The VAR Guy

Data data everywhere, and not a bit to waste. That’s Hitachi Data Systems’ plan with its partner program, TrueNorth, which has undergone a major overhaul to help partners provide real value-added services to customers in the ever-growing demand of data. HDS’ senior VP of Global Partners Mike Walkey, VP of Global Partner Enablement Tonia Gonsalves  and Senior Product Marketing Manager for Services Joe Jose offered up the details of the revised program:

How’s this for ironic: Lenovo President and COO Rory Read (pictured) spent roughly seven years as a top leader within IBM Global Services. But he somehow kicked the IT services habit when he joined Lenovo. In fact, Read publicly vowed — multiple times today — that Lenovo will never build or buy an IT services organization. In a FastChat Video with The VAR Guy, Read explained why Lenovo will continue to focus on product innovation while leaving IT services to channel partners.

Sophos has named Steve Hale as its new vice president of global channel sales, The VAR Guy has heard (and LinkedIn has fully confirmed). Hale is a familiar name to savvy channel partners — having held key channel posts at Novell, F5 Networks and Microsoft. Hale joins Sophos at a rather intriguing time. Here’s why.

Avnet Technology Solutions is introducing a new joint initiative with Cisco Systems and NetApp, offering U.S. and Canadian resellers the option to sell validated data center solutions based on Cisco and NetApp’s “FlexPod” for VMware. If virtualization and data are up your alley, read on …

The keynote sessions have just wrapped up at Lenovo Accelerate: Channel Partner Forum 2011. How’s this for ironic: At a time when most IT vendors are talking about services and cloud computing, Lenovo made a compelling case for product innovations driving channel partner success. Here are the top seven keynote highlights — including public confirmation that Lenovo will launch Google Android tablets in mid-2011.

Right on the heels of Sophos acquiring UTM company Astaro, Sophos has unveiled an enhanced product line for “complete protection anywhere.” The effort, naturally, includes Sophos partners and resellers. Here’s the update.

Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang opened his arms to North America channel partners today, thanking them for their support and rallying them to take the next step forward with Lenovo. During a keynote at Lenono Accelerate: Channel Partner Forum in Las Vegas, Yang said channel partners drive 85 percent of Lenovo’s North American business. He also predicted Lenovo’s channel success in China will repeat itself in North America. Here’s why.

Not a member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN)? Wanna be? I want to share with you how this growing program works, and how you can kick-start your business with Oracle. There are no fees, dragon blood tests or Oracle contracts required.  It’s so easy you can make money reselling Oracle 1-Click products today. Here’s the background.

Juniper Networks claims mobile malware threats have jumped 250 percent. To address the threat, Juniper and BullGuard have developed BullGuard Mobile Security 10 for Android, Symbian, Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry devices, with Apple iOS support coming soon. For VARs and MSPs, mobile device management (MDM) — including security — are real opportunities. But just be careful of all the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) in the market. Here’s why.

The first-ever Lenovo Accelerate: Channel Partner Forum has kicked off in Las Vegas. The VAR Guy is seated front-and-center at the conference. Instead of hyping cloud and new form factors like tablets, Lenovo stuck with bread-and-butter messaging. Indeed, the nearly 500 partners attending the conference grew their Lenovo-related sales roughly 30 percent in 2010 vs. 2009, according to Lenovo. Now, Lenovo is preparing to triple its consumer-oriented marketing to win the SMB channel. It’s called the “For Those Who DO” campaign. Here’s the update.

Recognizing the proliferation of emerging technology on wireless networks can wreak havoc on existing infrastructures, Aruba Networks has formalized a program to collaborate with other vendors to ensure interoperability and give its reseller partners some peace of mind.

What’s the latest with Apple? Two new big items are on the horizon and making their way through the rumor mill: the iPhone 4S/5 and Mac OS X Lion. Read on for a quick rundown on what could be coming out of Cupertino this June at the Worldwide Developer Conference and later in September 2011 …

The VAR Guy’s sister site, MSPmentor, will host its next webcast is this Wednesday, May 18 at 2:00 p.m. eastern. Guest speakers Matt Nachtrab (CEO, LabTech Software) and Kevin Gibson (CTO, Atlanta Technology Force), will describe five ways you can lift your recurring revenues using RMM (remote monitoring and management) software.

