The VAR Guy

The Super Bowl is nearly here — but The VAR Guy can’t say much about The Big Game since some of our blog team members are lifelong New England Patriots fans. And other bloggers here are far wiser New York Giants fans. (Guess which camp the always-wise VAR Guy belongs to?) While you’re weighing the answer to that question, 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 Feb. 3, 2012.

The VAR Guy just got a call from HR double-checking a help-wanted ad for a freelance website manager. Yes indeed, our resident blogger’s alleged media empire needs to find additional talent to fuel more growth. But even before more help arrives, web traffic continues to grow. 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 Jan. 27, 2012.

VMware has released its vCenter Operations Management Suite, designed to make cloud and virtualization maintenance easy and automated. We’ve got the perks and the feature list you care about …

The VAR Guy is preparing to get his game face on. Some staff members love Tom Brady and Co. But our resident blogger is more of a Giants fan — and hoping for the best out in Green Bay. But before the tailgating begins, here are the nine most read channel partner news stories from our blog network — The VAR Guy, MSPmentor and Talkin’ Cloud — for the week ending January 13, 2012.

How’s this for ironic: Microsoft says Q4 2011 PC sales declined deeper than most analysts estimated. But The VAR Guy remains upbeat about Dell’s long-term business strategy. Confused? Don’t be. Although Dell may remain overly dependent on PC sales for the short term, the company’s long-term acquisition strategy shows considerable promise for customers and partners alike. Here’s why.

The VAR Guy is ready to unplug for the weekend. But before our resident blogger heads home, here are the nine most read channel partner news stories from our blog network — The VAR Guy, MSPmentor and Talkin’ Cloud — for the week ending January 6, 2012.

Computer Troubleshooters CEO Chip Reaves has resigned and will focus on a new venture called Bigger Brains later this year. Reaves is exiting the largest international network of IT service providers that offer onsite computer services to small businesses. Launched in 1999, Computer Troubleshooters claims to have more than 475 IT services franchises worldwide in more than 28 countries. Here’s the background on Reaves’ exit, his successors, and his longer-term focus on Bigger Brains.

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.

Cisco Systems is redoubling its efforts to make sure its channel partners are given the best opportunities possible. The VAR Guy recently sat down for a chat with Raja Sundaram, Cisco’s VP of Worldwide Services Partner Organization, who promised Cisco partners would always be given the “meat and potatoes,” and Cisco would never let them just “eat the bread.” Here’s the scoop on Cisco’s push to ensure $49 billion in service opportunities are given straight to partners, thanks to some new rules of engagement …

Join our next webcast today at 2:00 p.m. eastern. We’ll cover five best practices for selling cloud services. Confirmed speakers include Savvis VP Martin Capurro, Mycroft CISO Liz Mann, and CA Technologies Senior Advisor Wendy Petty (CA is the event’s sponsor). We’ll take your questions throughout the webcast. Register now and pose your questions at 2:00 p.m. eastern today.

An interesting guest post from Microsoft over at VMWare’s blog suggests 2012 will be the first year that the cloud “moves from a buzzword to a reality.” Microsoft’s director for Virtualization and Cloud Strategy, Edwin Yuen, detailed the ways companies can achieve this goal, and of course, there’s some channel perspective, brought to you by The VAR Guy himself. Here’s the scoop …

H3 Solutions, creator of Mobile Entree for Microsoft SharePoint, has welcomed OBS into its Mobile Entree Alliance Program. OBS is an Australia-based SharePoint specialist, and adding OBS to its alliance program will allow H3 to extend Mobile Entree to SharePoint users throughout Australia for the first time.

One of the underlying themes at ADTRAN CONNECT 2011 was ADTRAN’s subtle moves to include services as part of its enterprise lineup, and include managed services providers in its growing lineup of channel partners. It’s a strategy The VAR Guy thinks will work well for ADTRAN and help it move further into the ranks of the communications convergence providers worth watching.

You’re spending more and more time managing iPads, iPhones, Google Android, tablets and other mobile devices for your customers. But how can you develop you truly profit from mobile device management (MDM)? Moreover, how can you streamline your approach to MDM? Find the answers during our next webcast, this Wednesday (Nov. 16) at 2:00 p.m. eastern. Register now to join us.

Roughly 1,600 people are attending this week’s IT Nation conference, hosted by ConnectWise in Orlando, Fla. Known in its early years as a gathering place for managed services providers (MSPs), the IT Nation conference has significantly expanded its messaging to engage resellers and VARs as well. Here’s why.

Join our next Webcast (this Wednesday, November 2, at 2:00 p.m. eastern) to learn how to adjust your to adjust your service level agreements (SLAs) for managed and cloud services. We’ll share SLA best practices from both the MSP and customer perspective. Register now to join us for this Channel Expert Hour webcast.

My time here at the McAfee FOCUS 2011 Security Conference is just about over. I leave you with the details on two major McAfee announcements around partner profitability and network security before I pack up and hit Dallas for the 2011 Tigerpaw User Conference.

No product announcements during the first day of the McAfee FOCUS 2011 Security Conference in Las Vegas, but Intel and McAfee did set the stage to talk about channel partnerships and upcoming solutions throughout the rest of the week.

RIM says its BlackBerry services have been restored. But here’s the problem: The biggest threat to RIM’s BlackBerry business continues to grow in strength. The obvious threats are Apple iPhone and Google Android adoption. In reality, the biggest BlackBerry killer is BYOD — bring your own device to work. Here’s why.

Michael Dell is set to keynote Dell World on October 13 in Austin, Texas. So what message will Michael Dell deliver to Dell’s customers and channel partners? Hmmm… Chances are, Michael Dell will describe how the PC giant remains committed to hardware even as it pushes into cloud services, managed services, IT consulting, networking and more. Here’s an educated guess on what Dell will say…

BYOD (bring your own device) to work is an undeniable trend. Consumers are racing to pre-order the iPhone 4s. Employees are carrying their own devices – iPad 2, Galaxy Tablet, Motorola Xoom, etc. — into the office. What’s the net effect for VARs and MSPs everywhere? The answer: Customers have a desperate need for mobile device management (MDM). That’s where you enter the picture.

The VAR Guy predicted three big trends to hit Interop NYC: Network Virtualization, WAN optimization and IPv6. But the scene on the Interop expo floor reflected a slightly different vibe. Here’s what The VAR Guy saw as he slipped and blogged between the booths …

Michael Dell told Oracle OpenWorld attendees this morning that “Dell is not a PC company.” Instead, he described Dell as an “end-to-end solutions company,” including a firm commitment to PC endpoints. Without mentioning Hewlett-Packard by name, Dell said end-to-end solutions will beat the point-product approach. Dell also said cloud computing is erasing the line between business and IT. Here’s a recap.