The VAR Guy

Red Hat‘s virtualization strategy is gaining momentum. One key indicator: The open source software company has trained 400 professionals on Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV). But that’s not all. Roger Egan (pictured), VP of North American Channels, has revealed several other milestones to The VAR Guy — including plans for a Cloud Partner Symposium. Here’s the update.

Linux is not exactly the first platform that comes to mind when one thinks of computer gaming. Yet Canonical continues to expand the lineup of games available for purchase by Ubuntu users in the Software Center. Here’s a look at the latest additions, and the partnerships Canonical is building through them.

Our next webcast, hosted by Talkin’ Cloud, focuses on Selling Secure Cloud Data Protection and Recovery to SMB Customers (Aug. 10, 2:00 p.m. eastern). Our guest speakers — a VAR, an MSP, and i365 — will help you understand how to select, promote and sell cloud storage solutions. And don’t forget to register for Five Steps to Building Winning Sales Proposals (Aug. 24, 2:00 p.m. eastern). That webcast will show VARs and MSPs how to speed the proposal process and close more deals more rapidly. Registration is now open for both webcasts, which are sponsored by i365 and Quosal, respectively.

So far, the endless drama around Google’s smartphone patent legal battles hasn’t had much of a channel impact, so The VAR Guy has shied away from rolling coverage of each new development. But when Google posts an official blog entry claiming “a hostile, organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents,” it’s time to take notice. Here’s the overview.

Microsoft has put a lot of time, money and effort into promoting the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. But getting enterprises to move from the workhorse Windows XP platform is an uphill battle — which is probably why Microsoft’s Windows business posted a slight loss in Q4. Enter Laplink, one of Microsoft’s first ISV partners, with a special offer to migrate endpoints from XP to Windows 7 in-place quickly for less than a dollar per machine. Here’s the scoop:

Not content to rest on its laurels following its July 2011 acquisition of Likewise’s AD Bridge technology, BeyondTrust has acquired GentleSecurity for its data loss prevention smarts.

E-mail and web security vendor M86 Security is leaning more on its channel partners to help it move deeper into the enterprise, and as such has redesigned its partner program in the Americas with a slew of new tools and incentives to jumpstart the process.

Hosted Microsoft Exchange provider Intermedia has updated its study of SMB ActiveSync device activations for the first time since May 2011, and it looks like Apple continues to rule the enterprise mobility space. In fact, Apple iPad activations grew 102 percent in less than three months, and it is now the second-most activated device behind the iPhone.

There are almost more virtualization tools out there today than even Wikipedia can count. KVM, however, stands out among them as perhaps the only free, non-commercial and open source hypervisor designed for enterprise-grade performance. And it’s come far in its (comparatively) short life — so far, in fact, that it may be time to consider it as a virtualization solution for the desktop as well as the server.

Cisco Systems is set to announce Q4 fiscal 2011 results on August 10. It’s safe to say the earnings call will be filled with strategic updates — especially as Cisco this month cuts 6,500 employees from its payroll. CEO John Chambers has publicly stated that Cisco will streamline its business, become more nimble and regain its focus. Still, plenty of questions remain. In fact, here are six of those core questions…

Sophos, the endpoint security software provider, is looking to partner with two types of VARs in the United Kingdom. What’s on the priority list? Here’s a look.

Polycom has completed the acquisition of HP’s Visual Collaboration Business Unit, a deal it announced in June 2011 that transfers HP’s visual collaboration technologies including its Halo products and managed services business to Polycom and makes Polycom the exclusive Telepresence partner to HP for future UC solutions.

CompTIA CEO Todd Thibodeaux offered a clear, concise message to channel partners today that CompTIA Breakaway conference in Washington, D.C. Indeed, Thibodeaux said CompTIA is investing $4 million this year in training and education. Thibodeaux also put a bright spotlight on CompTIA’s management team, each of whom explained an ECAP (Education, Certification, Advocacy and Philanthropy) strategy to several hundred channel partners and influencers.

Panda Security is adding to the ranks of its channel team in Britain with the appointment of Paul Chesterfield as channel account manager.

German remote access software specialist NCP engineering has signed an agreement with Synnex to distribute its full portfolio of VPN products to VARs and system integrators here in the United States. NCP is positioning the deal with Synnex as the first stage of a major American channel push. Here’s the scoop.

Few Ubuntu users may have noticed, but GNOME 3 has been officially released now for several months. How does this open source desktop environment, so long in the making, compare to its competitors? Read on for an analysis.

Seeking to promote Ubuntu to resellers and distributors, Canonical is making a surprise appearance this week at CompTIA Breakaway in Washington, D.C. Here, Canonical is outlining seven potential profit opportunities for partners that back Ubuntu, a Linux distribution that has mobile, desktop, server and cloud computing capabilities. Equally important, Canonical is promoting Landscape — a remote management tool — for VARs and MSPs.

The VAR Guy has allegedly arrived at CompTIA Breakaway, a conference that is expected to attract roughly 1,000 channel executives representing VARs, distributors, vendors and educators. There will be plenty of official news at Breakaway (Aug. 1-4, Washington, D.C.). But what’s the chatter behind the scenes? Here are seven tidbits of info The VAR Guy has already overheard here at the conference.

ADARA Networks is hoping its new channel program will help bring the next-generation networking company out of relative obscurity in the commercial market and into the hearts and minds of enterprise companies everywhere.

As a growing number of companies use social media sites to communicate with their end user customers, an equally growing number of companies are running into compliance issues related to those social media communications. But the latest version of Symantec Enterprise Vault aims to help companies make sure their social media interactions stay on the right side of the law.

I have realized Apple and I finally have something in common: We both think CD/DVD drives are a waste of time, money and space. Yet, not all users seem to agree. So I ask: Is the optical drive really dead?

You’ve heard of infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service. BlackLocus, a venture-backed company with operations in Austin, Texas and Pittsburgh, Pa., adds something else to the mix: pricing as a service. The offering is geared toward online retailers: BlackLocus’ service analyzes price competition for a merchant’s wares. The company says the resulting insight into the competitive landscape helps online stores optimize pricing and rank favorably in price comparisons.

Smartphone and tablet adoption within small businesses continues to skyrocket, according to AMI Partners. And as those new devices proliferate, cloud-related opportunities also grow for VARs and MSPs serving SMB customers. Here’s why.