The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy has never met Stifler’s mom. But he thinks he ran into Stifler’s aunt at the Cisco Partner Summit. Interested in the details? Don’t worry; despite the American Pie reference, this story is rated G (or at worst, PG). It’s safe to read this blog at work.

Who’s growing fastest in the high-tech world? The VAR Guy had a few hunches, but finally found out for sure when he read Business 2.0′s 2006 ranking of fast-growth firms. Sure, The VAR Guy is three months late with this list. But he still thinks you’re gonna give it a read.

Pull up a seat, folks. The battle between Cisco and Nortel is just getting started. Only days after Cisco Systems launched its small and midsize business (SMB) initiative, rival Nortel Networks is ready to throw some counter punches. The VAR Guy hears Nortel hopes to make lots of noise on April 16 with a series of new SMB solutions spanning both voice and data.

Instead of killing Microsoft, open source could make the company stronger. Has The VAR Guy lost his mind with this thesis? Absolutely not. In fact, the software giant recently tried to join the Open Solutions Alliance, which includes roughly a dozen open source companies, The VAR Guy hears. What’s Microsoft up to? The potential answer involves Windows Longhorn.

Will Apple’s iPhone live up to its hype and spark another technology revolution? The answer won’t be known until Apple ships the device in June. Still, a Penn State University tech guru (John Jordan) has developed an intriguing list of reasons the iPhone will either be a huge hit or a massive disappointment.

So much for an extended honeymoon. Although Motorola and Symbol just got hitched in January, it appears that some employees are already getting the seven-year itch, The VAR Guy hears.

The VAR Guy’s Top 100 Highlights from last week’s Cisco Partner Summit was a hit. But a few readers asked The VAR Guy to boil things down with a definitive Top 10 list. Naturally, The VAR Guy was happy to deliver the goods.

Cisco’s search for new rivals appears to be leading right to Google’s home page. During his closing keynote at the Cisco Partner Summit in Las Vegas, CEO John Chambers predicted Cisco’s biggest four rivals over the long haul will be Google, Microsoft, Alcatel and Huawei Technologies.

Everything you need to know–and a few things you’d rather not know–about Cisco’s annual partner conference, held this week at the Venetian Hotel Casino Resort in Las Vegas. This is a single, central page that provides links to our five-part Top 100 countdown.

And now our top 20. Most of these entries were culled from a press Q&A and a keynote featuring Cisco CEO John Chambers.

Many of the following event highlights (40-21) come from Guest Keynote Speaker and Bestselling Author Marcus Buckingham, Cisco Chief Marketing Officer Sue Bostrom and Cisco Chief Development Officer Charlie Giancarlo. Here we go…

OK, things are getting a little freaky between Cisco and The VAR Guy. Two strange coincidences involving a big acquisition and a big enterprise have occurred.

This blog entry is, in some ways, a shameless plug for Cisco’s TelePresence technology. But since so many VARs have yet to see and hear about TelePresence, The VAR Guy did want to give you a peek at this video.

Part three of our five-part countdown. Everything you need to know–and a few things you’d rather not know–about Cisco’s annual partner conference, held this week at the Venetian Hotel Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Let’s continue the countdown…

Instead of setting up the scene, The VAR Guy will cut right to the chase: During a Q&A with press that’s continuing right now, Cisco CEO John Chambers just described the showdown with Microsoft in the unified communications space. He said: “Microsoft has given us a three-year lead. And we’ve never lost a game when we’ve had a three-year lead. … It’s a battle we fully intend to win.”Here’s more on the Q&A…

Part two of our five-part countdown. Everything you need to know–and a few things you’d rather not know–about Cisco’s annual partner conference, held this week at the Venetian Hotel Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Let’s continue the countdown…

Everything you need to know–and a few things you’d rather not know–about Cisco’s annual partner conference, held this week at the Venetian Hotel Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Let’s start the countdown…

The VAR Guy and other journalists continue to hype the showdown between Cisco and Microsoft, particularly in the small business sector. But is a showdown really coming? And what are the potential outcomes?

Many of us in the Mac community — The VAR Guy included — became Apple customers because we grew tired of Windows viruses, bugs and security flaws. But is Mac OS X truly more secure than Windows? Or do hackers target Windows more frequently only because of its immense market share? We may get some answers at an upcoming security conference.

During a press conference at the Cisco Partner Summit an hour ago, Cisco confirmed the day’s worst-kept secret: The company is making an aggressive move into the small and midsize business market. The VAR Guy hinted about this earlier today. Here are the “official” details from Cisco along with some quick-hit perspectives from The VAR Guy.

Most networking industry VARs are seemingly in Las Vegas this week for the Cisco Partner Summit. But that hasn’t stopped HP from making some noise of its own. HP has launched the ProCurve Alliance, a membership program designed to offer customers security, mobility, convergence solutions … yada, yada, yada … this news is good for solutions providers, The VAR Guy believes.

FalconStor Software, a data-protection company launched by several CA and Cheyenne Software veterans, has announced enhancements to its partner program. FalconStor says the new initiatives give VARs a scaled up certified training program, joint marketing initiatives, and new sales rebates to increase profitability and growth. And that’s all The VAR Guy has to say about that.

The VAR Guy has a motto: If the door isn’t locked, he’s going in. About an hour ago, The VAR Guy wandered into the Venetian Hotel’s main conference hall at Cisco’s Partner Summit. There were 2,500 empty seats. So The VAR Guy grabbed one. Cisco executives were rehearsing presentations to be given later today. What are they preparing to demo? How about concept technology that ties together health care, video conferencing and TelePresence.