The VAR Guy

The vast majority of Symantec’s security and storage business remains on-premises. But the software giant continues to expand its Symantec Hosted Services business, which has attracted roughly 200 new partners worldwide in the past quarter, according to Helen Cendrowski, director of channels-Americas. So where are Symantec Hosted Services heading next? Here are some clues from Cendrowski and some speculation from The VAR Guy.

At a time when VMware faces intense competition from Citrix, Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat and other aspiring virtualization companies, here’s an eye-popping statistic: Roughly 83 percent of customers consider VMware their virtualization platform of choice, according to a survey conducted by CommVault. Here are some deeper details, plus other daily highlights from this week’s VMworld conference in San Francisco.

Wanova Inc, which specializes in centralizing user desktops in the data center, has released Mirage Version 1.5 at VMworld today (August 31, 2010) — boasting that this version brings more features and capabilities than ever before. Here’s some background.

Trend Micro today announces two new solutions designed to give channel partners a security boost in virtualized and cloud environments: Deep Security 7.5, an update that brings agentless anti-malware to VMware environments; and SecureCloud, a first-of-its-kind public cloud data protection solution, the company claims. Here’s the scoop.

Permabit and BlueArc, which both specialize in data storage optimization, have joined forces in an OEM relationship to provide Permabit’s Albiero technology embedded in Blue Arc’s upcoming solutions. Here are some early details.

With today’s addition of iSCSI protocol support to their OneFS storage operating system, Isilon claims they now have the industry’s first unified scale-out enterprise storage solution. In theory, VARs can now consolidate file- and block-based applications into a single shared storage pool and increase efficiency. Here’s the story.

No matter what kind of prospect they are, your potential clients will be able to spot a sales pitch a mile away. So surprise them by doing more listening than talking. VARs, MSPs and IT service providers must invest time in talking to their prospects as if they were actual people, and not just a hand that can writes a check. The secret to success: Determine your prospects’ personality type, and tailor your message to their values. Here’s how.

Rumors are circulating across the Web that Cisco Systems plans to buy Skype. Why would the king of networking potentially want to own an instant messaging and chatting system? The answer is obvious to The VAR Guy. Here’s the analysis.

Centrify is the latest company trying to make some noise that this week’s  VMworld conference in San Francisco. Specifically, Centrify is delivering a new “automated cloud security ” suite of solutions that will centralize cloud server control using Microsoft’s Active Directory. Here’s the details…

Here’s potential proof that Hewlett-Packard has big plans for the Palm acquisition:  HP CTO Phil McKinney posted pictures on his Twitter account that showed censored-out, but very obvious shapes of prototype devices. Here’s some speculation on what’s to come…

Zoho , a SaaS application provider that competes with Google Apps, has launched a Zoho Docs Applie iPhone application. Ironically, Google has yet to make a similar move. Here’s a quick update on Zoho’s strategy.

The VAR Guy is thinking about placing a bid for 3PAR before heading out for the weekend. But while our resident blogger tries to scrape together $2.1 billion, here are six channel partner blog entries The VAR Guy and his team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Aug. 27, 2010.

As Hewlett-Packard and Dell continue the bidding war for 3PAR, the showdown’s biggest winners are cloud, storage and virtualization upstarts that enjoy rising valuations while heading to the VMworld conference (San Francisco, Sept. 30-Aug. 2). Here’s why.

Likewise plans to unveil yet another reason to dump physical servers in favor of virtualized systems at VMworld (Aug. 30-Sept. 2, San Francisco). The effort involves a CIFS file server. The catch: it’s only available for VMware, at least for now–but support for other virtualization platforms remains a possibility.

IBM is trying to help channel partners with social media strategies. The IBM effort deserves applause but it begs a bigger question: Are VARs facing a social media problem — or does the real issue involve broader marketing challenges? Here’s the story and The VAR Guy’s spin.

Hewlett-Packard is multi-tasking in the acquisition market. Even as HP battles Dell to potentially acquire 3Par, HP has also found the time to purchase Stratavia, a privately-held database and application automation company. Here’s the details…

It’s only one win. But for Microsoft’s Hyper-V virtualization push, it could be a key victory in the global virtualization war vs. VMware. Specifically, CH2M HILL expects to save a projected $3.2 million over the next several years by switching from VMware virtualization solutions to Microsoft’s Hyper-V hypervisor. Here’s the story.

Thousands of channel partners, IT managers and virtualization pros will gather at VMworld 2010 (Aug. 30-Sept. 2, San Francisco). So, what should solutions providers expect to see at the massive virtualization event? The short answer: Bidding Wars (HP vs. Dell for 3Par), merger rumors and plenty of competitive posturing from VMware and its rivals. Here are eight trends The VAR Guy intends to track at VMworld.

It’s official, Apple’s traditional Fall event is scheduled for September 1, 2010. Here’s the scoop on what to expect, what people are speculating about, and what I think about the whole deal.

Eucalyptus Systems, which develops an open source private cloud platform, has updated their namesake product to version 2.0, allegedly adding higher scalability and flexibility. Here’s a look at the effort.

Earlier today, ZaReason sent me a group email offering back-to-school specials on Ubuntu-based computers. I receive similar special offers from System 76 from time to time. Going forward, I hope Canonical finds a way to turn up the volume on these third-party Ubuntu system promotions. Here’s why. And here’s how.

Question: How do you invade corporate data centers? Answer: You get really cozy, really quickly with data center software companies like VMware and Oracle. That’s part of the strategy unfolding at Cisco Systems Inc., which will have a major presence at the VMworld and Oracle OpenWorld conferences in San Francisco. Here’s the analysis.

Microsoft Exchange remains a dominant email platform. But a healthy number of solutions providers are embracing Open-Xchange, an open source email system that can run on-premise or within a solutions provider’s cloud. True believers include MessageWire and Solar VPS , two closely related solutions providers in New Jersey.