The VAR Guy

Symantec has named John Eldh (pictured) VP of channel sales for the Americas, succeeding Randy Cochran, who has left the security and storage software company to pursue other opportunities.

The VAR Guy apparently is seated somewhere at the HP-Axcient Cloud Roadshow, which made its latest stop in New York this morning. Roughly 50 percent of attendees — VARs and MSPs — are Hewlett-Packard channel partners, perhaps about 30 percent are Axcient partners, and 20 percent are not affiliated with either company, according to a quick poll by Hewlett-Packard VP Meaghan Kelly. Why are roughly 100 channel partners here? The pursuit of cloud and recurring revenues within the SMB market — potentially starting with business continuity and cloud storage. Here’s the analysis.

Over the past two years, SEC documents indicate, Cisco Systems has invested $264 million into VCE — the virtual computing environment that’s also backed by EMC and VMware. Some quick math by The VAR Guy suggests Cisco, EMC and VMware together have invested roughly $750 million in VCE since 2010. So is the investment paying dividends so far? Here’s an educated guess.

Google I/O 2012 chatter has started early. The conference (June 27-29, San Francisco) typically attracts thousands of software developers focused on Google Apps, Google Android and other Google technologies. If you scour the audience, you’ll also find fast-growing Google Apps Authorized Resellers and Google Apps Marketplace members. So what’s in it for VARs?

Did you catch the buzz? Dell has announced its intent to acquire SonicWALL, setting off a wave of questions about Dell’s future channel plans. But our resident blogger has some more concrete answers, thanks to a chat with Greg Davis, Dell’s VP of Channels for the Americas. Here’s a scoop only The VAR Guy can give you …

The VAR Guy is enjoying unseasonably warm weather here in New York, near Long Island’s Gold Coast. It won’t quite be a Great Gatsby weekend, but the forecast looks promising for our well-hidden blogger. But before The VAR Guy  heads out for some rest and relaxation, here are the nine most read technology news and channel partner stories from our blog network — The VAR Guy, MSPmentor and Talkin’ Cloud — for the week ending March 9, 2012.

In the world of network appliances, Brocade is looking to stand out head and shoulders above the rest, thanks to a new partner program flanked by a new set of networking switches. The VAR Guy spoke to Barbara Spicek, Brocade’s VP of global channels, about the new partner program and got a quick look the future of Brocade. Read on and get informed …

Cisco Systems is beginning to see momentum from VCE, the Virtual Computing Environment backed by VMware, Cisco and EMC. Cisco also is speaking highly of a somewhat similar relationship with NetApp. Those insights emerged from Cisco Senior VPs Keith Goodwin and Edison Peres (pictured, left and right) during a discussion with The VAR Guy.

When Cisco Partner Summit 2012 kicks off (April 16-19, San Diego), Senior VP Keith Goodwin (pictured) hopes to turn the page on Cisco’s recent business overhaul. “We no longer talk about the next Cisco. That’s yesterday’s news,” Goodwin told The VAR Guy yesterday. So what is today’s news? How about a long-term strategy that potentially grows Cisco Systems from $40 billion to $80 billion?

In January 2012 it was announced Avaya’s head of Worldwide Channels, Jeremy Butt, would be leaving Avaya “to pursue other opportunities.” We now know what those opportunities are: Butt has been tapped to lead Westcon Group’s new EMEA region as executive vice president.

Presidio’s buyout of BlueWater Communications, which combines two VAR 500 companies, has earned Cisco Systems’ seal of approval. Moreover, Cisco Channel Chief Edison Peres (pictured) applauds BlueWater CEO Bob Cagnazzi’s expected shift into the CEO slot at Presidio, one of the largest IT service providers in North America.

This week’s VMware Partner Exchange conference in Las Vegas has attracted more than 4,000 virtualization partners — including VARs, IT service providers and technology partners. VMware has unveiled several new programs and solutions competencies — some of which seek to help partners virtualize mission-critical applications like Microsoft Exchange, Oracle and SAP, according to VMware VP of Partner Strategy and Operations Doug Smith. But The VAR Guy wonders: Will VDI (Virtual Desktop Integration) momentum steal the VMware show?

Oracle President Mark Hurd and Channel Chief Judson Althoff are set to rally and educate 100 Oracle Specialized channel partners tomorrow at the company’s Redwood Shores, Calif., headquarters. The gathering, set for February 2, will include product roadmaps and strategies to help partners leverage Oracle as a partner growth engine. Here’s some insight from The VAR Guy.

Lenovo is quietly planning to accelerate its server initiatives in 2012. But first, the PC giant is focusing like a laser on a four-screen initiative — smart phones, tablets, PCs and smart TVs. To execute on all fronts, Lenovo will need more channel partners. But will Lenovo’s channel become saturated with partners along the way? Lenovo North America Channel Chief Chris Frey (pictured) says absolutely not. Here’s why.

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.

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.

When McAfee today announced a new channel chief the company did not issue a press release. Nor did McAfee call a press conference. Instead, the news surfaced right on the McAfee channel blog. And the headline didn’t specifically mention the channel chief change. Take a closer look and the McAfee communication strategy is similar to Cisco Systems’ channel tactics. That’s smart and hardly surprising. Here’s why.

McAfee has named Gavin Struthers senior VP of worldwide channels, succeeding former channel chief Alex Thurber, who resigned last week to join Tripwire.

McAfee Channel Chief Alex Thurber is exiting the Intel-owned security software company to pursue a new opportunity, according to sources in the know. The sources tell The VAR Guy that McAfee’s channel commitment remains firmly in place. No cause for panic, folks. Thurber is a talented guy but The VAR Guy suspects a McAfee successor is in place. Here’s the background.

When Google shifted the CEO crown from Eric Schmidt to Larry Page in 2011, The VAR Guy wondered: Does Larry Page value channel partners — or would Google ultimately shift more and more of its cloud services to a direct sales model. Fast forward to the present and some answers are starting to emerge.

Despite the challenging U.S. economy, Red Hat sure sounds optimistic. The open source company plans to hire roughly 1,000 people in 2012. And this isn’t a pure Linux strategy. Red Hat also continues to invest in virtualization, storage, middleware and cloud computing. Here’s where channel partners fit into the strategy.

ChannelEyes, a channel-centric social media network built by former Autotask CEO Bob Godgart, apparently will offer a pilot launch to “early access” partners on January 12, according to a company blog entry. ChannelEyes claims to have signed up “thousands” of channel partners and more than 500 technology vendors. But can Godgart — and fellow Autotask veteran Jay McBain — continue the ChannelEyes buzz beyond the pilot?

Virginia (“Ginni”) M. Rometty officially succeeded Sam Palmisano as IBM CEO on January 1, 2012. Rometty appears to inherit a strong IBM. But some investors worry IBM’s earnings growth will slow in 2012. Plus, is IBM’s channel focus — increasingly involving business analytics and business intelligence — too narrow for some partners? The VAR Guy offers some insights — plus key IBM channel leaders that VARs and MSPs may need to engage.