The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy is either a busy dude — or the ultimate slacker. (Perhaps he’s just busy slacking.) Either way, here are six channel blog entries he failed to write for the week ending Sept. 25, and their implications for readers.

7. It’s A Deal: Ingram Micro is now distributing QLogic‘s network infrastructure solutions. That’s all The VAR Guy has to say about that.

6. Novell Cuts Resellers?: Reports across Europe indicate Novell is cutting some of its under-performing partners. The VAR Guy hopes to speak with Novell Chief Marketing Officer John Dragoon for details. If the reports are true, The VAR Guy isn’t pressing the panic button. Sometimes in the channel, less is more for everyone involved.

5. Red Hat Rises: The company’s latest financial results show continued progress, suggesting that Red Hat’s Linux and JBoss initiatives are accelerating. Next up, Red Hat is pushing hard to train partners on virtualization. Partial disclosure, The VAR Guy owns a few shares in Red Hat stock. But the number of shares is too embarrassingly low to disclose here.

4. Dell-Perot Systems: The Non-Story: Yes, Dell purchased Perot Systems for $3.9 billion. Yes, it will lead Dell to deliver more direct consulting in large enterprises. But for most VARs and MSPs, this is a non-deal with zero competitive issues.

3. Living on the Edge: In a bid to upend Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packards ProCurve team, Extreme Networks is now offering customers a limited lifetime warranty for its edge switches. The program beats rival competitive offerings in several areas, including an offering of next business day shipments for hardware replacement.

2. See You In Paris?: The VAR Guy hears Cisco Systems is developing a Velocity marketing event for channel partners. Assuming he finds a passport and some class, perhaps The VAR Guy will trade in his trademark Black Hat for a beret…

1. Check the Headline: If you know The VAR Guy, you know he doesn’t play by the rules. There is no #1 on this list, because it’s a top six list.

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