For its Q1 2012, Apple had:

• Revenue of $46.33 billion, up from $26.74 billion, nearly a 73 percent increase year over year, breaking records.
• Net profit of $13.06 billion, up from $6 billion year over year, representing another record breaking jump of 118 percent year-over-year.
• To put this in perspective, this is equal to half of net income generated over the entirety of Apple’s fiscal 2011 year.
• Interestingly, international sales drove 58 percent of Apple’s Q1 2012 revenue.

Where does all this money come from? In Q1 alone, Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter, which represented a 128 percent year-over-year growth. And let’s not forget the iPad, which grew 111 percent year over year with 15.43 million being sold. That’s not even Apple’s money maker. In fact, 53 percent of Apple’s revenue is coming from iPhones alone, with the next biggest seller, the iPad, at a modest 20 percent.

Apple, once the Macintosh company, now generates a mere 14 percent of its revenue stream from Macs. Still, Mac sales jumped 26 percent to 5.2 million units this quarter. The only Apple product to slow down is the iPod, which declined 21 percent since Q1 2011.

Before Apple released its figures, Wall Street was wary and Apple stock dropped a bit. But in after-hour trading, at the time of this writing, Apple’s stock has jumped almost 8 percent to $451. Wall Street is undoubtedly happy with Apple’s explosive growth and record breaking numbers, some even calling Apple beyond “stupid rich.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook had modest words.“Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.” Apple’s CFO, Peter Oppenheimer, had an equally modest comment. “We are very happy to have generated over $17.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter.” Very happy.

These numbers almost speak for themselves. Apple is growing like crazy, people are buying their products like crazy, and Apple still hasn’t even released their best stuff yet — presumably the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 later in 2012. If there was any ever doubt that Apple would be invading the entire computing world, let it be erased now.

Mobile Device Management VARs and MSPs suit up: 2012 is going to be the year iOS is everywhere.

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First, let’s not press the panic button. Oracle’s quarterly revenues were $8.792 billion and net income was $2.192 billion — not exactly a company in distress. Oracle remains wildly profitable despite some signs of stress in its core software and hardware businesses. Two examples, according to Reuters:

• Oracle’s new software sales rose only 2 percent from a year earlier to $2 billion during the quarter. Analysts, on average, were expecting new software sales of $2.2 billion, according to StreetAccount.
• Oracle hardware sales fell 14 percent to $953 million, below the average Street account forecast of $1.06 billion.

No doubt, Oracle’s strategy to push into the hardware business and “engineered systems” will draw plenty of scrutiny in the days ahead.

Some skeptics think Oracle will have a challenging time promoting its engineer system stacks — processors, servers, operating systems, databases and applications. Some of Oracle’s latest offerings seem to be selling well. Exadata sales rose 100 percent in the most recent quarter, and Exalogic sales grew more than 100 percent on a sequential basis, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said in a prepared statement. But actual dollar figures tied to those percentage growth rates are difficult to find.

Oracle is doing its best to assure Wall Street that the company is well positioned to rally in the second-half of its fiscal year. One example: The company has added more than 1,700 sales professionals in the first half of fiscal 2012, noted President Mark Hurd, in a prepared statement.

Still, Oracle’s top-line results for Q2 fiscal 2012 disappointed investors. And the Oracle results surfaced one day after Red Hat’s earnings received a disappointing reception on Wall Street.

Hmmm… Happy Holidays? Not in the past 24 hours for the tech industry on Wall Street.

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First up, the facts and stats. Red Hat posted Q3 revenue of $290 million, up 23 percent from the corresponding quarter last year. Net income for the quarter was $38.2 million, up from $26.0 million in Q3 last year. Generally speaking, Red Hat’s results met or exceeded most analyst expectations. But the company’s stock is down nearly nine percent today. Why? Apparently Red Hat’s results beat expectations… but not by a wide enough margin.

For Red Hat’s channel partners there’s no cause for panic. The company remains on track to become the world’s first $1 billion open source company this fiscal year. In addition to Red Hat’s Linux focus, the company has successfully diversified its channel into open source middleware (Jboss), and more recent pushes involve Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and open source storage. More recently, Red Hat has been supporting areas like supporting the OVA and the oVirt initiatives.

