The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy got to check out the Cisco Cius at a press event in New York June 29, 2011, and after some hands-on time, our reisdent blogger spoke with Richard McLeod, Cisco’s senior director of Collaboration Sales and Worldwide Partner Organization and Ken Snyder, emerging technology solutions manager at CDW, about the partner and channel opportunities with the Cius tablet. Both were happy to discuss how the Cius is more than a tablet, it’s an ecosystem. The VAR Guy likes that idea. Details follow…

Cisco Systems took the wraps off the Cius tablet in a TelePresence presentation June 29, 2011, followed by a hands-on test drive, which The VAR Guy was all too happy to take part in. Cisco made it clear it is serious about its tablet strategy: The Cius is not a consumer product. Rather, Cisco has endeavored to answer the needs of the enterprise, some of which can’t be addressed with a consumer tablet offering. From encryption to a curated application store, Cius may have more potential than the tech community initially gave it credit for. Read on for the details …

In the four short years since the iPhone’s inception, the way we build and use technology has drastically changed thanks to its influence. Don’t think the iPhone has affected your life? Think again.

Our next live webcast is Wednesday, July 20 at 2:00 p.m. eastern. The topic: Building Your Service Desk to Build Business. During the webcast we’ll cover five tips for success, delivered by two MSPs and an expert from Nimsoft (the webcast’s sponsor). We’ll take your questions throughout the webcast, which will help MSPs and solutions providers to understand how service desks can lift customer satisfaction and actually increase customer spending. Register now; our team looks forward to your questions and comments during the live July 20 webcast.

Is it cloudy in here, or is it just The VAR Guy? Avnet Technology Solutions is showing continued love for HP VARs (including a recent SaaS initiative) by launching the Cloud Center of Excellence (HP CCoE) inside its Arizona-based solutions center. Partners and resellers can now get a firsthand look at the latest and greatest data center products from HP, with the ultimate goal of educating partners on cloud models and infrastructure needs. What else is Avnet offering? The VAR Guy knows …

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Friendster, heck, even LinkedIn — social networking has reached (in my opinion) critical mass, and each social network is not without its disaffected users. My solution? Call your friends to hang out. But apparently, Google has decided to introduce its version of social networking to address the needs of the socially displaced. Enter: Google+, designed to ‘fix’ all those problems you have with those other social networks. Not convinced? Me neither. Read on and find out …

HP is launching iQuote, a quick way for distributors and resellers to obtain accurate quotes that factor in a slew of variables, from pricing based on product availability to running promotions for both customers and partners. Read on for the details …

Intel is now offering on-site repair for SMBs. But Intel isn’t directly doing the on-site repair, it’s actually giving that job to the channel. Super-quick details follow …

Oracle President Mark Hurd says Oracle will triple Exadata’s installed base in fiscal year 2012 — to roughly 3,000 installs. How will Oracle potentially achieve that goal? The apparent answer comes from Oracle Channel Chief Judson Althoff, who today launched the Exastack software partner initiative. Moreover, Althoff unveiled a new OPN Incentive Program designed to motivate VARs and VADs (value-added distributors) to sell specific Oracle solutions. Here’s the update.

When Microsoft Office 365 debuts today, the event may mark a symbolic turning point for Microsoft’s cloud strategy. Assuming Microsoft manages to keep Office 365 up and running, The VAR Guy expects the SaaS platform to be a hit with thousands of corporate customers that want familiar applications, mobile access from multiple devices, and predictable monthly costs. But will VARs really, truly profit from Office 365? Hmmm…

Microsoft is launching Office 365 today (June 28), but the cloud computing celebration started yesterday at Zimbra — an open source email platform owned by VMware. In a somewhat surprising editorial spin, The Wall Street Journal yesterday positioned Zimbra as a major rival to Office 365 even before the Microsoft cloud suite arrived. Here’s why.

