The VAR Guy

So, Dell’s latest SEC filing includes details about an accounting scandal at the company. You can read all the bad news over at CRN, which goes on at length to describe how the accounting fraud occurred. Or you can check Dell’s stock price to discover that the bad news wasn’t so bad after all. In fact, Dell shares just hit a 52-week high because investors are pleased that Dell is finally putting this story to rest. Full disclosure: The VAR Guy owns a few Dell shares — though certainly not enough for him to quit his blogging gig.

What a difference a decade makes. In the 1990s, database partners rallied around Microsoft SQL Server because of the software giant’s channel-friendly pricing and partner strategy. Fast forward to 2007, and Oracle has somehow managed to remain king of the database market — despite gains from Microsoft and MySQL. What changed at Oracle? CEO Larry Ellison finally surrounded himself with channel-friendly executives. Oracle’s latest partner initiatives will take center stage during a major event set for November 11.

The VAR Guy was right. Back in September, he predicted Cisco would soon unveil a managed services strategy that included new pricing models for partners. The official announcement came today, in the form of the new Cisco Managed Services Channel Program.

The program currently includes AT&T, CDW Berbee, Bell Canada, BT, Calence, Dimension Data, Getronics, NetStar, Sprint, TELUS, Verizon Business and VSNL. The program includes three managed service program levels, Cisco Powered Managed Service, Strategic Managed Service, and Legacy Managed Service. The premium Cisco Powered Managed Service level currently includes designations for Connectivity, Unified Communications, Security, Mobility and Data Center Services. The program’s entry criterion is based on the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework of best practices. The VAR Guy has stated multiple times that ITIL will grow in importance for MSPs.

When The VAR Guy first heard about Cisco’s managed services strategy, he wondered if the company planned to launch an MSP platform to compete with Autotask, Kaseya, Level Platforms, N-able and other business process automation companies. However, Cisco insiders repeatedly told The VAR Guy that the company did not plan to move into the MSP platform market. Rather, Cisco’s goal is to ensure its product pricing and support models reflect the needs of MSPs.

Kaseya COO Tim McMullen just disclosed that the company’s managed services platform will soon support Apple’s Mac OS and Linux. The VAR Guy heard McMullen’s comment during a Webcast. Kaseya’s commitment to Apple and Linux reinforces the fact that a small — but influential — piece of the SMB market has made the move to the Macintosh. Support for Mac OS should arrive in early 2008, with Linux support to follow shortly thereafter. The VAR Guy has reason to celebrate: He’s typing this blog entry on his MacBook Pro during a business trip, and heading home to visit his Dell/Linux desktop PC tonight.

The VAR Guy has spent the past two days at CompTIA’s SMB Summit in Bonita Springs, Florida. When he wasn’t busy lounging by the pool and sipping cocktails, he did overhear some rather interesting attendee debates and discussions. Here are seven key trends for VARs to keep in mind as they attempt to maximize their SMB profits.

The VAR Guy’s MacBook Pro stopped working yesterday. It was the first major problem he ever had with an Apple product. Only, the problem had nothing to do with Apple. The VAR Guy traced the issue to a Microsoft Office for Mac OS X vulnerability. It was the final straw. The VAR Guy has dumped Microsoft and moved to a complete open source suite (NeoOffice and Thunderbird) on Mac OS X. Here’s the horror story and the happy ending.

Let’s put aside the channel for a few minutes and reminisce about lost youth. Rewind to the summer of 1986. The VAR Guy was a high school punk busing tables at a local seafood joint. He finally saved enough money — about $400 — to buy the hottest consumer electronics item on the market: a CD player. Next up, he ran to the local record store to purchase his first CD: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. It was digital nirvana. Ironically, this very story repeated itself today in Santa Clara — but this time with Apple’s iPhone. Here’s what happened.

The VAR Guy has been TPed twice. Employees working across roughly 100 Cisco offices have also been TPed. What the heck does TP stand for? Glad you asked.

A few months ago, The VAR Guy suggested that open source platforms would increasingly compete with Hewlett-Packard OpenView, IBM Tivoli and other traditional enterprise management systems. He was right. A case in point: Melillo Consulting, one of HP’s top OpenView partners in North America, has embraced an open source IT management platform from GroundWork.

