The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy is packing his bags for another business trip — this time he’s heading to CompTIA Breakaway (Aug. 1-4, Washington, D.C.). But before The VAR Guy surfaces somewhere at the channel conference, here are six entries our resident blogger didn’t have time to write for the week ending July 29, 2011.

It took a few years, but The VAR Guy finally believes CA Technologies (formerly Computer Associates) really has changed its stripes and reinvented its business. The latest evidence involves CA’s buyout of WatchMouse, which develops a SaaS platform that lets customers and partners monitor cloud service level agreements. But there’s a bigger story here. A much bigger one. CA finally seems to be focused on growing channel opportunities — including cloud and managed services opportunities — rather than legacy software maintenance opportunities.

In the unified communications space, everyone is falling over each other trying to support as many UC endpoints as possible, in as many ways as possible with as little interoperability problems as possible and as cheap as possible. But is there one uniting system that can make ringing up an individual for a video call as simple as dialing an number? Telesphere has endeavored to do just that by working with BroadSoft, CounterPath and Polycom to launch VideoConnect. Here’s the scoop…

Remember when we covered rumors about RIM’s BlackBerry home media device? Here’s some more evidence that proves the home media device is a tough marketplace: The Logitec Revue was a flop. The Revue was one of the first Google TV units to hit the marketplace, and has the dubious pleasure of being the first one to have its price slashed from $300 to $250 to $99. So what’s Google’s strategy as OEM vendors take a bath on untested technology? Here’s a little perspective…

Way back in April 2011, Netgear loaned me a Netgear ReadyNAS Pro 4 to review. Fast forward to the present, and I can easily recommend the ReadyNAS Pro 4 as a solid investment for VARs within the SMB and professional consumer (pro-sumer) market. Here’s a closer look at my findings.

What a difference a day makes. Over the past few months, pundits — including The VAR Guy — have criticized Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers for management missteps that will soon trigger 6,500 layoffs at the networking company. But by July 28, Wall Street was starting to regain faith in Chambers and Cisco. What triggered that overnight change of heart? And what does it mean for fiercely competitive networking industry VARs? The VAR Guy has some insights to share. Right here. Right now.

The VAR Guy has to concede: In mid-2010, he was losing faith in Canonical — promoter of Ubuntu Linux. Amid multiple management changes, Canonical seemed focused on too many different priorities. And emerging threats like Google Android seemed to suffocate Canonical’s mobile Internet device (MID) strategy and even Ubuntu’s netbook momentum. Fast forward to the present, and several business developments suggest that Canonical is finally getting the Ubuntu house in order.

No one likes the idea that $500 tablet or smartphone they just purchased will be obsolete in just under a year’s time. Still, I’m starting to detect a trend in the Google Android device world. Unlike their Apple counterparts, it looks like Android devices are seemingly disposable and become outdated pretty darn quickly. Does that mean Android devices — and more frequent hardware purchases — will cost businesses more than Apple device refreshes over the long haul? Here are some thoughts.

ForeScout Technologies Inc., which specializes in network access control (NAC) and security solutions, has launched the ForeScout Access Partner Program for authorized reseller channel partners. Yes, ForeScout already had a partner program in place. But the revamped partner program offers some new incentives for VARs, government resellers and security service providers that promote ForeScout’s CounterACT solution.

Dot Hill, the virtual storage specialist, has named two new VPs to help bolster the company’s channel efforts and customer service programs. The key moves: Brad Painter has been named VP of worldwide channel sales and Scott Brooks becomes VP of customer services and sales.

The VAR Guy expects Roger Egan, Red Hat‘s North America channel chief, to surface at CompTIA Breakaway (Aug. 1-4, Washington, D.C.). With a little luck and some cell phone speed dialing, The VAR Guy expects to grab Egan for some coffee and conversation about Red Hat’s partner program. In between sips of Latte, here are five questions The VAR Guy plans to raise with Egan.

Juniper shares fell a whopping 20 percent today after the company issued a weak earnings outlook. But here’s the bigger question: Do earnings concerns at Juniper, Cisco Systems and Extreme Networks signal broader troubles in the networking industry? Before you answer consider this: The VAR Guy is starting to hear from channel partners who say their networking profits are getting pinched.

Pentaho, which develops open source business intelligence software, continues to polish and enhance its channel partner program. The latest effort involves an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) push, which allows partners to embed Pentaho’s software into their own products. The results look promising: First-half 2011 OEM sales grew 170 percent vs. the same period in 2010. In some ways, The VAR Guy is starting to think of Pentaho has a business applications provider rather than an open source company. And that’s precisely the goal. Here’s the update.

After several years of bumpy performance, Symantec seems to be hitting its stride again. The security and storage software giant today delivered record Q1 revenues that easily beat Wall Street’s expectations. But perhaps equally important: Symantec Endpoint Security 12 (SEP 12) recently arrived without suffering any major setbacks with channel partners. Here’s the update.

We recently covered how Apple killed off the classic white MacBook and launched two new MacBook Air versions. Apple simultaneously killed the DVD drive in their latest revision of the Mac Mini. Detecting a trend? Yup, it’s the death of physical media. But is Apple also planing on killing the MacBook Pro line as we know it? Maybe…

Every distributor is clamoring to offer their VARs and partners some sort of cloud service or cloud training, and Arrow ECS is no exception. The distributor has just announced plans to help their resellers link up with IBM‘s cloud services, connecting the dots between IBM’s portfolio of cloud solutions with Arrow’s Fusion program. More details follow…

Security remains top-of-mind at Tech Data. The latest example: Tech Data has inked a distribution agreement with Webroot, a security solutions provider that targets businesses and consumers alike. Here are the potential implications for Tech Data’s channel partners.

When The VAR Guy last checked in with Merchant Warehouse in October 2010, the company was refocusing its channel partner program. Fast forward nine months and The VAR Guy notices something interesting: It looks like Bob Cellucci has succeeded Jay Chaudhry as VP of business development for partner channel. Here’s the details…

Oracle is making multiple MySQL announcements and statements at this week’s OSCON conference in Portland, Ore. So, The VAR Guy is wondering: Is Oracle gearing up to promote MySQL, the open source database, to channel partners? The VAR Guy has some strong opinions and plenty of background to share.

The VAR Guy recently discovered that Byte — one of the most popular tech magazines of the 1980s — is back online. Our resident blogger expected to find some incredible, unique insights from the newly polished Byte brand. Instead, he got a rehash of the old debate: Is Windows dying and is Microsoft in decline?

VARs working with Avnet have yet another reason to stay close to the distribution juggernaut. Avnet Technology Solutions is offering new consultative services along with cloud strategy workshops to help both resellers and customers understand the transition to the cloud. We’ve heard a lot about cloud migration strategies, so what’s really in it for channel partners? Read on for the scoop…

For the second time in recent months, Microsoft‘s loss is Juniper‘s gain. Specifically, Juniper has recruited Robert Muglia as executive VP for the Software Solutions Division. Muglia previously was president of Microsoft’s Servers and Tools Business — and he had a big hand in the Windows Azure cloud strategy. Mulgia is the latest in a growing list of executive talent that Juniper has recruited away from Microsoft, Cisco Systems and other technology giants in recent months.

As RIM faces hard cutbacks and delayed product launches, Apple has service providers and telcos chomping at the bit for the new device. Both AT&T and Verizon have alluded to a new iPhone arriving sometime in the fall of 2011. When can we really expect the iPhone 5 and will it even be the iPhone 5 — or merely a boost to the iPhone 4? Speculation follows…