and to the expertise required to deliver high quality on its refurbished products," says Bradley Hopkinson, director, Microsoft WW Genuine Windows. "Compugen’s preinstallation of genuine Microsoft licensed software underscores their commitment to delivering refurbished computers with exceptional value and security."
About the MAR Program
Under the commercial MAR program, Compugen receives access to Microsoft’s proprietary tools, enabling the company to install a genuine Microsoft Windows XP operating system on each of the thousands of refurbished computers it processes for remarketing each month. Compugen also is permitted to affix a Microsoft Windows XP Certificate of Authenticity (COA) label on each of the PCs it remarkets, providing a sign of due diligence in licensing terms. Compugen has for some time participated in the Community MAR program, which assists eligible organizations in acquiring refurbished hardware, fully licensed and ready for use.
The MAR program is only for large, established refurbishers: guidelines require significant volumes of equipment being processed, adequate systems for data wiping and reporting, technical expertise for pre-installing Microsoft Windows operating systems in large volume, appropriate security measures to ensure safe handling and storage of high value assets and software licenses, and conformance with all applicable regulations. The MAR program was introduced in the United States relatively recently and Compugen is at the leading edge of the MAR program in Canada.
About Compugen
Compugen has many experienced Compugen Microsoft consultants working from 15 offices in major centres across the country - Victoria, Vancouver (Richmond); Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, London, Guelph, Brantford, Ottawa, Toronto (Richmond Hill), Montréal, Québec and Halifax (Dartmouth). Compugen’s dedicated team of Microsoft software sales specialists manages hundreds of Select Agreements and dozens of Enterprise Agreements for Microsoft customers across Canada.
In each of the past three years, Compugen has been honoured at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, with annual Partner of the Year awards for Advanced Infrastructure, Windows Desktop Deployment (for 2008), Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Exchange Migration and Deployment (for 2007) and Information Worker Solutions, Office Systems Desktop Deployment (for 2006).
In addition to Microsoft software sales and deployments, Compugen solutions cover a wide range of other IT domains, including desktops, servers, storage, printing, networking, virtualization, business continuity/disaster recovery. To support these solutions, Compugen offers a complete design-build-run-maintain lifecycle suite of professional IT services and is a top-level partner in Canada for Cisco, Citrix, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, VMware and other technology leaders.
Compugen Finance, the division of Compugen responsible for leasing, refurbishing and recycling, has been developing innovative methods of dealing with older equipment that involve working with major corporations on its charity pool program, responsible asset disposal and methods of extending the useful life of equipment.
Complete information on Compugen solutions and its suite of IT lifecycle services can be found at www.compugen.com.
Microsoft, Windows Vista, Cisco, Citrix, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lenovo and VMware are either registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners in Canada and/or other countries.
More Information:
Donald Anderson
Marketing Projects Manager
Compugen Inc.
danderson@compugen.com
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