The annual Datastor Forum was held in Auckland and Wellington mid-May this year, and was marked by strong attendance and positive feedback from both cities.  Sponsored by APC, EMC, Overland, Symantec, PlateSpin, Data Domain, Fuji Film, VMware, CA, IBM, Riverbed, Juniper, StorageCraft, Wyse, and Datastor’s own Datastor Services, the event allowed partners to gain direct access to Datastor’s comprehensive stable of security, storage and virtualisation vendors.Dave Rosenberg, Sales and Marketing Manager for Datastor, compared the current economy to The Perfect Storm, except “everybody died in the end and we’re not going to die”.  In fact, Rosenberg told The Channel that Datastor is forecasting 15% growth for the coming year.With the ripple effect of the US economy’s downturn being felt across New Zealand, in addition to the fact that this is an election year, Datastor Forum was very much about showing where and how ICT budgets can be spent to realise better return on investment.“It’s about combining products on a total solution to increase ROI and create a better IT offering,” said Rosenberg.  “I love the space we’re in.  Datastor’s traditionally done well in a tight marketplace.”Vendors hyped incentive programs at Forum, with CA promoting three separate sales competitions.  Purchase selected CA Recovery Management r12 products until 30 September and receive cash rewards.  If you’re the highest overall achiever of sales in CA Recovery Management solutions, you’ll win an exclusive sailing trip around the Whitsundays!  Contact Datastor’s Dylan Winik at dylan.winik@datastor.co.nz for more information.If you’re feeling particularly brave, don a set of CA undies and socks and get your photo taken in a public, prominent location or with a celebrity and you could win a 42” Philips flat screen TV.  If you don’t have your stretchy, flash gear already, contact Datastor’s Viki Barrett at viki.barrett@datastor.co.nz.APC is offering an “Extreme Makeover” competition that could see you winning mega points with your customers and a cool $1,000 reward.  Send in photos of your clients’ messy server rooms and tell APC about their concerns until 30 September.  The rep who sends in the most photos (of different server rooms) will win a server room upgrade for one of their clients to the tune of $20,000!  Contact APC’s Mereani Talbot at mereani.talbot@apcc.com, or register your details to nz.register@apcc.com.