The VAR Guy

Apple Computer is standing by CEO Steve Jobs amid a stock option controversy at the company. In an SEC filing today, Apple defends Jobs and says, “Although the investigation found that CEO Steve Jobs was aware or recommended the selection of some favorable grant dates, he did not receive or financially benefit from these grants or appreciate the accounting implications.”

The VAR Guy has been waiting patiently at the end of his driveway, wondering if FedEX or UPS would deliver a Ferrari laptop with Windows Vista preinstalled. Microsoft has been sending the sporty new Vista laptops to bloggers in order to promote the operating system. Alas, The VAR Guy hasn’t received his.

Some Apple Watchers are asking if Steve Jobs is heading for jail amid allegations that the company falsified stock-option documents.

The VAR Guy has spent the past three years carrying around a Treo with mobile email support. During most holidays he frequently checked messages and was a slave to work.

What if you could fire IT vendors that don’t meet your needs? What if you could simply stop recommending their hardware, software or services — and easily uninstall all of their products?

If you’re a channel chief looking for a new opportunity, maybe it’s time to check out the open source market. The VAR Guy is hearing more and more buzz about open source companies hiring channel experts to help drive sales in 2007.

Four Loop Technologies’ phone is ringing off the hook. The company, which develops an open source PBX called SwitchVox, is generating strong buzz in the reseller community.

Less than a year after Zimbra launched its open source email platform, more than 1,000 customers have deployed 5 million Zimbra inboxes.

The VAR Guy stumbled onto a stunning trend in the Linux market today. Ask Zimbra to name the most popular platforms for its open source email software, and the company provides a surprising reply.

All it takes is a misleading press release to get The VAR Guy up on his soapbox. Consider the latest PR materials from Microsoft and Novell, in which the companies claim more customer momentum around their Windows-Linux partnership.

What if you could purchase nearly new networking gear for pennies on the dollar? Tempting? The VAR Guy thinks so. Thousands of small businesses can surely get by with nearly new Ethernet and WiFi switches (assuming the hardware is in good shape).

The wait for iPhone is over. It’s finally here. Only, it’s not from Apple Computer.

In all the romantic folklore ever put forth about the history of Silicon Valley–some of it even true!–one of the VAR Guy’s favorite personalities was disk drive pioneer Al Shugart. Sadly, Shugart passed away last week near his home in Monterey, California, after a short illness.

Sometimes you have to step outside of the channel to see what’s going on within it. That’s why The VAR Guy calls JasperSoft CEO Paul Doscher. JasperSoft designs open source business intelligence software and only works with a few integrators.

In addition to writing this daily blog, The VAR Guy occasionally moonlights as a moderator of IT roundtables. On Tuesday, he was leading a discussion of SAP managers on Duet, the new software from Microsoft and SAP that combines the power and functionality of SAP’s ERP suite with the ease of use and ubiquity of Office. While the SAP techies in attendance mostly represented large enterprise accounts, an SAP representative at the event noted that his company often works closely with VARs and integrators to implement SAP for smaller accounts. He even pointed out that the majority of SAP installations take place at accounts with fewer than 1,000 employees.

The VAR Guy wonders: Is Autotask the next Salesforce.com? Autotask CEO Bob Godgart smiles when he’s asked that question, and avoids the temptation to say “yes.” But he knows Autotask is in growth mode.

Sure, WiFi hardware sales are booming. And WiFi use more than doubled from January to October 2006, according to iPass Inc. But The VAR Guy hears more and more solutions providers complaining about market saturation.

Although Novell’s Linux and identity management businesses grew about 25 to 30 percent during the company’s most recent quarter, Wall Street isn’t impressed. Shares in Novell are slumping today because Novell’s long-term outlook isn’t too compelling.

Websense’s partner program continues to march forward–rapidly. The VAR Guy hears that the company’s new Partner Relationship Management (PRM) system is off to a good start, increasing Websense’s billing and transaction numbers with channel partners.

VARs that partner with CA have a lengthy product portfolio from which to choose. You know CA’s primary brands — BrightStor, Unicenter, eTrust, etc. But if you’re looking for new opportunities, maybe you should inquire about eHealth.

Red Hat. Novell. MySQL. Sure, you know the mainstream open source companies. But take a closer look and you’ll find a growing list of small open source firms making channel pushes.

The VAR Guy isn’t much of an investor. But he was pleased to hear Ingram Micro’s current quarter is on track to meet profit and sales expectations.