The VAR Guy

As Hewlett-Packard attempts to exit the PC market, some critics wonder if HP remains committed to small business customers and SMB channel partners. The VAR Guy’s answer: Yes, HP absolutely remains committed to SMB. But there’s going to be some turbulence ahead for HP’s SMB channel pros. Here’s why.

As Hewlett-Packard kills its WebOS tablet business and seeks to exit the PC market, there will be plenty of fallout across the technology industry. No doubt, everybody from Steve Ballmer in Redmond, Wash., to Michael Dell in Austin, Texas, to Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing in China is watching HP’s evolving business closely. Here’s a look at potential winners and losers amid the HP changes — and potential buyers and bidders for HP’s PC business.

We’ve all been there, in an airport or coffee shop with some Wi-Fi service we don’t know, trust, or simply don’t want to sign up for. But getting connected to the Internet is crucial for getting work done, and oftentimes 3G tethering just won’t cut it. What to do? Skype may have the answer: Skype WiFi will make the connection for you, and all you need to do is have credit in your Skype account …

It’s not Skynet — not yet anyway — but IBM has made a breakthrough in building a new type of CPU. It’s calling the experimental silicon a “cognitive computing chips” because they were built and designed to emulate the way the brain works. What does that mean for the channel, and more importantly, the world? Here’s just a few thoughts …

My initial reception of the Windows 8 tech demo Microsoft debuted in June 2011 was tepid — a touch layer on top of the existing Windows 7 operating system? Not much to look at, really. But according to the official Microsoft “Building Windows 8″ blog, there’s more to Windows 8 than meets the eye. Here’s what’s in store for upcoming OS …

When Hewlett-Packard’s earnings arrived today, they included big surprises. The company is cutting its full-year sales and earnings forecasts. But the real bombshell involves CEO Leo Apotheker’s attempt to reshape HP by acquiring Autonomy Corp. for $10 billion; potentially selling off HP’s $41 billion PC business; and killing WebOS tablet development. Now, Apotheker claims he has a three-point plan to get HP growing in higher-margin areas.

In a series of stunning decisions, Hewlett-Packard has confirmed that it’s trying to sell off its PC business, the HP Personal Systems Group (HP PSG). Plus, HP has killed the WebOS device business –  TouchPad and webOS phones are dead, though the webOS software remains alive. Also, HP  is in discussions to buy Autonomy Corp., which develops database search software, HP confirmed. Taken together, each of those moves — some pending, some completed — could help HP to reshape itself as an enterprise software and services company.

Hoping to drive more sales of Blue Coat technology from its partners, Westcon Group’s Security division is now offering Blue Coat’s secure web gateway and cloud services in its virtual demo lab environment.

Lenovo Group‘s Q1 results, announced in the U.S. late on Aug. 17, beat Wall Street’s expectations. Take a closer look at Lenovo’s earnings and you’ll see the company’s business strategy is opposite that of Dell, which reported earnings earlier this week. Here’s the update, and a reality check for Lenovo’s channel partners.

Centrify, which specializes in integrating Unix, Linux and Mac OS X Systems with Microsoft Active Directory for centralized management, has just secured $16 million in series D funding. Read on for the rundown on what’s ahead for Centrify, and what it means for the channel …

Cloud backup company Intronis has recently elected to move Steve Frank to the position of VP and chief architect at Intronis. What does this mean for the channel-centric cloud company? Read on for a quick rundown …

Storage and virtualization often go hand in hand, and storage company Nexsan has been looking to improve that all-important combination with the use of solid state drives. That’s why Nexsan has teamed up with Toshiba to put new SSD drives into its E5000 NAS storage devices. VARs working in virtualization or storage should read on for the speed specs …

So much for home field advantage.

No matter how you describe it, plenty of Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online customers were feeling pain today. The reason: A networking issue in one of Microsoft’s North America data centers stopped some customers from using Microsoft’s cloud applications — though Microsoft won’t label it a cloud outage. Surely, some channel partners were left feeling helpless. The VAR Guy wonders: Is this a one-time setback or is there something inherently wrong with the way Microsoft designs and deploys cloud services?

Reputation-based security is not a new technology, but it has long lacked the ability to deal with files that are neither “good” nor “bad.” But Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1, features new technology that not only recognizes those files of unknown reputation but also deals with them as customers see fit.

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) 3.0 has entered beta testing. The key goals: Improving RHEV’s management, performance and scalability. Red Hat is positioning RHEV 3.0 for just about everything — server virtualization, desktop virtualization, public clouds and private clouds. But can RHEV 3.0 help Red Hat to gain some ground on VMware? And will Red Hat channel partners rally around RHEV 3.0? The VAR Guy has some strong opinions on this topic.

If you’re a Veeam or ExaGrid partner, your data backup packages are about to get a big bump in speed. Veeam and ExaGrid have partnered to build a best-of-breed backup appliance specifically tailored for the protection of VMware environments. VARs working the virtualization space — where downtime is not an option — take note …

Palo Alto Networks, known for its “next-generation” firewall technology, has endeavored to expand the community of vendors inside its Technology Partner Program. How will this shape the security landscape, and more importantly, how does this play into the channel? Read on …

ViewSonic’s latest tablet, the ViewPad 10pro, comes with a twist. It’s not running Android or Windows — it’s running Android and Windows. Thanks to an Intel Atom CPU, Windows and Android can co-exist side by side, providing users with the best of both worlds when it comes to tablet computing. But will users want this, will this be a hit in the channel, and, more importantly, do we need this?

Dell’s Q2 fiscal 2012 earnings results, disclosed today, included a reduced revenue forecast that disappointed Wall Street and investors. But The VAR Guy has a piece of advice for Dell PartnerDirect resellers and VARs: Ignore Wall Street and focus on this reality check to help you pinpoint where Dell is heading next.

Is it possible to be sexy, rugged and reliable? In the case of Apple’s iPhone, the answer apparently is “yes.” A case in point: The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), one of the U.S.’s largest commuter railroads, is testing a mobile handheld system for passenger ticket sales. Instead of opting for a rugged, vertical-market device, the LIRR is using an Apple iPhone with a special credit card swiper and printer.

Wyse Technology is best-known as a thin client provider. But now, the company wants to be known as a virtualized platform provider focused purely on the channel. And yes, Wyse even wants to be known as the “cloud client computing” leader. Can Wyse back up those claims? Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Jeff McNaught offers some perspectives.

The VAR Guy continues to hear from partners who suggest VCE — the startup funded mainly by Cisco Systems and EMC — is undergoing a reorganization. A spokeswoman for VCE on August 15 said company officials were traveling for the next two days and were not available for immediate comment. The VAR Guy estimates EMC, Cisco and other investors have lost a combined $228 million on the VCE effort so far — though an EMC SEC filing suggests “momentum continues to build” for VCE. Here’s a look at The VAR Guy’s math… and VCE’s importance to channel partners.