The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy is nearly ready to disappear and celebrate the New Year. But even during a holiday season, there’s plenty of channel partner news worth chasing. And there’s lots of news ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). So before our resident blogger allegedly unplugs for the weekend, here are six channel partner blogs The VAR Guy didn’t find time to write for the week ending December 31, 2010.

If you’re a solutions provider in the Apple market, you might have a few customers wondering when iWork ’11 is scheduled for release. Once upon it time iWork was launched simultaneously with iLife, but iLife ’11′s announcement came and went with no word on when iWork ’11 would arrive. Until now: Indirectly and independently confirmed, iWork ’11 will arrive when the Mac App Store does, in January 2011. Is this new go-to-market strategy bad news for resellers?

It may be a cliché, but 2010 wouldn’t feel complete without compiling a list of the most memorable happenings in the open-source channel over the last 12 months.  So, without further ado, read on for a recap of the events that made the greatest ripples in the free-software world since January 2010…

Our next MSPmentor Live webcast, hosted by The VAR Guy’s sister site, is set for January 26 at 2:00 p.m. eastern. The topic: Six questions MSPs must ask before selecting an RMM (remote monitoring and management) tool. Here’s a bit more about the webcast and our guest speakers.

Those who monitor the unified communications and collaboration space saw a lot of action in 2010. Advances in technologies, a shift in standards and myriad partnerships have morphed UCC into a technology that many now consider a must-have rather than a nice-to-have, and the channel can bet there’s more to come in 2011. What did we see in 2010 and what can we expect to see in the next year? Read on …

Coming soon, courtesy of our sources at Microsoft, will be a shiny new Windows Phone 7 for my personal review. It’s a kind gesture and a bold move considering I’m an Apple iPhone fan. But don’t think I’m not going in with an open mind — I love playing with new gadgets more than I love Apple. Plus, I’m happy to review anything that seriously competes with Apple because it drives innovation. Read on for how I plan to test drive Windows Phone 7.

Gammatech, makers of tough ruggedized notebooks, was kind enough to send me its Durabook R13S for review. The R13S is a 13-inch tablet notebook with a use-case mainly for the military. So why would we be testing it out? Well, maybe you’re a VAR selling into a governmental or health-care environment where durability is a must. If that’s the case, read on.

The unified communications and collaboration space saw a lot of movement in 2010, so it’s no surprise that the technology is top of mind for a number of vendors as they plot out their channel course for 2011. Cisco Systems, for one, is betting on five big trends it believes will steer the direction of UCC in the coming year, and hopes its channel partners will follow accordingly.

As of November 2010, Apple had about $51 billion in cash and investments. CEO Steve Jobs has hinted that Apple’s war chest would be used for “bold moves only.” Hmmm … What can Apple do with all that money? Here are five potential ways for Apple to spend all that money…

It’s December 24 and The VAR Guy needs to, um, start his holiday shopping. So, our resident blogger is cutting out just a little early today. If any really big news breaks The VAR Guy will be back with timely updates. In the meantime here are six channel partner blogs The VAR Guy didn’t find time to write for the week ending December 24, 2010.

A technology rumor is coming from an unlikely source: Fox News. The claim? The HP “PalmPad” is set to debut at CES 2011. What can we expect from the hybrid love child of HP and Palm? Read on and find out…

Traditionally, the computer gaming market has been among the niches least impacted by the open-source movement. But that could change dramatically if the developers behind the cross-platform, real-time strategy game 0 A.D. succeed in redefining the way games are created, marketed and distributed. Here’s why:

We took a look at Wanova in August 2010 when the company announced it was giving away free trials of its Mirage Desktop Virtualization. (That’s still happening.) Now, Wanova has gone and created a full partner program for resellers, distributors and MSPs. Here are some details.

Bloomberg says Microsoft may launch an ARM version of Windows at CES 2011. Two people familiar with the ‘confidential’ matter leaked the apparent details. Is it true? We don’t know yet, but we can always speculate. The implications of the ARM instruction set adapted to Windows could change the face of tablets as we know it. Here’s why:

Sponsored Blog: The fundamental trends underpinning I.T. investment going into 2011 are virtualization and cloud computing as well as prolonging the life of and cutting costs on End of Life (EOL) and End of Service (EOS) equipment. Enduring cost pressures mean I.T. budgets will continue to be greatly reduced and executives will have to be more conscious of spending to accomplish projects with fewer resources. So what’s a solutions provider to do? Here are some practical steps for VARs.

We know there are plenty of VARs out there carrying iPads probably encased in some leather folio and accompanied by an Apple Bluetooth keyboard. And that setup is annoying. I’ve been there. Who wants to carry two pieces of hardware? The ergonomics are all messed up. Enter ClamCase, which is designed to provide robust, hard-shelled protection and converting your iPad into a fully functional netbook. Is it all it’s hyped up to be? Read on and find out …

Former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Mark Hurd is getting a visit from the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding his swift exit from HP. There are concerns Hurd allegedly shared insider information about HP’s plans to acquire Electronic Data Systems Corp. What’s more, the SEC is looking into whether Hurd used company money to have an alleged affair with Jodie Fisher, an HP contractor. Here’s the story so far:

Apple has released the iAd Producer development environment, which enables developers to more easily create iAds. Available to members of the iOS Developer Program, iAd Producer aims to address previous complaints about difficulties working with Apple in developing iAds. Developers can craft ads with a light hand using iMovie or get heavy-handed with a real iOS app. Here are some more details and the MSP/VAR implications …

Talk about the tail wagging the dog… Former Lenovo SMB Director Jay McBain is having plenty of tongue-in-cheek fun this week. Publicly, McBain has not said where he’s going. But privately a bunch of media folks under gag order apparently know the answer. Even better, McBain is re-tweeting media speculation about his career direction. Here’s the update.

The Mac App Store is set to debut on January 6, 2011, and with it comes a new era of Mac Apps. Good for the Mac user, for sure, but how will this new market impact channel partners and software developers? Will they take to the new Apple-sanctioned waters, or hang tight to their independent online stores — using  SEO (search engine optimization) and demo apps to potentially gain revenue and a user base? Let’s take a look:

There’s a lot of buzz in the air over Motorola’s impending contribution to the tablet space. And Motorola’s so sure it’s got a honey of a device, it created a viral video putting the sting on its competition ahead of CES 2011. Titled “Tablet Evolution,” the video pokes fun at iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tablet while giving viewers absolutely nothing in the way of concrete information about the Motorola device — not even its name — but drops a major hint in the way of a flying insect.

Executive VP of Sales Paul Johnson is leaving Sage Software Inc. effective immediately, the company has confirmed to The VAR Guy. The move is the latest executive change at Sage North America, which allegedly faces intense channel pressure and SaaS competition from Microsoft Dynamics CRM and NetSuite.

Jay McBain, director of SMB within Lenovo’s channel, has left the PC maker — though McBain has yet to publicly disclose where he’s heading next. In the meantime, McBain leaves Lenovo in good hands as the PC maker increasingly focuses on MSP-centric business opportunities. Here’s the update.