Red Hat’s release says Q3 successes were fueled by a continuing growth in demand for the Red Hat Linux in the enterprise, along with the acquisition of Gluster, which has put Red Hat squarely into the storage arena. For 2012 and beyond, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst said that the company will focus on “…expand[ing] our storage solutions in cloud computing and big data storage [because Red Hat] is well positioned to deliver disruptive solutions in the large and growing storage market.”

If you want the full deep dive into Red Hat’s financial figures, check them out here.

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“Our mantra has been to change the rules of networking,” said Mike Banic, VP of Marketing at HP Networking. “We believe it’s a market starved for competition. We want to accelerate the pace of innovation.”

PartnerONE is HP’s all-encompassing partner program, but the changes announced at a media roundtable Dec. 8 focused mostly on HP’s Networking business. Specifically, HP has broken out its rebranded its “Elite” partner level to “Specialist” and broken it into two groups: Professional Networking Specialist and Advanced Networking Specialist. The moves are designed to enable partners of all sizes to meet their margin requirements regardless of size, said Armughan Ahmad, VP, Americas Channel Strategy and Alliance Sales, HP Networking.

“The Professional Networking Specialist designation is aimed at SMBs to allow those partners to get an entry into HP Networking PartnerONE program,” Ahmad said.

And for those former Elite partners, HP’s Advanced Networking Specialist program expands the margin opportunities for partners who have made an investment in certifications and sales, he said.

HP also is expanding its ExpertONE training program for partners, including now offering training through third-party training centers such as GlobalKnowledge and implementing a FastTrack program for partners who already have achieved networking certification for another vendor’s products.

The company also has reached out to colleges, universities and even high schools to train the next generation of IT workers before they graduate. The program, HP Institute, will offer certifications through “several thousands of institutions by 2014,” according to HP.

And, the company’s Catalyst for Change program, which was implemented in 2010 and rewarded partners for trading in Cisco networking equipment, has been expanded to include hardware from all networking vendors — including legacy HP networking equipment — and the current minimum deal size of $100,000 has been eliminated. Additionally, partners receive a 20 percent discount on replacement HP networking gear. “This has been a great program for us and now we’ve improved it tenfold,” Ahmad said.

Finally, HP Financial Services is offering partners to lease HP networking hardware for demo units for a monthly payment that is 1.5 percent of the list price for 18 months.

Certainly, none of these changes on their own are barn burners. But taken together, these moves show HP is taking steps to make it worth partners’ while to bring HP networking offerings to the table.

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According to Apple’s earnings release, the company raked in revenue of $28.27 billion, with a net profit of $6.62 billion. That’s up from Q4 2010, when Apple posted revenue of $20.34 billion, with $4.31 billion in net profit. Where’s all the revenue coming from? According to Apple, 63 percent of it is coming directly from “international sales.”

The Apple counter:

• iPhones: 17.07 million iPhones were sold in Q4 2011, up 21 percent from Q4 2010.
• iPads: 11.12 million iPads were sold in Q4 2011, a whopping 166 percent bump since this time last year.
• iPods: The only shrinking market share, Apple sold 27 percent fewer iPods — 6.62 million.
• Macs: 4.89 million Macs found a home this quarter, a jump of 26 percent from Q4 2010.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was “thrilled” with Apple’s progress, seeing $108 billion in growing annual revenue with earnings hitting $26 billion as a real comfy way to cruise into the holiday season. “We remain really enthusiastic about our product pipeline,” he said. Meanwhile, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer offered some rosy predictions for 2012:

“We are extremely pleased with our record September quarter revenue and earnings and with cash generation of $5.4 billion during the quarter. Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2012 … we expect revenue of about $37 billion …”

But right now, it’s not happy times to be an Apple stockholder. According to the Associated Press:

Revenue was $28.3 billion, up 39 percent. Analysts were expecting $29.4 billion. Apple sold 17.1 million iPhones in the quarter, which ended Sept. 24. That was well below analyst expectations and the 20.3 million sold in the third quarter.

As a result, Apple’s stock dropped to $394 from $422 in after-hours trading. That sounds like a harsh hit, but The VAR Guy believes it to be some FUD over the absence of Apple founder Steve Jobs and a small-miss prediction. Our resident blogger thinks Apple’s stock will rocket back up as the holiday season approaches and new products hit the Apple pipeline. Remember, Apple’s  iPhone 4S broke sales records, and there are always the new iPad and iPhone next year.

