A recent lawsuit alleges that Dell pumped up its revenues and profits through a secret rebate program with Intel. Now comes word that Lenovo may have a similar deal with Intel. For VARs and investors alike, these alleged deals make it difficult to truly measure how PC companies are performing. The VAR Guy isn’t sure […]
Did MIT ban deployments of Windows Vista? Not quite. At least one trade magazine says “Vista Flunks at MIT,” but the university tells The VAR Guy that’s not really the case. In reality, MIT is waiting for several applications–including a Tivoli backup client, Cisco VPN client, and McAfee antiviral client–to be fully tested before endorsing […]
The VAR Guy is keeping an eye on 4G Metro, a solutions provider that specializes in WiFi for public transit. While some broadband providers–such as Cablevision–are deploying WiFi in railroad stations, that approach largely misses the mark. Millions of commuters would likely welcome WiFi service during their train rides to and from work each day. […]
Is The Oracle of Omaha abandoning The Oracle of Silicon Valley? Not quite, but The VAR Guy hears that a Berkshire Hathaway company has decided to jump from Oracle/Siebel to Centric CRM. That’s one small step for open source applications and one giant leap for the tiny CRM specialist. This particular migration only involves about […]
Virtualized servers are the rage. But virtualized desktops could be next. That’s the message from Margaret Lewis, director of commercial ISV marketing at AMD. Lewis met with The VAR Guy during Linux World in New York on February 14. Instead of talking about new applications optimized for Opteron processors, Lewis spoke quite a bit about […]
When IBM announced its so-called Open Client Solution earlier this week, The VAR Guy wondered: Do any customers actually want open solutions that easily run across Windows, Linux and Mac OS? The answer, according to Adam Jollans, a Linux strategy manager at IBM, is “absolutely yes.” Roughly 100 businesses are testing the technology, which allows […]
The VAR Guy is catching up on email from a few old sources. One of them mentioned that Astaro Corporation, which develops unified threat management (UTM) security appliances, has launched a Managed Service Provider Program. The company’s security gateway leverages open source and commercial software to deliver network security (firewall, VPN and intrusion protection) Web […]
There’s nothing worse than a geek who lacks business skills. If you fit that scenario, check out UC Irvine’s Situational Leadership for IT Managers course March 10 and March 17.
The VAR Guy, like everyone else, has been waiting for 802.11n to become an official WiFi standard. But technical hurdles and vendor debates have repeatedly delayed the higher-speed wireless standard. Still, the market for preliminary 802.11n gear appears to be gaining traction. “Last year was exhausting,” concedes Som Pal Choudhury, product line manager for advanced […]
ADTRAN is using a familiar formula in a bid to grow sales this year: Develop IP telephony solutions, recruit some strategic partners and take aim at the SMB market. The VAR Guy heard rumblings in January that ADTRAN was prepping partner program enhancements. Those rumors were fulfilled this week, when the company introduced a mid-tier […]
While U.S.-based IT companies seek to establish a foothold in Asia, Buffalo Technology is moving in the opposite direction. “Our roots are in Japan and 80 percent of our business is still done overseas,” says Erny-Jay Mezas, director of sales at the networking, storage and wireless specialist. “We launched a successful VAR program in the […]
The VAR Guy will be watching closely when the LinuxWorld Open Solutions Summit kicks off Feb. 14 in New York. Here are six trends and key developments to note ahead of the show. **1. AMD Does Open Source:** Some people are surprised that AMD is among the show’s top sponsors. The VAR Guy isn’t surprised […]
The next time Microsoft overhauls its operating system, maybe the software giant should give University of California Professor Qing Jiang a call. Jiang is designing a computer that boots up instantly when powered on. His design also writes data directly onto a hard drive–making “saving” a thing of the past. Sure, Vista appears to be […]
The VAR Guy is skeptical when vendors unveil long-term roadmaps for their partner programs. Very often, the roadmaps change in mid-journey because of technical glitches or partner confusion. That’s not the case at Symantec, which today unveiled a new Technical Specialist and Assessments Program, a Unified Technical Support Program, and a three-fold investment in its […]
In anticipation of this week’s Xerox Partner Summit in Orlando, The VAR Guy spent much of last week speaking with partners to hear how business was shaping up for 2007. He liked what he heard. Partners like Smart Technology Enablers of Ojai, Calif., are using managed services platforms to maintain customers’ Xerox multifunction printers from […]
Dear Michael: The VAR Guy has held his breath for a bit, giving you ample time to settle back in to the CEO job. As a frequent Dell customer and long-time company watcher, The VAR Guy offers you these unsolicited steps to get Dell back on track. 1. Visit CIOs and Apologize: If Dell had […]
T.M. Ravi has been launching, building and selling storage companies for more than a decade. But the CA and Cheyenne Software veteran didn’t want to launch “yet another storage company” into a largely saturated market in 2003. Instead, he aimed his latest venture–Mimosa Systems–at email archiving, discovery and compliance. Full disclosure: The VAR Guy briefly […]
The VAR Guy is having flashbacks to 1997, when Microsoft, Novell and Unix providers promoted tools to help you move from one server operating system to another. It was a mad scramble for market share and NT came out on top. Fast forward to 2007, and the tug of war now involves Microsoft, Novell … […]
Sure, small businesses are moving to VoIP phone systems. Now for the challenge: Which partners should you dial for help? The list of options grows by the day. There are Asterisk-based open source solutions such as Digium, Fonality and SwitchVox; traditional players such as Cisco, 3Com and Nortel; and startups like TalkSwitch to consider. Even […]
You don’t have to be a big, publicly held software company like Salesforce.com or a massive integrator to succeed as an applications service provider (ASP). Just ask Data393, which has won a contract to provide a hosted Windows environment to the City of Cherry Hills Village, located in Arapahoe County just south of Denver. The […]
