The VAR Guy

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.

It’s time to give Dell a little credit, folks. By agreeing to offer Ubuntu on selected systems earlier this year, the company has opened itself up to a flood of ideas from passionate Linux users. In fact, the Dell IdeaStorm website remains flooded with thousands of Ubuntu-focused comments from the Linux community. And Dell itself continues to prepare for Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, the next major upgrade from Canonical.

A major desktop Linux upgrade is set to be released on October 18. Michael Dell is expected to personally use it. And the PC giant will pre-load it on selected desktops and notebooks. Buzz about this next Linux release — dubbed Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon — is growing across the web. But what exactly does Gutsy Gibbon (aka Ubuntu 7.10) offer to desktop customers and solutions providers? Here’s a look.

The VAR Guy isn’t looking for a new job. But if he were a channel expert (rather than a pretender), he’d send his resume into fast-growing open source companies that are seeking partner program expertise. Two prime examples: MySQL and SugarCRM both have open positions for channel veterans.

Another business intelligence specialist has been acquired, and this time Oracle wasn’t the company opening its wallet. It’s time for Business Objects to say goodbye to its independence. The buyer is SAP AG. The big question: What does the deal mean for Cognos, MicroStrategy and SAS — three of the larger business intelligence companies that remain independent.

Microsoft and its hardware partners are speed-dialing their way into the small business voice-over-IP market. Quanta and D-Link, through partnerships with the software giant, intend to offer IP phone systems that cost about $5,500 for a 20-user deployment. Although The VAR Guy is bullish about the Asterisk open source telephony platform, there’s something intriguing about Microsoft’s VoIP relationship with D-Link.

It’s a classic Microsoft tactic: Arrive late to a party and then attempt to steal the show. The has company announced the next chapter of its Software as a Service (SaaS) strategy. If you offer managed services, it’s time to listen up. Our sister site, MSPmentor.net, spent some time analyzing the Microsoft initiative and sees some clear opportunities — and challenges — ahead for managed service providers. Here’s a rundown of the 10 things you need to know about Microsoft’s SaaS strategy.

3Com has finally announced plans to embrace Asterisk — the open source telephony platform. The VAR Guy has only one question: What took so long? This is a move 3Com should have announced much earlier this year. But in the company’s defense, it’s still very early in the open source telephony game. And the Asterisk strategy could be a winner for 3Com. Here’s why.