HP is enhancing its virtualization solutions portfolio with an update to its thin clients and HP MultiSeat solutions. The HP t5740e Thin Client is getting under-the-hood upgrades, while the HP MultiSeat Solution has been expanded to provide improved end user experience. A quick chat with Tad Bodeman, director of marketing for the Thin Client Solutions at HP, revealed HP’s motivation behind the enhancements and why partners should care:

EMC knows information is knowledge and knowledge is power, and its latest channel program is designed to make EMC’s partners very powerful, indeed. Its IIG Partner Program gives EMC resellers access to the entire Information Intelligence (II) product portfolio, including the Enterprise Content Management solutions, Documentum xCP and Information Governance. Additionally, EMC is replacing its “Designed for EMC” program with a new “EMC Certified Solution” designation that lets system integrators and ISVs develop complete solutions and hosted services. Chris McLaughlin, EMC’s VP of Channels and Alliances for IIG, shed some light on why the changes were made:

Minneapolis, Minn.-based Kroll Ontrack, a subsidiary of the information solutions company Altegrity, introduced its ANZ Data Recovery Certified Partner Program last week for its VARs in New Zealand and Australia. The aim of the program, according to the company, is to identify its most valuable VARs in the region and then provide them with the IT equipment, training and information to better serve their end user customers.

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.

Knock, knock. Time for The VAR Guy’s final speed date of the day. Arriving now is Valerie Fawzi, VP of worldwide marketing for i365, the online backup and restore company owned by Seagate. i365 launched a Cloud Connected Service Provider partner program back in 2010. So how is it performing so far and what are the implications for VARs and MSPs? Here’s the speed-date update.

The VAR Guy just returned from a quick lunch. Waiting at his doorstep was Alex Thurber, McAfee’s Channel Chief. Thurber arrived with a smile — perhaps because Intel’s buyout of McAfee was completed earlier this year. And now McAfee is preparing an SMB-centric channel partner program to go along with established channel efforts. But that’s not all. Here are highlights from The VAR Guy’s sit-down with Thurber, senior VP of worldwide channels, commercial and SMB at McAfee.

There’s another knock on the door. This time it’s Meaghan Kelly, VP of strategy and SMB at Hewlett-Packard. Kelly is sitting down with The VAR Guy in San Francisco to offer some updates on HP’s channel strategy, cloud and business relationships. Here’s the conversation…

Google’s Jeff Ragusa showed up at The VAR Guy’s hotel suite in San Francisco about an hour ago. It’s time for a speed date with one of Google’s best-known channel leaders. During the discussion, Ragusa offered multiple updates on the Google Apps Authorized Reseller partner program, special training and trial opportunities for partners, and the long-term partner implications for Google Chrome OS and Android. Here’s a recap.

Today is shaping up to be a rather busy day. The VAR Guy is going speed dating at a secret location in San Francisco. Among the alleged guests stopping on by: Google’s Jeff Ragusa, Hewlett-Packard’s Meaghan Kelly, i365′s Valerie Fawzi and McAfee’s Alex Thurber. There was also a great conversation with Symantec but … yada, yada, yada … The VAR Guy can’t share details yet. Our resident blogger is loaded up with latte and a WiFi connection. Stay tuned. And for information about future speed dating engagements send email to TheVARGuy [at] NineLivesMediaInc [dot] com. Use the subject line “Speed Dating.”

The term “audio-visual” isn’t bandied around much these days, relegated instead to the old-school slide projectors and film spools that used to dominate public education. But InFocus is hoping the term will spur a new opportunity for the channel as the next generation of audio-visual components — DLP and digital projectors, slim displays and the underlying wireless networks that facilitate collaboration from any location – come into view.