The VAR Guy

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Dell: Why Bad News Is Good News
2007-10-31 15:35:00
So, Dell 's latest SEC filing includes details about an accounting scandal at the company. You can read all the bad news over at CRN, which goes on at length to describe how the accounting fraud occurred. Or you can check Dell's stock price to discover that the bad news wasn't so bad after all. In fact, Dell shares just hit a 52-week high because investors are pleased that Dell is finally putting this story to rest. Full disclosure: The VAR Guy owns a few Dell shares -- though certainly not enough for him to quit his blogging gig here at TechIQ.
More About: News , Good News , Bad News , Good

Oracle Set to Rally Partners on Nov. 11
2007-10-31 15:15:00
What a difference a decade makes. In the 1990s, database partners rallied around Microsoft SQL Server because of the software giant's channel-friendly pricing and partner strategy. Fast forward to 2007, and Oracle has somehow managed to remain king of the database market -- despite gains from Microsoft and MySQL. What changed at Oracle? CEO Larry Ellison  finally surrounded himself with channel-friendly executives. Oracle's latest partner initiatives will take center stage during a major event set for November 11.
More About: Rally , Partners

Cisco Unveils Managed Services Strategy
2007-10-31 14:48:00
The VAR Guy was right. Back in September, he predicted Cisco would soon unveil a managed services strategy that included new pricing models for partners. The official announcement came today, in the form of the new Cisco Managed Services Channel Program.
More About: Strategy , Cisco Systems , Kaseya

Kaseya Prepping Apple, Linux Support
2007-10-30 20:10:00
Kaseya COO Tim McMullen just disclosed that the company's managed services platform will soon support Apple 's Mac OS and Linux . The VAR Guy heard McMullen's comment during a Webcast hosted by TechIQ a few moments ago. Kaseya's commitment to Apple and Linux reinforces the fact that a small -- but influential -- piece of the SMB market has made the move to the Macintosh. Support for Mac OS should arrive in early 2008, with Linux support to follow shortly thereafter. The VAR Guy has reason to celebrate: He's typing this blog entry on his  MacBook Pro during a business trip, and heading home to visit his Dell/Linux desktop PC tonight.
More About: Kaseya , Prep

Seven Trends at CompTIA?s SMB Summit
2007-10-30 18:23:00
The VAR Guy has spent the past two days at Comp TIA's SMB Summit in Bonita Springs, Florida. When he wasn't busy lounging by the pool and sipping cocktails, he did overhear some rather interesting attendee debates and discussions. Here are seven key trends for VARs to keep in mind as they attempt to maximize their SMB profits.
More About: Apple , Trends

Can MSPs Leap Over Economic Slowdowns?
2007-10-29 22:56:00
Don't press the panic button. The mood is generally upbeat here at CompTIA's SMB Summit in Bonita Springs, Fla. But a few attendees have mentioned that they've noticed some SMB customers holding more tightly onto their money in recent months. Still, the SMB sector appears to be the most promising market segment for VARs pushing into managed services. Here's why.
More About: Economic , Leap

Apple Leopard Connects With Kids
2007-10-29 15:58:00
Take a quick look at this picture. Have you ever seen a child having this type of computing experience in Best Buy, CompUSA or Circuit City? Of course not. But at Apple Stores across the country, this scene repeats itself daily.
More About: Kids , Apple Store , Leopard

IBM Makes Software Partner Push
2007-10-29 15:15:00
IBM wants partners to inject more Big Blue software into customer networks. With that goal in mind, the tech titan has launched a new initiative dubbed Grow Your Business with IBM Software . Here are some of the details.
More About: Sphere , Partner , Lotus , Push

Deleting Microsoft? Forever
2007-10-26 15:50:00
The VAR Guy's Mac Book Pro stopped working yesterday. It was the first major problem he ever had with an Apple product. Only, the problem had nothing to do with Apple. The VAR Guy traced the issue to a Microsoft Office for Mac OS X vulnerability. It was the final straw. The VAR Guy has dumped Microsoft and moved to a complete open source suite (NeoOffice and Thunderbird) on Mac OS X. Here's the horror story and the happy ending.
More About: Windows , Phone

iPhone Meets Pink Floyd
2007-10-25 05:08:00
Let's put aside the channel for a few minutes and reminisce about lost youth. Rewind to the summer of 1986. The VAR Guy was a high school punk busing tables at a local seafood joint. He finally saved enough money -- about $400 -- to buy the hottest consumer electronics item on the market: a CD player. Next up, he ran to the local record store to purchase his first CD: Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. It was digital nirvana. Ironically, this very story repeated itself today in Santa Clara -- but this time with Apple 's iPhone . Here's what happened.
More About: Mac , Iphone

