The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy is impressed. The big Cisco Partner Summit in Hawaii is still a week away, yet coverage about the event is popping up across old and new media. How did that happen? Given Cisco’s size, it’s relatively easy for the company to generate coverage. But let’s give Cisco some credit: The company understands traditional and new media, and journalism deadline cycles. He’s how Cisco works the system.

The VAR Guy is resting a little easier today. Weak financial results from Intel earlier this week had our resident blogger wondering if IT spending was heading for a slowdown. But upbeat comments from Juniper’s CFO — following reasonably good comments from Cisco Systems’ CEO — are proving The VAR Guy with some much needed peace of mind about tech spending.

A weak earnings report from Intel depressed The VAR Guy today. But then two pieces of info made him feel a little better. First, Tech Data delivered a cautiously optimistic earnings outlook. Then, Cisco CEO John Chambers offered some comforting words to financial conference attendees.

Dozens of traditional IT companies — from Cisco Systems to Xerox — are generating PR coverage at this week’s huge HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) conference in Orlando. But so far, only a few savvy firms — such as IGEL Technology — are weaving open source messaging into this prominent vertical market event. Translation: The open source industry may miss yet another opportunity to prove its vertical market expertise.