The VAR Guy

The iPhone 4 may very well go down as one of the most beloved and the most hated best-selling Apple device ever. After Steve Jobs’ press conference on the antenna design, issues and fixes, he noted popular phone manufactures — like RIM, HTC and Samsung, along with a note about Nokia in a previous press release — all have phones that can suffer the same issues the iPhone 4 does. But Nokia, RIM and HTC are saying Apple is crying foul. They’d never let bad antenna design ruin their phone, those companies claim. But what’s the real story?

Fresh out of VMware: vSphere version 4.1 with a slew of new features, plus an updated focus on the channel and VMware partners. The moves come as both Microsoft and Red Hat make competitive virtualization claims vs. VMware. Read on and find out what Doug Smith, senior direct of global distribution for VMware, has to say about the latest VMware partner program moves.

RNA Networks, which specializes in memory virtualization, has launched RNA MVX 2.5, the latest version of their memory virtualization software, apparently accelerating applications up to 25 times. Read on for the scoop and potential implications in the virtualization market…

“Does Ubuntu have a firewall, and how do I turn it on?” is a popular question among new Ubuntu users.  The answer is a bit complicated, but it’s an understandable inquiry for those migrating from the Windows world. WorksWithU addresses that question below by taking a look at Ubuntu’s firewall and some of the tools available for managing it.

At first glance, Canonical will spend most of this week promoting Ubuntu at OSCON, the open source convention. But take a closer look and you’ll discover Canonical and Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud Edition surfacing at HostingCon in Austin, Texas. Here’s why.

As OSCON (Open Source Convention) gets set to start July 19 in Portland, Oregon, I’m reminded of an Ubuntu-centric conference that once showed great promise. The event, called Ubuntu Live, was co-located at OSCON in 2007. But it no longer exists. Here’s why it’s time for Canonical to revive Ubuntu Live for partners and customers.

The VAR Guy is running on fumes today. Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 (WPC10) was long and tiring, but the conference represented a strong showing for Microsoft and roughly 10,000 channel partners. Here are six channel partner blog entries The VAR Guy didn’t get a chance to write while he was running around WPC10 for the week ending July 16, 2010.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs says all iPhone users will receive a free case to help alleviate reception issues with their popular smartphones, USA Today has reported. For users still unsatisfied with the fix, Jobs says they have until September 30 to return the phone for a full refund, the newspaper’s online edition added. The VAR Guy’s opinion about iPhone 4 remains unchanged. Here it is.

In case you were holding your iPhone 4 the wrong way and didn’t receive the email alert, Apple is set to hold a press conference at 1:00 p.m. eastern/10:00 a.m. Pacific today (July 16). Most pundits think Apple will address the iPhone 4 antenna issue. The VAR Guy will provide a complete recap and perspectives following the webcast. UPDATE: Here’s how Apple plans to address the Apple iPhone 4 antenna issue.

SANpulse Technologies, Inc., which provides storage migration and data center consolidation solutions for large enterprises, is boasting some impressive numbers for the first half of 2010 — including 280% revenue growth in Q1 and Q2 from last year. Here’s the scoop.

Zoho Projects, the SaaS-based project management and issue tracking product of Google Apps competitor Zoho, has announced the addition of a collaborative Bug Tracking Module. They say it’s designed to help developer teams work together to get software projects done. Here’s the scoop.

When Jon Roskill was named Microsoft Channel Chief a few weeks ago, The VAR Guy openly wondered if Roskill would ever hire or name a Cloud Channel Chief. Time for The VAR Guy to eat some crow: Microsoft essentially has a Cloud Channel Chief in place. Her name is Gretchen O’Hara, senior director of Microsoft’s channel cloud strategy. And O’Hara says Microsoft is launching a range of tools to help VARs and MSPs develop their cloud pricing and profitability strategies. Here are the details.

Microsoft COO Kevin Turner this morning took aggressive shots at Apple, Oracle, Linux, VMware and Google — even painting Google as a Big Brother-type company that tries to say they’re not evil in their mission statement. During a keynote at Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 (WPC10), Turner described how Microsoft’s mobile, desktop and cloud strategy will allow the software giant to beat back top competitors. Turner also described market share gains against Apple, VMware and Google. Here’s a recap.

Intronis is set to announce the hiring of a new channel chief. But that’s not all. The online backup specialist has also hired a new VP of sales, the grape vine tells The VAR Guy. Here’s where Intronis is heading next, and the potential implications for VARs seeking storage as a service solutions.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the addition of Cluster Compute Instances for high-performance computing to the Amazon EC2 cloud platform. What this means is that AWS can now handle yet another task normally relegated to on-premises systems. Here are some details.

What keeps Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer up at night? A few years ago, the answer likely involved Linux, Red Hat, MySQL and other disruptive open source upstarts. Now fast forward to this year’s Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC10), and there’s nary a mention of open source here at the event. Why’s that? Three answers: Google, VMware and the cloud. Here’s some perspective from The VAR Guy.

At the recent Ingram Micro Cloud Summit, some pundits predicted cloud computing would kill small business servers. But don’t tell Microsoft. The software giant is preparing two Windows Small Business Server upgrades. And one of the upgrades — code-named SBS Aurora — will have some integrated cloud capabilities. Partners like Diskeeper, Hewlett-Packard, Level Platforms and Symantec are signing on. Here’s what VARs need to know.

Jon Roskill has only been VP of Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group for thirteen days, which means that this week’s partner conference was really his first chance to talk to the IT channel directly. His message? Microsoft is committed to providing tools designed help their partners take advantage of cloud opportunities. Here’s the scoop.

By the end of this year, expect to see an App Store for Microsoft Office Communications Server 14, Microsoft’s unified communications system. But here’s the twist: Microsoft isn’t developing the app store. This particular online store will be launched by a channel partner. Here’s the scoop.

How’s this for ironic: During Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2010 (WPC10), Microsoft’s consumer product pitches — featuring Windows Phone 7 and XBox Kinect — stole Microsoft’s channel cloud thunder. Here’s a recap of Microsoft Channel Chief Jon Roskill’s keynote, and a look at Microsoft’s somewhat awkward attempt to shift from consumer products to channel cloud discussions during a single session.

Truth be told, complexity is good for VARs and solution providers. Attempting to integrate a simple web application into today’s IT environment requires an extensive breadth of knowledge – from the hardware, operating system or virtualization platforms, to database, network configurations, and proxies.  This expertise commands solid margins, and has become the core value proposition for many channel partners. Now here’s the twist…

Distributor Ingram Micro has announced that from next week through the end of September, they’re going to be bundling a specialized version of Laplink’s PCmover migration assistant with every purchase of Microsoft Windows 7 for their reseller partners. The companies are calling it the “MoveNow” program, and it’s designed to give VARs an edge when bringing customers up-to-date. Here’s the scoop.

Many VARs and MSPs (managed services providers) turn to industry coaches, marketing pundits and other types of gurus to help bolster sales. But how can VARs and MSPs find coaches who truly deliver business value? The VAR Guy doesn’t have a perfect answer. But he hears CompTIA is working on some sort of Channel Coaches effort. Here’s the chatter.