The VAR Guy

When IBM announces its Smart Business cloud computing strategy on June 16, Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux distribution will be along for the ride. The news represents IBM’s latest vote of confidence in Ubuntu, amid growing evidence that Canonical and Ubuntu are finding a home in cloud computing. Here’s the scoop.

Novell has taken two more steps to bolster SUSE Linux in the IT channel. Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions is now a Novell Authorized Training Partner in  North America. The move comes as Novell strives to migrate Red Hat Enterprise Linux customers to Novell SUSE Linux. Here’s the scoop and some perspective from The VAR Guy.

Solutions providers that sell, service and support Microsoft Response Point — a small business VoIP phone system — may potentially learn more about the product’s fate on June 30 during a Microsoft Response Point Town Hall Meeting. Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.

The VAR Guy saw some vague news about a European start-up seeking to organize Microsoft, CompTIA and Cisco certified IT professionals who want to start their own computer repair businesses. Details about the effort, called Computer-troopers, are sketchy. But here are some initial observations.

Improving boot time has been a focus of Ubuntu developers in recent releases, with the goal of a ten-second startup set for Ubuntu 10.4.  To test progress thus far, I compared boot performance for Ubuntu 8.04, 9.04 and 9.10.  Below are the results, which demonstrate the impressive strides that have been made thus far towards a faster boot.

The VAR Guy thinks Symantec didn’t hear the first Software as a Service (SaaS) wake-up call. But the security and storage company is finally making some SaaS noise, and Wall Street is pleased to hear it. Here’s where Symantec could be heading next with SaaS and cloud computing.

One week after IBM claimed Microsoft Small Business Server partners are flocking to Lotus solutions, Microsoft is counter punching. In an email to The VAR Guy, Microsoft defends its small business channel momentum and points out some alleged weaknesses in IBM’s small business efforts.

When a vendor channel is in the early stages of development, their requirements for channel partners are usually only that they have a pulse. Fast forward 12 to 18 months, and a fledgling channel program involves 5% of partners who are actively engaged and 95% who sold once on a customer’s request and then disengaged. So what’s the fix?

Abuse. Intimidation. And support. You can find all that and more on the Ubuntu Users mailing list. An official support channel, the mailing list is where new users are directed by Canonical for technical support and discussions about new features and ideas. But there are some key problems with the mailing list.

As Canonical polishes Ubuntu to potentially support Google Android and Moblin v2, I’m both impressed and concerned. On the one hand, Canonical continues to change with the times — and in some cases, stay ahead of the times. On the other hand, Canonical runs the risk of repeating some major software mistakes IBM made in the 1990s. Here’s why.

Two major cloud services developments in Asia — involving large service providers and Google Apps rival Zoho — have captured The VAR Guy’s attention. If you’re a VAR trying to track turnkey SaaS (software as a service) offerings, keep an eye on Zoho’s work in Asia. Our resident blogger believes similar cloud trends will unfold in Europe and North America. Here’s the scoop.

The economy is turning for the better — but in many markets, ever so slowly.  I talked with a VAR a few days ago who is cutting his services rates by 25 percent for all work that can be completed by August 31, 2009. The VAR’s goal: To make certain his people stay busy through the summer. So a key question: Instead of cutting your rates  should you lay-off some staff to save money?

Rob Ross leads one of California’s most successful VAR and managed service provider (MSP) businesses. But he now has a bigger claim to fame: Ross ranks among the world’s top Segway Polo players — a “sport” pioneered by Apple co-founder Steve “Woz” Wozniak. Skeptical? Here’s a video to prove Segway Polo exists.

The VAR Guy’s sister site, MSPmentor, is hosting a webcast today (June 10) focused on Hardware at Your Service. This is a rare opportunity to hear from a managed service provider and their end-customer during the same conversation. It starts at 2:00pm eastern. We’ll welcome your questions throughout the webcast. Here’s what we plan to cover:

After several years of trying to find a good note-taking solution, I’ve finally settled on a local installation of MediaWiki on my Ubuntu laptop for managing information relevant to my academic and personal pursuits.  Below, I outline my experiences with the software, and explain why the ease of deploying it and similar packages on Ubuntu is one of the platform’s greatest, and perhaps most under-appreciated, strengths.

During the recent IO Developer Conference in San Francisco, Google Channel Manager Jeff Ragusa (pictured) offered an update on the Google Apps Reseller program (see video below). But that’s not all. During a separate webcast today, Google gave participants an update on the Google Apps Enterprise strategy. Here’s the scoop.

As part of an global channel partner briefing, IBM CEO Sam Palmisano (pictured) and IBM Global Business Partners GM Rich Hume today launched PartnerWorld Communities. The social network is designed to accelerate partner collaboration and channel-driven business deals. Hmmm. Does the channel really need yet another social network community?

The Grapevine tells The VAR Guy that Google is preparing to make some Google Apps announcements really, really (really) soon. Our resident blogger is checking in with the search giant for more information. Will the news involve the Google Apps Reseller program? Too soon to say. But our resident blogger will be back with an update later today.

Citrix Systems has found a new way to be a thorn in Cisco Systems’ side. Indeed, Citrix is among the investors pumping money into Vyatta — which positions itself as the open source alternative to Cisco Systems. The Citrix-Vyatta relationship involves networking, cloud computing, virtualization … and money. Here’s the scoop.

In January 2009 I wrote my first blog here: “Open Source Channels: Critical But Different.” My goal was to  explore, question, and understand how open source is changing the world of partner programs and channels as we know it today. I posed more questions than I had answers to so I thought it would be interesting to look back and see if the picture is any clearer.

When it comes to video, even when Cisco Systems Inc. loses the networking giant wins. A case in point: Less than a week after Cisco touted its Flip video camera and essentially bet the company on video, Apple today unveiled the iPhone 3G S — which allows users to shoot and edit videos from their smart phones. But don’t weep for Cisco. Here’s why.

xTuple is a small open source company with big plans. A prime example: The maker of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software has launched an xChange Online App Store for customers and channel partners. Here’s the scoop, from The VAR Guy.

What if you could speed Small Business Server 2008 migrations by 50 percent, using cloud technology? Sound too good to be true? The folks at Evolve Technologies, a solutions provider in Fairfax, Va., seem to have found a cloud approach that truly accelerates SBS upgrades. Here’s the scoop.