The VAR Guy

Apparently, there’s more money to be made in hosted applications — which is why Rackspace Hosting‘s hosted solutions division is relaunching their reseller program with higher margins and more products. Here’s the deal.

Wireless mobile giant Motorola has launched their PartnerEmpower Channel Program. Officially, the Motorola PartnerEmpower Program (PEP)  brings together all of Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions (EMS) partners “under a single channel program framework.” Here are additional perspectives from Motorola Channel Chief Janet Schijns (pictured).

Parallels, the virtualization and cloud enabler, has officially announced they’re supporting Chrome OS, Google’s mobile Linux distribution. What does that mean for VARs out there? Maybe nothing, superficially, but…

Isilon Systems, which specializes in scalable storage, network-attached storage, archiving solutions and storage virtualization, is making some channel partner moves. I spoke with Leonard Iventosch, the channel VP who is building Isilon’s partner program. Here’s his strategy.

Wyse Technology, the prominent thin client company, is preparing a “completely new product in the consumer and enterprise space” that leverages Ubuntu Linux, The VAR Guy has learned. Our resident blogger is nearly sworn to secrecy… Still, here are some preliminary details about the emerging Wyse-Ubuntu effort. Plus, the implications for Canonical (Ubuntu’s chief promoter) and channel partners that focus on thin clients.

Digium Asterisk, the open source IP PBX platform, just received a major vote of confidence from a key channel partner. Synnex Corp., a distributor that supplies more than 15,000 resellers in North America, has agreed to promote Digium’s Switchvox to channel partners. Here are the implications for the unified communications market and the emerging open source IT channel.

Networking solutions provider Westcon has announced the opening of their “virtual demonstration lab,” which lets resellers and their customers test F5 Networks-delivered hosted solutions in a virtualized network environment. Here’s the scoop.

Friday announcements always tend to get smothered by the weekend. On March 5th 2010 Engadget reported some interesting new details and exclusive pictures about Microsoft’s dual-screen tablet, dubbed Courier. It’s got a lot of work-horse potential and productivity power. Here’s the scoop…

Despite our predictions, the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco ended with a whimper on Friday. Awards were presented, but the biggest announcements were made earlier in the week. Here’s the roundup of the day’s events and our overall convention analysis.

I know what you’re thinking: “Am I reading The VAR Guy or some other tabloid blog?” But let’s face it; no matter what business you’re in, you’re interested in Apple’s business, even if it’s just an ancillary glance. Friday, March 5th came and with it was the announcement that the iPad would be available April 3rd. It kind of slipped under our radar. What didn’t, however, was the fact the iPad is coming a little late. Oh, and Steve Jobs was at the Oscars…

Sponsored Video: Sophos Channel Chief Chris Doggett returns for his latest FastChat video conversation. This month’s discussion focuses on security software partner programs. Doggett explains how VARs and solutions providers can look beyond marketing hype to measure the success (and profitability) of various security software partner engagements. Here are the details.

Headset and Bluetooth device manufacturer Plantronics is expanding its channel program to include solution providers that offer unified communications solutions, hoping to share in a market that is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years

Network access vendor Net Optics delivered the latest in its line of network taps and other monitoring solutions at last week’s RSA Conference. And for solution providers dealing with high-end enterprise and larger networks, that’s good news.

Canonical wants Ubuntu Linux to run on a range of devices — from mobile Internet devices all the way up to high-end servers and cloud systems. But there are two markets where Canonical has no plans to push Ubuntu. Here they are.

When the Open Source Business Conference starts March 17 in San Francisco, The VAR Guy will be watching and listening closely for signs of corporate open source momentum from upstarts like Canonical and giants like Microsoft, Oracle and even SAP. Yes, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP. Here are five trends to anticipate at the OSBC conference.

Novell’s board of directors is facing a pair of symbolic deadlines: The VAR Guy thinks Novell will need to somehow address the pending private equity takeover bid by Elliott Associates before the BrainShare conference starts March 21 in Salt Lake City, Utah and before Red Hat announces quarterly results on March 24. Here’s why.

How’s this for ironic: The more The VAR Guy moves around, the more weight he gains. Eating at buffets in New York, Las Vegas, San Jose and San Francisco this week didn’t help… If The VAR Guy put down his fork long enough, perhaps he would have written the following six channel partner blog entries for the week ending March 5, 2010:

The VAR Guy doesn’t have time to attend the funeral… but he was expecting this death: Microsoft is discontinuing future development of Windows Essential Business Server, effective June 30th, 2010. Here’s the scoop.

In a speech to the student body University of Washington, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer elucidated the promises and perils of the cloud, shedding some light on Microsoft’s cloud strategy.  Gizmodo’s got the blow-by-blow – here’s a recap and our take.

Yesterday was Day 4 of the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stole the show by challenging the private sector and individuals alike to come up with a way to educate the public on the necessity of cybersecurity. Some details, and the rest of the fourth-day highlights behind the jump.

Your friendly neighborhood distribution giant has just put a little more solution in your solutions. Avnet has launched SolutionsPath Advisor, which is designed to help VARs and resellers develop more specialization. Distribution prowess and an education? Tell me more…

Arrow Electronics ECS has launched a new professional services business unit. Translation: Arrow ECS now provides technical, education, and other support across their products. Here’s the quick details on this announcement…

What a difference a decade or two makes. Back in 1995, Bill Gates wrote the famed Internet Tidal Wave memo to help turn Microsoft toward the Web. Fast forward to the present, and current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is trying to recapture some of that old memo magic, this time saying Microsoft is going “all in” with cloud computing. Translation: Ballmer in 2009 sounds a lot like Gates in 1995. But here’s the problem: The VAR Guy knows Bill Gates. And Steve Ballmer is no Bill Gates. Here’s why.