The VAR Guy picked a great week to visit Silicon Valley. First, some trusted local sources described how Cisco’s presence technology may support Apple’s iPhone and other smart phones. Now, he’s hearing chatter about a possible Cisco-Microsoft partnership in the unified communications space. For those who missed the opening credits, here’s our story far: Microsoft […]
Memo to all vendors and VARs: It’s time to stop promoting “vertical market” partner strategies or “small/midsize” business strategies unless you truly have something unique to offer. To paraphrase Yogi Berra: “Nobody targets those markets anymore. They’re too crowded.” How can you differentiate? The VAR Guy gathered some interesting ideas from Craig West, director of […]
The VAR Guy has learned what’s next from Cisco and Apple. But before he spills the beans, he wants to brag a bit. Critics called him crazy, but The VAR Guy predicted on January 12 that Cisco and Apple would settle the dispute over the iPhone name. He also described six reasons why the the duo needed to partner.
Due to bad weather and poor communications at JetBlue, The VAR Guy was among the passengers stranded at JFK Airport in New York last week. But The VAR Guy remains loyal to JetBlue. In fact, companies like Dell, Microsoft and Sony—and even VARs that let down their customers—can learn a lot by studying JetBlue’s crisis […]
Seven printing and document imaging companies—from Canon to Xerox—are working with CompTIA to design a new vendor-neutral certification for VARs and integrators. The move comes one week after Xerox hosted a major partner event in Orlando, during which time the hardware giant outlined new services and tools to help VARs offer managed printing services. The […]
Microsoft has managed to crush most of the “PC software utility” companies from the 1990s. One major exception is Diskeeper, the defrag specialist. Diskeeper is benefiting greatly from the virtualization craze, according to a PR rep from the company. Sure, IT Managers can now consolidate three, four or even more servers into a virtualized server. […]
VARs can’t survive on hardware margins alone. But perhaps they can make a healthy living charging a monthly fee to manage, service and support customers’ hardware. That’s the theory behind N-able Technologies’ new partner development unit — which helps VARs and MSPs to develop hardware-as-a-service (HaaS) practices. The unit shows partners how much time and […]
If you want to understand where open source is heading next, visit Indiana University. During a recent chat with The VAR Guy, the university’s CIO described why the days of commercial ERP and CRM applications are limited. Instead of deploying new commercial enterprise applications, the university is partnering with several other colleges on two major […]
Ray Lane, the former president of Oracle, has spent recent years as a venture capitalist. But The VAR Guy just noticed that Lane is co-founder and chairman of SpikeSource—one of Silicon Valley’s most interesting startups. Lane gave Oracle some financial discipline when the database giant needed it most. In some ways, he is now helping […]
Even if you want to ignore the healthcare vertical, vendors won’t let you. Intel caught The VAR Guy’s attention today by announcing a new notepad-like device for medical personnel. The new tablet computer, developed with Austin, Texas-based Motion Computing, boasts wireless connectivity, RFID support, a digital camera and other tools that push computing right […]
HP has finally woken up to the software market. As The VAR Guy predicted four years ago—and The Wall Street Journal reported today—HP wants to be the industry’s next big software company. The journey from upstart to software giant will be a long one. According to an HP SEC filing from today, the company’s quarterly […]
During a recent trip to a coffee chain in New York, The VAR Guy noticed new digital signage advertising a special brew of the day. Thanks to VARs with display and content management expertise, digital signage is popping up everywhere. The global market for digital signage displays is expected to top 2.1 million units in […]
The Macintosh will never succeed in small business because it doesn’t run accounting software. That myth may finally die, now that Apple and Intuit are hosting free events in Apple stores across the country. Most small businesses will stick with Windows. But The VAR Guy is impressed with Apple’s steady gains in the wake of […]
Microsoft has finally released a service pack for SQL Server 2005 that makes the database fully compatible with Windows Vista and Office 2007. The service pack is welcome news for SQL Server partners, who had been in a holding pattern as Microsoft rolled out its new desktop operating system and productivity suite.
Forget Sin City. The real action is in the other Las Vegas—located in New Mexico. That’s where Solana Technologies, a wireless integrator, is deploying a mesh WiFi system for the city’s police department. The city-owned and operated network will allow police offers to link to public safety applications while in the field. Potential applications include […]
The VAR Guy knows Windows Vista will eventually run on most corporate desktops. But early sales in the consumer market have been softer than some analysts expected. For those of us who covered Windows 95’s launch more than a decade ago, Windows Vista has been a yawn. These 10 questions—and their answers—reveal why Vista isn’t […]
The VAR Guy received an invite today to attend Microsoft Convergence, a CRM-type event March 11-14 in San Diego. The VAR Guy is intrigued. After several false starts, is Microsoft finally gaining some serious momentum in this market? Perhaps he’ll find the answer in San Diego.
The grape vine just sent The VAR Guy a rather interesting tip. A big networking company is prepping a new storage strategy. The initiative will involve VoIP and Ethernet VARs. Details should surface in about two weeks.
Are managed services hot or hype? New research by CompTIA suggests solutions providers see real opportunities in the MSP sector. The top five investments organizations plan to make in managed services are (1) security; (2) storage, backup and disaster recovery; (3) Web or e-mail hosting; (4) network monitoring and administration; and (5) application subscription (i.e. […]
During dozens of executive roundtables in 2005 and 2006, The VAR Guy heard CIOs express interest–and doubt–in RFID. Is 2007 the year RFID finally catches on? Too early to say for sure. But there are some positive signs worth noting. Avnet Technology Solutions, for instance, is partnering Stratum Global, an RFID software solutions provider. The […]