If a world where all computer hardware is identical is a boring one, that’s arguably been the direction OEMs have headed in recent years. But with momentum behind ARM architectures rapidly increasing, could this era of homogeneity be coming to an end? And did it even exist in the first place? Here are some thoughts.

When many people think of virtualization, VDI immediately comes to mind. But The VAR Guy knows desktop virtualization isn’t just about thin clients and host servers. There’s a lot more going on, and Wanova is looking to ride the virtualization wave in all its iterations. Our resident blogger spoke to Wanova CMO Barry Phillips for some clues. Read on for the details …

When it comes to unified communications and wireless networks, enterprises have been stuck between a rock and a hard place: Most wireless networks don’t have the muscle to support a true UC experience, so users are forced to stick to using UC on their wired connections only. But Aruba Networks may be changing that with new technology that purports to offer the full Microsoft Lync UC experience over a Wi-Fi network.

Some things in life are plainly dichotomous: Mac or PC, Republican or Democrat, single malt or blended whiskey. But are you an Android person or a Chrome person? Google has created an interesting problem for the consumer market by developing two distinct and different mobile platforms. Chrome will be hitting the market any day now, while Android has been courting the public for quite some time. But when it’s time for you to decide, would you buy an Android netbook or a Chromebook? More importantly, what is Google’s endgame?

Oracle President Mark Hurd (pictured) and Channel Chief Judson Althoff will be on hand June 28-29, when the software giant hosts the Oracle PartnerNetwork Kickoff event for fiscal year 2012. The kickoff event comes a few days after Oracle announced 4Q 2011 financial results. So how is Oracle performing heading into this new fiscal year? Here are five key questions for Hurd and Althoff.

The VAR Guy has been cordially invited to preview the upcoming Cisco Cius tablet this week at an event in New York City, so our resident blogger plans to lace up his wingtips and don his fedora for this hands-on event. What will be top of mind, and what does The VAR Guy hope to find out? Read on for the quick rundown …

Apple recently released iOS 5 Beta 2, making the process of updating a phone’s iOS a whole lot easier. No more does a user have to perform a restore to do an update via syncing with iTunes. After two weeks of using the first iOS 5 beta, the first legitimate moment has arrived for me to use the “Backup from iCloud” feature and cut the cord with iTunes. Here’s some perspective on that process …

HP’s TouchPad webOS tablet and other associated webOS 3.0 devices will include HP webOS Pivot, a veritable catalog of what’s what in webOS. The TouchPad and associated technologies go live July 1, 2011, so what can we expect and should the channel care? Read on for the details …

Starting at 6:00 a.m. PT on Tuesday, June 28, partners — and potential partners — can tune in to hear the latest updates at partner.oracle.com. Watch Judson Althoff, senior VP of worldwide alliances and channels, as he hosts this year’s OPN Kickoff event, with special guests including Oracle President Mark Hurd, regional sales leaders and product executives.

The VAR Guy is just about ready to fly to California for an extended trip. Plenty of business, with some family travel allegedly mixed in. In the meantime, here are six channel partner blog entries The VAR Guy didn’t have time to write for the week ending June 24, 2011.

The fourth-annual MSPmentor 250 survey ends today (June 24, 2011). The VAR Guy’s sister site, MSPmentor, uses the survey to pinpoint the world’s top managed services experts, entrepreneurs and executives — folks who specialize in business leadership, sales, marketing, community development, coaching and more. Please submit your nomination(s) here. No need to stuff the ballot box — one submission per nominee is absolutely fine. MSPmentor will unveil the fourth-annual MSPmentor 250 results in August 2011. The resulting list and report can help you to rapidly build a managed services Rolodex.

Seemingly apropos of Apple’s recent decision to sell unlocked iPhones in the United States comes an interesting report that there are 1 million unlocked iPhones living on T-Mobile’s network. They’re not all iPhone 4′s, but the report suggests some interesting trends. Read on for a little speculation on this wide open future of AT&T and T-Mobile and some channel implications …