The VAR Guy

Despite his many annual trips to Las Vegas, The VAR Guy’s no gambler. However, he knows a sure thing when he sees one, and based on the amount of noise coming from Interop 2011, our resident blogger is willing to bet this year’s event is gonna be big.

Interop is the bellwether for networking technologies, setting the stage for the next big thing in infrastructure, hardware and software. This year’s event focuses heavily on cloud, virtualization and next-generation networking — technologies The VAR Guy believes are driving IT’s value proposition in the enterprise. So what’s on the agenda, and what can the channel expect from Interop 2011?

• Cloud: Obviously, The VAR Guy is interested in what kind of cloud innovations we can expect for the upcoming year. Will we see a focus on private, public or hybrid? Will vendors focus on products that make it easier to put data in the cloud, or solutions to put data in their own clouds? Will there be technologies that enable VARs and MSPs to easily offer their own hosted solutions?
• Virtualization: These days, virtualization has expanded well beyond the basic idea of VMs floating around on servers. But how are vendors applying new approaches to virtualization, such as using consolidated VMs overlaid with user-based layers? Security vendors as well are more in tune with virtualization needs, offering optimized protection software that runs in low or constrained resource environments. Virtualization also means data, so The VAR Guy will see which data vendors are focusing on enhanced VM hardware. Most importantly, when can VARs get their hands on this stuff?
• Networking: The VAR Guy has plans to chat with some top HP executives while he’s at Interop, so you can bet he’ll get a business forecast. How is HP stacking up against its networking competitors including Cisco and Dell? With other networking upstarts including F5 and Riverbed also showcasing at Interop, The VAR Guy will be on the lookout for trends. Plus, The VAR Guy wants to know more about HP’s tablet strategy with the TouchPad.

But we all know there’s more to Interop than just three trends. After all, it’s Vegas, baby, and the odds are there will be some noise around other technologies including unified communications, VoIP, application delivery and good old-fashioned software solutions. Meanwhile, The VAR Guy plans to keep his loose change in his pocket and his focus on the technology, and keep himself far, far away from the noise of the slot machines.

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