The VAR Guy

The open source world is cheering as Red Hat joins the S&P 500. It’s a huge vote of confidence in Red Hat. But is it a vote of confidence in the open source business model? Or more of a sign that Red Hat is miles ahead of its open source rivals on Wall Street and in the channel? Some clues from The VAR Guy…

There’s no question that Ubuntu dominates the desktop-Linux world.  With commanding market share and a huge user community, it’s by far the most well supported and documented open-source platform in the desktop world.  On servers, however, the situation is different–and Canonical needs to address it if it wants to become a real player in the server market.

Hey Monty, who made key channel partner program deals for the week ending July 17, 2009? Here’s a look at new alliances, reseller agreements and partner program initiatives, as tracked by The VAR Guy.

What’s the fastest way to become a managed service provider? Are there certain steps you can take to accelerate your success? I weighed those questions while meeting with Virtual Administrator, a Master managed service provider, at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 (WPC09) in New Orleans this week. Here’s a recap.

When Microsoft offered more details about Office 2010 earlier this week, The VAR Guy noticed a rather interesting nugget of information involving Microsoft Office for the Web’s anticipated browser support and software as a service (SaaS) strategy. The software giant, it seems, will be giving equal time to Firefox (the open source web browser) and Apple’s Safari. Here’s the scoop.

The VAR Guy had plenty of SaaS questions for Microsoft’s BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) team on July 15. And Microsoft’s BPOS team replied to the rapid-fire inquiries with plenty of answers. Among the SaaS revelations: Microsoft claims early BPOS partners — which resell offerings like Exchange Online and SharePoint Online — have found ways to pocket about $167 per seat in revenue. Here’s how.

Call them strange — but smart — bedfellows in Microsoft’s cloud. As part of the Microsoft Windows Azure initiative, Microsoft says the Azure cloud will support MySQL, the open source database. Frankly, The VAR Guy thinks it’s a brilliant move. Here’s why.

As The VAR Guy wraps up work at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 (WPC09), he’s hearing some buzz from VMware. It involves preliminary plans for a big VMware virtualization partner event in early 2010 that will likely attract roughly 2,000 solutions providers. Here’s the scoop.

Our research shows half of e-commerce websites have known vulnerabilities, putting a website owner’s business reputation, customer data and revenue at risk. And according to a security watch-dog site, only 5% of these vulnerabilities are fixed. Translation: This spells o-p-p-o-r-t-u-n-i-t-y for solution providers like you to sell vulnerability assessment solutions and add on remediation services to the deal.

How’s this for ironic: As Microsoft pushes ahead with its Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), some of Microsoft’s own SaaS partners say their hosted offerings — Exchange, SharePoint, etc. — are several steps ahead of Microsoft’s internal BPOS efforts. A case in point: Consider the situation at Intermedia, a major hosted application provider that’s working with nearly 5,000 channel partners.

Kernel mode setting will be enabled by default for Intel-based video cards on Ubuntu 9.10, set to be released in October.  I recently played around with this new feature on a Karmic Koala live CD, and share my results below.

When it comes to the next stop for virtualization, Microsoft, VMware, Lenovo and solutions providers all seem to be pointing to the same destination: The small business market. In fact, virtualization within the small and midsize business sector has been a hot topic of discussion at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 (WPC09) in New Orleans this week. Here’s the scoop.

Microsoft and Red Hat have launched hosting and cloud partner programs within weeks of one another. But the partner programs are as different as closed source and open source. Here’s the scoop, plus a key ingredient that could Microsoft’s hosting strategy a leg up with channel partners.

Plenty of managed service providers want to host Microsoft applications or push into software as a service (SaaS). Now, there’s a partner program — called Microsoft Communication Services — to help MSPs get started. The big question: Is the partner program designed for smaller MSPs? Or does it funnel more recurring revenue opportunities to Comcast? Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.

One of the greatest problems hindering desktop Linux is its diversity.  With 800+ distributions, dozens of user interfaces and lots of different applications that do the same things, it’s no secret that the Linux world is convoluted for developers and users.  But if Mark Shuttleworth has his way, the free-software community might become a little saner.

When Office 2010 ships, Microsoft will blur the lines between on-premise and Software as a Service (SaaS) productivity suites. A case in point: Office Web — the “lightweight Web browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote” — will be available for customers to host on their own. Smart move. But where do partners fit in the picture?

As Microsoft prepares to launch Windows 7, the software giant is wisely describing Windows 7′s connectivity to Windows Server, Exchange Server and other popular back-end solutions. But is it time for Microsoft to think outside the Redmond box, and talk about Windows 7′s connectivity to Linux servers? Plus, what about Windows 7′s ability to run open source applications?

Time is running out to register for our Wednesday, July 15 Webcast (The VAR Guy Live), which focuses on Hosted Security revenue opportunities and go-to-market strategies for VARs and managed service providers. Here’s a quick overview of the event.

As expected, Microsoft Channel Chief Allison L. Watson (pictured) launched the company’s new Partner Network channel program this morning at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 (WPC09) in New Orleans. The Partner Network is built upon three pillars: Capabilities, Customers and Connection. Here are some brief highlights.

“It’s just a flesh wound.” That infamous line came to mind when The VAR Guy learned when Nortel Networks, the imploding networking company, is a gold sponsor for Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 (WPC09) this week in New Orleans.

When the Open Source Channel Alliance — launched by Red Hat and Synnex — hosts its first conference for VARs and channel partners in late July, a surprise guest will be on hand: Hewlett-Packard. Here’s the scoop and the implications for channel partners.

As The VAR Guy heads to this year’s Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, he looks forward to quizzing four key Microsoft executives about the company’s cloud, software as a service (SaaS), small business and netbook/OEM strategies. Take a look, and submit your own questions to The VAR Guy (if you have them) for Microsoft.

Hey Monty, who made key channel partner program deals for the week ending July 10, 2009? Here’s a look at new alliances, reseller agreements and partner program initiatives, as tracked by The VAR Guy.