The VAR Guy

Avnet Inc has cquired itX Group Limited, in effort to expand and strengthen their presence in the Australian market. Here are the quick details…

Tech Data is diving deeper into the Cisco Systems pool. Specifically, Tech Data has opened a Unified Computing System data center that allows VARs to test UCS B- and C-Series Server technology. Read on for the rest of the details…

Back in January 2010, when Oracle completed the Sun Microsystems buyout, The VAR Guy issued a warning to Larry Ellison and Company: Don’t Mess Up Java. Fast forward to the present, and Java is at the heart of a lawsuit Oracle has filed against Google. The lawsuit involves Google’s use of Java inside the Google Android OS. Here’s a closer look plus my personal perspectives.

The upcoming release of Ubuntu 10.10 promises a variety of new features for Ubuntu’s desktop and server editions. But it will also bring significant changes for Ubuntu’s lightweight cousin, Xubuntu.  Here’s a look at some of the most important updates for the Xfce-based Ubuntu variant, including several that will increase its independence from standard Ubuntu.

Disk-based data protection specialist FalconStor Software, Inc. has partnered with virtual tape library (VTL) supplier Bus-Tech, Inc. to provide interoperability between their flagship products, providing deduplication for mainframes. That means Bus-Tech’s channel partners have an easier way to minimize storage capacity in the data center and reduce the need for physical tape. Here’s the scoop.

Canonical remains committed to Landscape — the remote systems management platform for Ubuntu. But one of the Landscape team members has joined Dell, according to sources close to the hardware giant. Here’s the update.

The VAR Guy is still recovering from CompTIA Breakaway, a conference that included long days and late evenings. Now, our resident blogger is back home on Long Island’s Gold Coast. Before heading out for the weekend, here are six channel partner blog entries The VAR Guy didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Aug. 13, 2010.

Mid-August is upon us, and that can only mean one thing (corn on the cob and the Saint-Napoleon notwithstanding): the next release of Ubuntu is inching ever closer to maturity. With the debut late last week of the third alpha of Ubuntu 10.10, it’s time to take a look at how Maverick Meerkat is shaping up.

While The VAR Guy ruminates on a possible VMware-Alfresco partnership, I decided now would be a good time to take a quick look at some of the major SaaS players attacking Microsoft Exchange/SharePoint’s dominance in the enterprise. Here are seven competitors looking for a cloud slice of Microsoft’s pie.

Microsoft has released an updated SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) tool to help administrators of local Microsoft Access or Oracle MySQL databases quickly and directly move data into the SQL Azure cloud. Here’s the scoop.

Sources say VMware is mulling a partnership, investment or outright acquisition of Alfresco — the open source enterprise content management system. The potential reason: Alfresco would potentially allow VMware to attack Microsoft SharePoint, which generates more than $1 billion in annual revenues for Microsoft and its channel partners. Here’s the apparent chatter involving VMware and Alfresco, and the potential implications for solutions providers.

Technology and IT distributor Avnet has announced its results in Q4 and FY 2010 — and they say that they’ve grown quarterly revenue 38.5% year over year and annual revenue 18.1% year over year. In plain terms, the tech titan made $19.16 billion in FY 2010 – and the VAR-oriented Avnet Technology Solutions division led the way. Here’s the scoop.

We’ve written recently about social media archiving and opportunities for VARs and MSPs to link up with product vendors such as Dexrex Gear and LiveOffice. BMRW & Associates Inc. and its Arkovi Web-based tools also operate in this space. The financial services industry, with its compliance obligations, is a key area of focus for the company as it is for other companies offering social media archiving products. Here’s why.

Israeli hybrid storage solution vendor CTERA has partnered with US-based value-added IT distributor Seneca, enabling Seneca’s reseller partners to offer a full range of cloud services and appliances to their customers. Here’s the scoop.

When VMware acquired open-source email system Zimbra from Yahoo! back in January 2010, it raised eyebrows across the channel and begged questions about the virtualization provider’s plans. Now VMware is ready to attack Microsoft Exchange in the enterprise with the launch of the virtual Zimbra Collaboration Suite Appliance, designed to run on the vSphere platform. Here’s the scoop.

Microsoft and Polycom have entered into a strategic partnership under which both companies will develop and market integrated, standards-based unified communications solutions based on the upcoming version of Microsoft Communications Server. The agreement also signals a planting of the flag in the UC space, with Microsoft declaring its rightful place in unified communications.

CompTIA CEO Todd Thibodeaux and Service Leadership’s Paul Dippell are hosting a channel coaches gathering here at CompTIA Breakaway in San Antonio, Texas. Although the meeting is closed-door, the agenda provides some clues about how coaches may ultimately work with VARs and managed services providers over the long haul. So who will be in the room and what’s on the agenda? Here’s a look at the gathering — from outside the room.

Rackspace thinks highly of the channel. That’s one key takeaway from the company’s recent earnings call for the quarter ended June 30. Lanham Napier, Rackspace’s president and chief executive officer, praised the economics of channel sales versus the cost of expanding Rackspace’s market reach on its own. Here are the details.

Seagate subsidiary i365, Inc., today announces the extension of its hosted EVault Remote Disaster Recovery (RDR) service to give midsize businesses the ability to protect and recover servers running the gamut of operating systems from Linux to IBM i/AIX to Microsoft Windows. Here’s the scoop.

Oracle OpenWorld, set to start Sept. 19 in San Francisco, will attract thousands of Oracle partners and customers. But here’s some timely irony: Oracle CEO Larry Ellison may wind up sharing the day-one spotlight with Hewlett-Packard’s next CEO, The VAR Guy believes. Here’s why.

I’m greedy when it comes to software: I like having code that works, but I also want the very latest stable versions of my applications.  Ubuntu does a good job satisfying the former demand, but it lags behind other distributions when it comes to keeping its repositories up-to-date.  Fortunately, this issue has caught the attention of Ubuntu developers as of late, who have been discussing changes to the backports system.  Here are the details.

One of Microsoft’s top small business executives, Birger Steen (pictured), is making the leap to Parallels — the fast-growing provider of software for launching SaaS and cloud applications. Steen’s move highlights a potential shift from on-premises SMB software to cloud-centric, hosted software for small businesses. Here’s the analysis.

Most of the chatter at this week’s CompTIA Breakaway conference (Aug. 9-12, San Antonio, Texas) will involve cloud computing and SaaS channel partner strategies. But The VAR Guy will be looking beyond the cloud hype to explore additional channel trends and reality checks. Here are seven themes and news tips worth tracking.