The VAR Guy

Cisco Systems, in an effort to push the Cius tablet deeper into the enterprise, has released the results of a “global IT survey” that shows enterprise customers are excited about tablet technology. But those very same customers are also wary about adopting tablets before a few certain needs are met. Here’s what Cisco is saying the IT tablet landscape looks like …

HTC and IBM apparently have struck a deal to help HTC gain more Android enterprise love and IBM gain more mobile proliferation of its software. The duo teamed up at IBM’s latest Loutusphere conference and demoed HTC devices running IBM’s smart business applications. So what’s next?

We all have dirty secrets. Mine is this: Although I run Linux exclusively on all of my computers, I still use Microsoft Office. Why? Because LibreOffice — even if it’s through no fault of its own — doesn’t always get the job done for me. And sometimes I wonder if it ever will. Here’s why.

AMD, Apple, CA Technologies and EMC each reported quarterly results today. Their respective results suggest corporate technology spending continues to accelerate — perhaps setting the stage for a strong year in the IT channel.

Apple’s Q1 2012 financial results, released today, were insanely great. Apple posted record profits, record revenues and rapid growth. For a company that does a relatively small number of things, this is kind of a big deal. Here are the numbers.

When Novell introduced GroupWise 2012 this week, some pundits said nobody cares about the new release. The VAR Guy respectfully disagrees. Perhaps Novell GroupWise 2012 won’t set the world on fire. But the upgrade’s arrival represents a key vote of confidence from Attachmate (Novell’s parent) to the GroupWise community — including some channel partners. Here’s why.

Building on the idea that networks should be comprehensive, easy to secure and easy to maintain, Enterasys Networks is pushing its OneFabric networking architecture to the edge of the network. The result: a solution that unifies management of both wired and wireless networks and devices outside the data center.

Dell’s OEM Solutions division today said it will offer customized SUSE Linux Enterprise servers to customers. But the far more interesting nugget of information for partners involves SUSE Studio, which Dell will use to build and deploy customized Linux application stacks. Here’s why.

It’s a been a while since we heard about Panorama Software, the business intelligence (BI) software provider for the enterprise. The company has made several upgrades to its BI software solution since mid-2011, but none bigger (and more relevant to you, reader) than its most recent upgrade: Panorama has further integrated its Necto platform with Microsoft SharePoint.

For many organizations, finding the right solutions provider or VAR is a critical task. Enterprises as well as SMBs look to their solutions provider for guidance, and now more than ever for backup. As data continues to grow (for most SMBs, up to 50 percent annually), solutions providers can help their customers choose which backup model makes the most sense for their organization.

There is a list of competitors to Apple’s Siri that have evolved since Siri’s unveiling, but Evi particularly caught my eye, thanks to its near-Siri-like quality. Evi also caught the eye of the rest of Internet, which pretty much drove its servers into the ground. Oops. But what can we learn about how voice recognition assistants work? Here’s the scoop …

Avaya is focusing on the evolution of video collaboration by launching the Avaya Flare Communicator for the iPad. Video calls are nothing new for the iPad, but unified communications (UC) integration with Apple products is a task UC companies are taking more seriously. Here’s what Avaya is bringing to the tablet table …

If you don’t know by now, RIM finally ‘shook up’ its leadership by appointing Thorsten Heins as the new CEO of RIM. Former co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie will remain at the company but in new positions. But RIM needs more than this new appointment to win in 2012. Here’s why.

As if Intel couldn’t be any larger, the microchip company plans to acquire “certain assets” of QLogic’s InfiniBand networking portfolio. But what will Intel do with networking technology? Here are a few ideas …

The VAR Guy — like many media pundits — has openly questioned Microsoft CEO Steve Baller’s leadership over the past year or two. But while watching CNBC today, The VAR Guy heard a rather interesting thesis that suggests Ballmer has built Microsoft to stand the test of time — while Apple and Google could each suffer from one fatal flaw.

Last week I wrote about spinoffs of Ubuntu, noting that some of the once popular ones have now gone dormant. But later, I realized something else interesting: No Ubuntu variant — not a single one — uses Unity as its default desktop interface. Keep reading for some thoughts on why this might be, and what it says about Ubuntu and Canonical.

Tom and Jerry would be proud. The cat-and-mouse game between Apple and jailbreak hackers just went another round, with Apple’s only two A5-devices getting a jailbreak for iOS 5.01. The jailbreak  for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 was long-awaited, considering the jailbreak for iOS 5.01 for non A5-devices came a month ago already. Here are some quick details …

The Building Windows 8 blog claims Windows 8 to be the friendliest version of Windows yet, and the latest improvement is a complete overhaul to the Windows 8 wireless experience. If Wi-Fi and mobile broadband connections once stressed you out, Windows 8 promises it won’t any longer. Read on for the details …

Lenovo has tapped Polycom to add its RealPresence video and voice collaboration software to a wide range of Lenovo’s laptop computers and even some tablets. If you’re a Lenovo VAR who also happens to be working the unified communications (UC) space, this partnership could be a match made in heaven. Here’s why …

Avaya has confirmed Jeremy Butt, vice president of worldwide channels, is leaving the company at the end of March 2012, after almost four years with the organization.

The VAR Guy may try to squeeze his way into Candlestick Park this weekend to watch the Giants vs. 49ers. But before our resident blogger begins an alleged cross-country journey from New York to San Francisco, here’s a look at the nine most read channel partner news stories from our blog network — The VAR Guy, MSPmentor and Talkin’ Cloud — for the week ending January 20, 2012.

I’m back in my secret lair here in San Francisco after my trip to Las Vegas for the Juniper Networks Global Partner Conference, and while I was laid low for a day thanks to an unfortunately timed bug, I wanted to share some slightly belated final thoughts drawn from my time on the conference floor, conversations I had with Juniper executives, and just some stray observations.

Value-added distributor Jenne Inc. has joined the bandwagon of vendors and distributors focusing on physical security. This time, Panasonic’s line of i-Pro IP surveillance cameras is joining the Jenne family. Here’s what partners can expect …