The VAR Guy

Sometimes, you’ve got to take short-term hits on the road to long-term success. The VAR Guy wonders if that’s the situation at Websense, which has announced a big earnings shortfall.

Mark Enzweiler, VP of North American Channel Sales at Red Hat, today unveiled the latest addition to the company’s channel strategy.

3Com finished 2006 on a high note, announcing strong quarterly results in December. Now, the company is seeking to accelerate its rebound, launching the Open Network Technology Partner Program.

Symantec caught The VAR Guy’s attention this morning when the company announced plans to acquire Altiris.

As the IT industry continues to consolidate, many VARs are expected to merge with one another this year. Companies such as Agilysys and CDW have announced plans to buy up solutions providers as well.

As the VAR Guy sipped his morning coffee, he couldn’t help but notice Window Vista ads filling the Sunday newspaper.

Apple’s iPhone won’t ship until this summer, but technology pundits continue to debate the smartphone’s merits.

The VAR Guy is about to step onto his soapbox. Regardless of whether you side with Cisco or Apple in the iPhone name debate, it’s clear to The VAR Guy that a Cisco/Apple settlement and partnership would be a huge win for VARs.

After delivering surprisingly strong earnings this week, what can Citrix Systems do for an encore? We’ll find out next week during Citrix Summit 2007, the company’s annual gathering of business partners.

The VAR Guy had to skip this week’s Internet Telephony Conference and Expo in Fort Lauderdale because of some family commitments. But it sounds like there was lots of channel news at the show.

Oh my. The VAR Guy’s earlier post today–describing how 80 VARs embraced Open-Xchange email–generated some interesting buzz in the open source sector.

You already know The VAR Guy spent last weekend researching open source desktop suites (see his Jan. 23 blog entry). Now, he’s back taking a look at the open source email market. Are VARs really seeing demand for open source groupware and collaboration software? Apparently yes.

The VAR Guy spent most of last weekend reaching out to experts in the open source community, trying to determine which alternatives to Office 2007 are worth his consideration. While Office 2007 has earned rave reviews from eWeek and Walt Mossberg at The Wall Street Journal, The VAR Guy likes to keep his options open.

Before packing his bags for a business trip, The VAR Guy read reports that Sun Microsystems plans to ship servers equipped with Intel chips. Sun isn’t exactly an IT powerhouse these days, but if the reports are true this is a significant inflection point for VARs. Adding insult to injury, the potential Sun/Intel partnership comes one day before AMD announces earnings results. Ouch.

Instead of battling on price, managed service providers hope to spend 2007 battling on innovation. Consider the situation at SilverBack Technologies, which provides software that transforms VARs into MSPs.

The VAR Guy is intrigued by the Business Intelligence market. For many years, major BI companies focused mainly on direct sales. Some companies such as Cognos continue to employ that strategy while also working a bit with giant integrators.

During his visit to Lenovo’s headquarters in North Carolina on Tuesday, The VAR Guy couldn’t help but notice IBM’s logo on dozens of area buildings. Clearly, escaping IBM’s shadow hasn’t been easy for Lenovo–but that may soon change.

The VAR Guy is keeping a close eye on this week’s National Retail Federation Annual Convention & Expo in New York. VARs near New York would be wise to stop by the show because it provides business perspective on where retail technology is heading.

A lot of pundits are predicting that the battle between Cisco and Apple over the iPhone name could turn ugly. The VAR Guy disagrees. Over the long haul, the iPhone name could unite Cisco and Apple in one of the most exciting enterprise ventures of the decade.

Much like you, The VAR Guy has read all the press coverage about Apple’s new iPhone and developments at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Apple Computer cleared CEO Steve Jobs in a stock option probe, but that doesn’t mean Apple and Jobs are out of the woods.

The VAR Guy spent part of Saturday afternoon getting a hair cut. During his wait at the barbershop, he struck up a conversation with a senior IT manager from Cablevision Systems–the big cable and broadband provider.

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