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The plan, according to an HP press release, will:

• Move HP into higher value, higher margin growth categories
• Sharpen HP’s focus on its strategic priorities of cloud, solutions and software with an emphasis on enterprise, commercial and government markets
• Increase investment in innovation to drive differentiation

First, the numbers: HP’s revenue for Q3 2011 was $31.2 billion, up just slightly from $30.7 billion this time last year. HP is also taking a step back and dropping overall estimates for FY2011.

In the channel, we know HP for a plethora of things: Storage, networking, servers and much more. But the average consumer knows HP from their lineup desktop and laptop computers, and printers.

The PC portion of HP — all $41 billion of it — could ultimately get acquired. HP is considering “a full or partial separation” from the PC business, known as the Personal Systems Group (PSG).  Plus, HP will “discontinue operations for webOS devices,” and look into “optmiz[ing] the value of webOS software going forward.”

Translation? HP’s PC business has a big For Sale sign on the front lawn. The HP webOS TouchPad and new webOS phones are dead (and unwanted). I suspect HP will seek to sell of or license its webOS software — but the webOS on every computer vision that Leo Apotheker once espoused is dead.

Why is HP trying to exit the PC business? The Wall Street Journal offered a succinct answer, stating that HP’s PC business last year generated…

“$40.7 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, representing nearly a third of the company’s overall revenue; however, the group’s earnings from operations, $2 billion, was just 13% of H-P’s profits

Those lean PC profits are small potatoes for such a huge company, especially when HP could profit much more handsomely from software and services. And if HP stuck around in the PC and mobile markets, it faced a growing uphill battle against Apple’s momentum.

It’s the end of an era, but not the end of HP. Once the dust settles, HP could be dramatically more profitable — though HP’s channel partners will surely face some turbulence through HP’s transition.

Additional insights from Joe Panettieri.

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In an announcement posted on HP’s website, the company confirmed:

• It is in discussions with Autonomy regarding a possible offer for the company.
• HP’s board of directors has authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group (PSG). In other words: HP would like to sell off the PC business, though a range of alternatives are under consideration.
• HP is killing its webOS TouchPad and webOS phone phone business, but wull explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.
• HP announced preliminary results for the third fiscal quarter 2011, with revenue of $31.2 billion compared with $30.7 billion one year ago.
• HP will host a conference call with the financial community today at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET to discuss these announcements well as HP’s third quarter 2011 financial results. The call is accessible via an audio webcast at www.hp.com/investor/2011q3webcast.

Bombshells all around. The VAR Guy will be back with more analysis soon.

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Centrify says it has garnered a large amount of business due in part to the ongoing trend of consumerization of IT, which includes the adoption of cloud computing and mobile computing technology. Centrify’s wide array of solutions to conglomerate all the associated computing devices and bring them down into one singular management architecture is especially appealing at a time when corporate compliance and security are critical in maintaining an enterprise or SMB IT network.

Centrify has enjoyed sales growth of 75 percent over the last fiscal year, and with the new series D funding, the company plans to continue its goal of extending its technology to become as inclusive and “heterogeneous” as possible. The “enterprise out” ethos that Centrify is building is for managing on-premise and cloud environments also will continue to be strengthened.

We covered Centrify not too long ago when it offered Day 1 OS X Lion support. With Macs more frequently finding their way into the workplace, Centrify certainly knows its customers’ needs. And for the channel, $16 million in funding simply means partners working with Centrify can look forward to continued support and ongoing development for hybrid corporate environments.

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Here’s what Dell said about Q2 fiscal year 2012 results, plus The VAR Guy’s spin on the situation.

1. Revenues:

• Dell said: Revenue in the quarter was $15.7 billion, up 1 percent over last year and up 4 percent sequentially — but slightly short of analyst’s expectations, AP reported.
• The VAR Guy said: Not too bad, considering Dell is trying to shift from a heavy dependence on notebooks and PCs toward servers, storage, networking, services and cloud computing.

2. Net Income:

• Dell said: Net income rose 63 percent to $890 million.
• The VAR Guy said: That’s a huge net income gain amid relatively flat revenue growth. It looks like Michael Dell is running the company lean-and-mean.

3. Cash:

• Dell said: Dell ended the quarter with a record high $16.2 billion in cash and investments.
• The VAR Guy said: That’s a lot of cash. Time for Dell to buy more companies? Hmmm…

4. Large Enterprise:

• Dell said: Up 1 percent to $4.6 billion amid strong demand for servers and services.
• The VAR Guy said: Amid one-percent growth… what were the weak areas?