Has Cisco TPed You Yet?
2007-10-24 23:54:00
The VAR Guy has been TPed twice. Employees working across roughly 100 Cisco offices have also been TPed. What the heck does TP stand for? Glad you asked.
More About: Cisco Systems , Tele , Presence

Anti-Spam Meets Managed Services
2007-10-24 22:04:00
Rewind to January 2004. At the time, Bill Gates predicted the spam problem would be solved within two years. With that single prediction, Gates was wrong, right and misinterpreted all at once.
More About: Services , Spam , Anti

HP OpenView Partner Embraces Open Source
2007-10-23 20:36:00
A few months ago, The VAR Guy suggested that open source platforms would increasingly compete with Hewlett-Packard Open View, IBM Tivoli and other traditional enterprise management systems. He was right. A case in point: Melillo Consulting, one of HP's top OpenView partners in North America, has embraced an open source IT management platform from Ground Work.
More About: Open Source , Partner , Source

Top 50 Trends in City Broadband
2007-10-22 21:28:00
You've read the reports: municipal wireless is dead. But how can a dead market be growing 35 percent annually? And why are hundreds of people at the Santa Clara Marriott discussing successful municipal broadband deployments? Check out the Top 50 Trends in Muni cipal Wireless over on our sister site, MuniWireless.com.
More About: Broadband , City

The VAR Guy?s Next Move
2007-10-19 20:43:00
The VAR Guy will be blogging live from the Muni Wireless 2007: Silicon Valley conference, October 21-23 at the Santa Clara Marriott. With any luck, he'll sneak away from the event and catch a few rides at the Great America theme park. When he's not busy hanging out at the conference, he'll be cutting the line for the Top Gun rollercoaster. For the full effect, he prefers to ride the coaster barefoot while screaming in a foreign language. Take a look...
More About: Move , The V

The 90-Day Guide to Managed Services
2007-10-19 07:26:00
Unlike many solutions providers, MJ Shoer doesn?t lose sleep about cash flow and falling hardware margins. As president of Jenaly Technology Group Inc., Shoer has successfully transformed his seven-person company from a VAR into a true managed services provider."We are a virtual outsourced IT services firm," says Shoer. "We rarely use the term managed services, instead referring to it as ?virtual IT services.? We are our clients? trusted IT partner and work as an extension of our clients? organizations."
More About: Services , Guide , Guid

Video Topic: Unified Communications
2007-10-19 07:17:00
We update this page regularly to focus on a specific business or technology topic. The current video topic is: Unified Communications .
More About: Video , Videos , Topic

Blog for TechIQ
2007-10-19 01:07:00
If you're a channel expert who can blog -- with some attitude -- about business, technology and managed services issues, we're all ears. We welcome guest bloggers on TechIQ. To pitch your skills, feel free to spam our site editor Joe Panettieri. Reach him via joe [at] microcast.biz. Just don't tell him The VAR Guy sent you. He and our resident blogger often don't see eye-to-eye.
More About: Blog

Landmark Day for Desktop Linux
2007-10-18 18:09:00
When the history of desktop Linux is written, open source pundits will likely point to October 18, 2007, as an historic date. Although most of the desktop industry is gearing up for Apple 's Leopard upgrade and Microsoft 's Windows Vista Service Pack 1, a small but significant Linux product launch -- occurring today -- could eventually bring open source to the masses.
More About: Desktop , Ubuntu

Who Is The VAR Guy?
2007-10-18 01:20:00
It's a question we get asked all the time: Who is the VAR Guy? Unfortunately, we don't have a firm answer for you. The true identity of TechIQ's top blogger does, indeed, remain a mystery to even our staff.
More About: The V

