The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy will begin summarizing IT channel research in January 2009. And The VAR Guy’s own Open Source 50 research report debuts in January 2009 as well.

The VAR Guy was on the outside looking in when NetSuite launched its initial public offering a few days ago. Too bad. Netsuite’s stock skyrocketed as investors went crazy for the software-as-a-service (SaaS) specialist. So, which company will cash in next on the SaaS craze? The VAR Guy has a surprising answer…

The VAR Guy spent most of 2007 blogging about open source start-ups and open source business models. As he looks ahead to 2008, The VAR Guy knows hundreds of open source software providers are seeking to catch on in the corporate market. Here are the top 10 open source providers and platforms that are set to succeed in 2008.

Name three things that Elvis and OS/2 have in common. Don’t rush your answer. Think about it for a minute or two. OK, ready? Here’s the answer…

Time for The VAR Guy to stir up a little controversy, this time in the Linux desktop market. He thinks a small desktop setback at Red Hat could lead to more PC momentum for Ubuntu Linux. Here’s the scoop.

What if you could buy a Cadillac for the price of a Chevy? That’s the basic approach to business at Adtran, which is gaining momentum as a low-cost/high-quality alternative to Cisco network solutions. Sure, The VAR Guy spends most of his networking energy blogging about Cisco. But Adtran has a bit of buzz in the market.

CompUSA is imploding. Independent PC stores have died. Yet 1,600 people waited online — correction, in line — for the opening of Apple’s new retail store in New York. Here are five reasons why Apple’s retail strategy is crushing the competition this holiday season, according to The VAR Guy.

The VAR Guy isn’t much for predictions. He knows bloggers use them to help gain eyeballs and web traffic. Still, the managed services market is pretty interesting. And our sister Web site, MSPmentor.net, has some unique views on where the MSP industry is heading. Check out the site’s 10 MSP predictions for 2008.

The VAR Guy received a rude greeting when he returned home from a business trip last night. His Ubuntu PC from Dell was dead. Fried. Done. Well, not entirely. But things were bad. The PC was displaying a bunch of errors and never fully booted up. But this sad story has a happy ending for The VAR Guy and Ubuntu.

Today was a big day for Dell’s channel effort. As expected, the company announced an aggressive strategy to engage and reward channel partners. But The VAR Guy is distracted by another report, claiming that Dell may be interested in buying Motorola’s handset business. Memo to Michael: Don’t do that. Here’s why.

The VAR Guy tried his best to avoid tech talk this week. He spent the past two days blogging about marketing, branding and PR strategies during Cisco’s first marketing forum for partners in Miami. But this morning during breakfast, a discussion with four Cisco partners turned technical. The big topic at hand: Cisco, Microsoft and their unified showdown. Here’s what solutions providers expect in 2008.

The circle of life continues at Microsoft. The software giant, desperate to freeze a market, has started evangelizing a “new” version of Windows (called MinWin) that will correct Windows Vista’s bloatware problems. But don’t blame Microsoft for the noise about MinWin and Windows 7.0. Blame the trade press.

The VAR Guy just caught up with Larry Kesslin, president of 4 Profit, a consulting firm that serves solutions providers. Kesslin is hosting a marketing workshop here at the Cisco Velocity forum in Miami. And he served up a rather interesting list: The Top 10 Reasons Solutions Providers Don’t Invest In Marketing. Here’s a look at Kesslin’s countdown.

David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, just shared a rather interesting point with VARs here at Cisco’s Velocity meeting. Scott insists that all VARs need to become publishers. Here’s why.

The VAR Guy is hanging out at Cisco’s Velocity partner forum in Miami today, hearing about effective Web 2.0 marketing strategies that partners can potentially embrace. Here are five examples mentioned during the event so far.

The VAR Guy escaped the winter weather this morning, flying from chilly New York to sunny Miami. Our resident blogger will spend the next three days soaking up some rays, sipping cocktails … oh, and blogging non-stop from Cisco’s Velocity event for a few hundred partners.