The VAR Guy has his eyes on multiple channel partner and IT conferences this week. But before our resident blogger surfaces at more conferences, here are six channel partner blog entries The VAR Guy didn’t have time to write for the week ending May 13, 2011.

7. Returning Fire?: The Microsoft TechEd North America conference is this week in Atlanta, Ga. It arrives one week after the Google I/O conference attracted 5,000 developers in San Francisco. Keep in mind: Microsoft said Windows 7 sales fell 4 percent in its most recent quarter, and Google on June 15 will launch Google Chromebooks for Business — a notebook family (from Samsung and Acer) running Chrome OS and linked to cloud services. How will Microsoft respond? Answers may surface at TechEd.

6. Got Momentum?: The SAP Sapphire Now conference has started in Orlando, Fla. The VAR Guy expects SAP to offer some timely updates on Business ByDesign, a SaaS platform positioned to compete against NetSuite and other cloud ERP solutions. Has Business ByDesign delivered partner profits? The VAR Guy will be listening closely.

5. Mobile Meets the Cloud: At the Lenovo Accelerate 2011: Channel Partner Forum this week, listen closely for Lenovo to describe how its R&D is addressing mobile and cloud opportunities for VARs and MSPs. Of interest to The VAR Guy: How many different mobile form factors will Lenovo introduce, and how many of them will push beyond Windows?

4. Growing Momentum: Synnex, the distributor, is quietly helping VARs to develop mobile smartphone apps (Apple iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, WebOS, Windows Phone 7). The VAR Guy spoke to a solutions provider last week who’s having great success with one such app. Stay tuned for more details.

3. See You In August?: CompTIA has stared to dial up the marketing noise around Breakaway (Aug. 1-4, Washington, D.C.) the association’s annual channel industry conference. If you haven’t been tracking CompTIA’s evolution — here’s a recent update.

2. The Other Big Challenge: A few tipsters shared more thoughts about Cisco’s recent struggles — and the company’s heavy dependence on internal committees. The tipsters say the committees became less and less effective because they’d make recommendations to Cisco managers, but the committees didn’t have budget capabilities to enact the recommendations.

1. Check the Headline: This remains a Top Six list. Always has been. Always will be. That’s all for now from The VAR Guy. Thanks for reading.

Sign up for The VAR Guy’s Weekly Newsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow The VAR Guy via RSS, Facebook and Twitter. Follow experts at VARtweet. Read The VAR Guy’s editorial disclosures here.

Read More About This Topic

Share This Post

Leave a Comment

 

Blog-Powered Site By ContentRobot