Unified Communications Coming to iPhone
2007-10-17 20:22:00
The iPhone isn't a business device. The iPhone isn't for business applications. Hogwash. The VAR Guy NEVER believed all of those crazy statements from tech pundits. He has long suspected that Cisco Systems and other companies would find ways to write unified applications for the iPhone. Today, Apple finally bowed to demand and announced a software development kit for the iPhone. The move paves the way for the iPhone to increasingly support business applications.
More About: Hardware , Wireless , Iphone

Cognos CEO Watching Managed Services
2007-10-17 17:54:00
The folks at Cognos , one of the leading providers of business intelligence software, are in a curious position. Cognos's rivals are getting acquired by big players like Oracle and SAP AG. And the software industry as a whole is moving toward software as a service (SaaS) -- think Salesforce.com and NetSuite.com. So where does that leave Cognos? The BI software provider has to get a better feel for SaaS, managed services and the channel. Fast. Cognos's CEO is doing exactly that. Here's how.
More About: Services , Watching

Is Dell Down or Up?
2007-10-17 17:35:00
You gotta love financial analysts and tech journalists. They have a way of making brave predictions based on distorted information. A case in point: Fortune is telling readers to "Pick Up Some Dell [Stock] While It's Down." The headline ranks among the most misleading statements The VAR Guy has read this year. Here's why.
More About: Hardware

Novell Still Needs to Open Wider
2007-10-16 16:13:00
Novell has made yet another push into the small business market with a server and desktop suite. It's a worthwhile effort, but The VAR Guy thinks Novell will need to bundle in more third-party solutions for the suite to gain traction for customers.
More About: Linux , Office , Open Source , Open , Novell

McDonalds Meets Managed Services
2007-10-16 15:41:00
Like a Big Mac and a large fries, IT service franchises now go hand-in-hand with managed services. The latest example: Expetec Technology Services -- an IT services franchisor in 20 states and Canada -- has embraced the Connect Wise managed services platform. The move comes roughly one week after the Fast-Tek franchises announced plans to leverage Kaseya and SecureMyCompany 's managed services. The bottom line: If break-fix franchises are embracing managed services, surely more sophisticated solutions providers need to do the same.
More About: Ingram Micro , Tech Data

Cisco, Microsoft: Heck of a Battle
2007-10-16 00:01:00
Forgive The VAR Guy for hyping the unified communications battle between Cisco and Microsoft . But it's fun to throw two titans into a ring and let them trade blows -- over and over again. This time around, a few stealth Cisco watchers point to the networking giant's special financing programs for unified communication partners.
More About: Cisco Systems , Battle

10 Reasons BEA Should Accept Oracle Takeover
2007-10-12 21:23:00
Okay, folks. The VAR Guy finally had some time to think about Oracle's proposed $6.7 billion takeover of BEA Systems. Here are 10 reasons why BEA Systems should say yes to the deal.
More About: Applications , Microsoft , Takeover , Hewlett-Packard , Executive Suite

Mind If We Dance With Your Dates?
2007-10-12 20:24:00
Do you have a date for the big unified communications dance? No? Better find one fast. Unified communications vendors are getting cozy with each other, inking partnerships ahead of Interop, which kicks off October 22 in New York. The first example: NEC and Unisys are holding hands in the unified space. They make a cute couple. But most people would prefer to show up at the ball with Cisco Systems , Microsoft or Google in hand.
More About: Dates , Dance

Oracle, BEA: Done Deal?
2007-10-12 15:35:00
The VAR Guy isn't going to spend much time analyzing Oracle 's $6.6 billion takeover offer for BEA Systems. He has only one piece of advice for BEA management: Take the offer. Even if IBM comes calling with a counter offer, Oracle is local and has proven that it knows how to acquire companies very effectively.
More About: Applications , Deal , Done

Can Unified Communications Connect With SMB Customers?
2007-10-11 23:41:00
The VAR Guy usually yawns when a research report lands in his inbox. Tech industry researchers, after all, mostly want to tell you a market is about to boom -- but you'll need to pay up to get the exclusive data. Still, AMI Partners did catch The VAR Guy's eye with a new report on Unified Communications in the SMB market. Here's a quick overview.
More About: Google , Skype , Customers , Cisco Systems , Asterisk