The VAR Guy

Zeacom isn’t the best-known brand in Unified Communications, but the privately held company seems to be sneaking up on rivals. Skeptical? Consider this: Zeacom insiders say the company is profitable, has no debt and 10 percent of the company’s annual revenue is in the bank. Hmmm. The VAR Guy is intrigued.

A few readers asked me if our MSPmentor and The VAR Guy podcasts are available on Apple’s iTunes. The answer is “absolutely yes.” They’re all published and bundled in a single iTunes area right here. If you ever lose the link, simply search “thevarguy” on iTunes to find our podcasts again.

Novell spent most of the 1990s as a one-hit wonder, searching for growth opportunities beyond NetWare. Fast forward to the present, and Novell is experiencing deja vu. This time, Novell’s one-hit wonder is SUSE Linux. Skeptical? Check out Novell’s latest quarterly results.

The VAR Guy’s sister site, MSPmentor, is running a week-long podcast series exploring the Master MSP (managed service provider) trend. Generally speaking, Master MSPs offer hosted services to aspiring MSPs and VARs. But how does the business model really work? Check out these fast-moving podcasts…

When I read The VAR Guy’s recent blog about Zoho’s growing SaaS partner program, it got me thinking: Do solutions providers whose livelihood is centered around developing and delivering business solutions to their customers, really believe that SaaS (software as a service) partner programs are good for their businesses?

For about three weeks now, rumors in the blogosphere suggested Novell would announce massive layoffs as part of the SUSE Linux provider’s Feb. 26 earnings announcement. Well, the earnings have arrived. Alas, top-line revenue was very soft. But bottom-line earnings beat Wall Street’s expectations by a penny per share. And about those “massive layoffs?” The rumors — which The VAR Guy had ignored anyway — weren’t true. Our resident blogger will be back with more Novell earnings analysis on Friday.

CompTIA (the Computing Technology Industry Association) and its SoftwareCEO portal have issued a research report showing a substantial drop in high-tech mergers, acquisitions and IPOs. The stats didn’t surprise The VAR Guy. But the findings are a timely, interesting read nonetheless. When will the high-tech IPO market improve? The VAR Guy offers a guess — along with a look at three companies poised to test the IPO waters.

Tired of Twittering and chatting with FaceBook pals? Looking for a new fatal distraction? Perhaps it’s time to check out Cisco Systems’ online game tournament — called EdgeQuest 2. The game is designed to entertain while fueling Cisco’s lead generation efforts. But are vendor-driven games worth your time — and Cisco’s marketing budget?

At first glance, software as a service (SaaS) and open source are chipping away at Microsoft’s empire. But take a closer look, and there are at least three areas where Microsoft’s dominance remains unquestioned. Skeptical? Take a look.

A few weeks ago, The VAR Guy told readers Red Hat’s JBoss middleware business would eventually be larger than Red Hat’s Linux platform business. Apparently, Oracle/BEA Systems veteran Steve Hess got the message. He’s made the leap to Red Hat. And so have several other major names in middleware. Here’s why channel partners should pay attention.

Another promising piece of news from the open source IT channel: Opengear, which develops so-called console server systems,  is growing its partner network and expects to generate record results this quarter. Here’s the scoop.

As Microsoft pumps up Windows 7 for a potential Fall 2009 release, the operating system has received generally favorable buzz. But now, some folks are starting to wonder if Windows 7 will somehow save IT sales. The VAR Guy thinks not. Here’s why.

As The VAR Guy has reported, Cisco is offering a $100,000 bounty to Linux developers that write innovative AXP (Application Extension Platform) applications. But how can software developers actually win the money from Cisco? The networking giant offers some clues in this video…

The VAR Guy enjoys creative math. He often blogs about Microsoft’s hourly and daily profits, or the fact that Microsoft’s revenue still dwarfs the entire open source industry. But along comes this blog post from Netbook Digest suggesting the software giant lost $435 million in profits because of the Netbook boom and low-cost competition from Linux. Hmmm…

At first glance, it was a casual comment: Cisco Global Channel Chief Keith Goodwin posted a Tweet stating he was heading to Starbucks shortly before or after a meeting about the company’s core acceleration channel incentives. But was there a hidden meaning to the message? Hmmm…

Gateway, the PC industry veteran owned by Acer, has re-launched as a channel-only brand in Europe and is planning a managed services initiative for its channel partners.

Doyenz, a start-up in Seattle, Wash., has a rather intriguing business strategy for Microsoft’s Small Business Server (SBS) VARs. The plan involves meshing SBS with virtualization, cloud services and managed services. The result could be a next-generation opportunity for Microsoft’s SBS resellers seeking recurring revenue. Here’s the scoop, from The VAR Guy.

Pentaho, which specializes in commercial open source business intelligence (BI), has launched a formal Gold Reseller Program as part of a global push for the company. The VAR Guy is hardly surprised, given his ongoing dialog with Pentaho Channel Chief Lars Nordwall. Although details about the gold program are sketchy, Pentaho seems to be catching on with solutions providers.

xTuple, a small provider of open source ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, has a few surprising statements for channel partners: The company is profitable and has no plans to launch a SaaS (software as a service) platform because President and CEO Ned Lilly does not want to compete with channel partners. But that’s not all.

You’re a solutions provider. You’re trying to maximize cash flow. You need to better understand vendor financing options. You’re curious about hardware as a service (HaaS) but want to minimize your own financial risks. The VAR Guy and MSPmentor are preparing a special multi-part content series to help solutions providers, managed service providers and VARs navigate financial challenges. But we need your help…

When Red Hat and Microsoft announced a virtualization partnership on February 16, both companies directed most of their messaging to customers. Now, Red Hat is back — promoting the Microsoft relationship to channel partners, and taking a thinly veiled shot at Novell. Here’s how.

You’ve signed some new partners. The ink hasn’t dried yet when management starts asking “where’s the revenue?” You try to set expectations, but everyone wants revenue sooner. In most cases it takes longer to get the revenue engine started with partners. What you really need is that first “win” to launch and legitimize the relationship for both companies. So what can you do to accelerate the process?

Time for The VAR Guy to eat a little more crow. He vastly underestimated Microsoft’s ability to ship Windows 7 in 2009. Numerous reports now state that the first Windows 7 release candidate will reach selected testers in the next few weeks.