When the history of desktop Linux is written, open source pundits will likely point to October 18, 2007, as an historic date. Although most of the desktop industry is gearing up for Apple’s Leopard upgrade and Microsoft’s Windows Vista Service Pack 1, a small but significant Linux product launch — occurring today — could eventually bring open source to the masses.

It’s a question we get asked all the time: Who is the VAR Guy? Unfortunately, we don’t have a firm answer for you. The true identity of our blogger does, indeed, remain a mystery to even our staff.

The iPhone isn’t a business device. The iPhone isn’t for business applications. Hogwash. The VAR Guy NEVER believed all of those crazy statements from tech pundits. He has long suspected that Cisco Systems and other companies would find ways to write unified applications for the iPhone. Today, Apple finally bowed to demand and announced a software development kit for the iPhone. The move paves the way for the iPhone to increasingly support business applications.

The folks at Cognos, one of the leading providers of business intelligence software, are in a curious position. Cognos’s rivals are getting acquired by big players like Oracle and SAP AG. And the software industry as a whole is moving toward software as a service (SaaS) — think Salesforce.com and NetSuite.com. So where does that leave Cognos? The BI software provider has to get a better feel for SaaS, managed services and the channel. Fast. Cognos’s CEO is doing exactly that. Here’s how.

You gotta love financial analysts and tech journalists. They have a way of making brave predictions based on distorted information. A case in point: Fortune is telling readers to “Pick Up Some Dell [Stock] While It’s Down.” The headline ranks among the most misleading statements The VAR Guy has read this year. Here’s why.

Novell has made yet another push into the small business market with a server and desktop suite. It’s a worthwhile effort, but The VAR Guy thinks Novell will need to bundle in more third-party solutions for the suite to gain traction for customers.

Forgive The VAR Guy for hyping the unified communications battle between Cisco and Microsoft. But it’s fun to throw two titans into a ring and let them trade blows — over and over again. This time around, a few stealth Cisco watchers point to the networking giant’s special financing programs for unified communication partners.

Okay, folks. The VAR Guy finally had some time to think about Oracle’s proposed $6.7 billion takeover of BEA Systems. Here are 10 reasons why BEA Systems should say yes to the deal.

The VAR Guy usually yawns when a research report lands in his inbox. Tech industry researchers, after all, mostly want to tell you a market is about to boom — but you’ll need to pay up to get the exclusive data. Still, AMI Partners did catch The VAR Guy’s eye with a new report on Unified Communications in the SMB market. Here’s a quick overview.

Cisco CEO John Chambers says the company eventually intends to pay a dividend. When? Nobody knows for sure. Chambers has always been the king of setting Wall Street’s expectations. Lately he’s very bullish about the unified communications opportunities heading Cisco’s way. Frankly, it would be hard to imagine Cisco paying a dividend in the near future. From where The VAR Guy sits, Cisco would be far wiser to acquire a bunch of small software companies that build out the networking giant’s unified communications strategy. Do what you do best, John: Acquire companies. Skip the dividend.

Ali vs. Frazier. Yankees vs. Red Sox (well, not this year…). Cisco vs. Microsoft. There’s nothing like a showdown between two titans who love to brawl. By now, you know Cisco and Microsoft have high hopes for the unified communications market. In fact, Microsoft will finally launch its unified products next week. But Cisco won’t be standing still.

There’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that Novell and Red Hat could soon face new competition in the Linux server market. Something new from Microsoft? Nope. Another attack from Oracle? Not quite. This time, the competition could come from tiny Canonical and the company’s latest Ubuntu Linux release.

The VAR Guy is getting up on his soap box. He’s tired of empty marketing terms from vendors that promise far more than they deliver. Here’s a sampling of 10 words, phrases and terms vendors should immediately delete from their vocabulary.

When it comes to managed services, Trend Micro certainly has a sense for timing. The security company has launched a “pay as you go” managed service with Ingram Micro. The offering comes as Trend rival Symantec prepares to launch its own software-as-a-service platform, know as the Symantec Protection Network. Let the showdown begin.