5. Public Vertical:

• Dell said: Revenue was $4.5 billion, down 3 percent from Q2 last year.
• The VAR Guy said: Sounds like government spending remains challenging…

6. Small and Medium Business:

• Dell said: Revenue was $3.7 billion, up 5 percent.
• The VAR Guy said: A decent increase considering the difficult economy. Dell likely needs to applaud PartnerDirect members for its SMB sales…

7. Key Products & Services:

• Dell said: The company specifically mentioned strong demand for Dell SecureWorks, EqualLogic, Compellent and Dell KACE. Plus, Dell expects to complete the Force 10 Networks acquisition in Q3.
• The VAR Guy said: Attention PartnerDirect members… If you’re focused on Dell you need to embrace the solutions listed above…

8. The Bottom Line:

• Dell said: The company reported strong Q2 results driven by enterprise solutions and services.
• The VAR Guy said: Wall Street was disappointed by Dell’s reduced revenue forecast. But partners should ignore the noise on Wall Street and focus on item seven above.

That’s all for now. The VAR Guy will be back with more earnings insights later this week.

Additional reporting by David Courbanou.

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For fiscal year 2011, Avnet’s sales increased 38.5 percent year over year to a record-breaking $26.5 billion, with Q4 sales increasing 32.6 percent year over year to $6.91 billion. Adjusted operating income for Avnet in fiscal year 2011 increased 52.4 percent, hitting more than $1 billion, and up nearly 25 percent year over year for Q4 to $270.9 million. Even amid Wall Street turmoil, the outlook for Avnet is excellent, with stock prices hovering around $26 a share and Raymond James bumping Avnet’s stock from ‘Outperform’ to ‘Strong Buy.’

Avnet’s rosy Q4 growth is especially encouraging in light of its CEO transition from Roy Vallee to Rick Hamada earlier in 2011. Hamada commented on Avnet’s results, noting an increase in global footprint and customer base have propelled much of its success. Because of the bullish outlook, Avnet is launching a $500 million share buyback program and promises “adequate liquidity” for more organic growth in the near future. Despite economic uncertainty, technology markets are a main source of recovery and Avnet will be “building on the momentum from fiscal year 2011″ for 2012, Hamada said.

What’s on the horizon for Avnet? The VAR Guy has asked that question in the past, and believed it to be a heavier focus on cloud solutions along with Avnet’s trademark SolutionPaths. As it turns out, The VAR Guy was right about the cloud — witness the launch of Avnet’s cloud workshop. Meanwhile, Avnet’s executive team plans to continue to keep their collective eye on the cloud. Easy-to-grasp distribution programs and pre-packaged solutions could be the secret to Avnet’s growing global user footprint. And as always, The VAR Guy will keep a close watch on Avnet  to see how it does against rivals Tech Data and Ingram Micro.

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The VAR Guy has already raised six key questions that Chambers needs to answer. They range from margins and market share to Cisco’s overall talent pool. Cisco’s stock is trading near a 52-week low — though many tech stocks have been riding a Wall Street roller coaster in recent weeks.

Chambers has previously stated that Cisco needs to regain its focus. But a recent earnings forecast from rival Juniper suggests that the overall networking industry is struggling to show growth.

In response, Cisco is cutting about 6,500 employees this month. Analysts expect Cisco’s Q4 2011 net income to drop about 16 percent from Q4 2010. Analysts also expect Q4 2011 revenues to grow about 1.2 percent to $10.97 billion. The VAR Guy fetched those stats from Yahoo Finance, which leverage content from Xignite Financials and Wall Street Cheat Sheet.

Year after year, Chambers has maintained that Cisco is a pro-active company that catches market inflection points and rides new IT waves. Chambers reiterated that stance during Cisco Partner Summit 2011 (Feb. 28-March 3). But since that time, Cisco has seemed to be in reaction mode — offering a voluntary early retirement package, killing some products and cutting roughly 6,500 employees (those cuts are expected to be completed this month).

So what is the current state of Cisco … right now? At least one Wall Street analyst sees potential upside ahead of today’s earnings call, reports Barron’s. The VAR Guy will return with fresh perspectives following Cisco’s earnings call later today.

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