The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy has a knack for being in multiple places at the same time. But next week’s schedule is extremely challenging. Care to tag along with The VAR Guy as he attempts to cover (1) Cisco Partner Summit, (2) IBM Smart Cloud Symposium, (3) OpenStack Design Summit and Conference, (4) Synnex Varnex — and (5) a private gathering at Oracle Corp.’s headquarters? Here’s a sneak peek at the crazy week ahead, and the implications for channel partners.

Recognizing small businesses have many of the same IT needs as the enterprise but lack the same resources, Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has added management capabilities to its Core processor family that include security and productivity features aimed at the SMB space and the VARs that serve it.

Implementing an electronic medical records (EMR) system can be a challenge for any healthcare organization, but a new service from Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) is helping its channel partners help their healthcare customers make the transition as painlessly as possible.

The CompTIA Annual Member Meeting (AMM) kicks off this week (April 10-12) in Chicago. More than 200 CompTIA members — resellers, VARs, MSPs, distributors, vendors — will disappear from work and surface at the gathering. So what’s on tap for this road trip? Keep a close on 10 IT communities — everything from cloud computing to managed services, IT security and unified communications — working within the broader CompTIA. Here’s a preview.

The VAR Guy is celebrating the end of Q1 2012. So far, so good. But our resident blogger can’t rest on his laurels. Q2 will bring plenty of channel news. But before The VAR Guy looks too far ahead, here are the nine most read stories across the IT channel — from The VAR Guy, MSPmentor and Talkin’ Cloud — for the week ending March 30, 2012.

Dell is gearing its partners for the cloud services world with a new certification uniquely designed for the cloud. But it doesn’t mean VARs have to go all-Dell when they go to the cloud. Dell is encouraging partners to mix and match where they see fit. Here’s The VAR Guy’s lowdown on the cloud-high plan …

Cogent Growth Partners, which advises IT service providers on buy-side M&A strategies, has hired long-time SMB channel coach George Sierchio (pictured) as Partner. A familiar name to many VARs and MSPs, Sierchio has assisted his clientele in the areas of strategy, finance, operations, marketing, human resources and corporate structure. Here’s what’s next.

The VAR Guy is turning one eye to the weekend while wrapping up blogging for this week. But before our resident blogger escapes for a little R&R, here are the nine most read technology news stories and channel partner blogs for the week ending March 16, 2012.

The VAR Guy had the chance to sit down with Mark Hennessy, general manager, IBM Global Business Partners and Midmarket, to discuss IBM’s focus on the channel, business data analytics and the merging of software and hardware specializations. The VAR Guy sees IBM as bullish on all things, but is the channel equally psyched? Here’s the scoop on Hennessy’s channel outlook …

When The VAR Guy mused that Jeff Jonas, chief scientist at IBM’s Entity Analytics group, was going to get a bit metaphysical, our resident blogger couldn’t have been more wrong. Jonas surprised attendees at his keynote at IBM PartnerWorld 2012, using concrete, tangible items to draw an analogy on how he’s been driving the future of analytics through new algorithms, “new physics” and new ways of looking at massive quantities of data. But can understanding data analytics make it more accessible to partners and customers? The VAR Guy suggests you read on …

Axcient, a cloud storage provider, is adjusting its channel partner program to push beyond MSPs and to more aggressively engage VARs and resellers. Axcient’s strategy reinforces a subtle but important shift in the IT channel, where a growing number of MSP-centric software companies are now reaching out to more traditional VARs and resellers.

Foros, a financial services firm that provides M&A and corporate finance guidance, apparently played a key role in Presidio‘s buyout of BlueWater Communications Group. Indeed, that deal, set to be announced sometime this week, combines two VAR 500 companies that have deep Cisco Systems, EMC, unified communications and managed services expertise. So where did Foros enter this M&A picture? The VAR Guy has some thoughts.

Presidio is set to acquire BlueWater Communications Group — uniting two VAR 500 companies to aggressively focus on managed services, IT services and cloud services across North America. As part of the deal, BlueWater CEO Bob Cagnazzi will shift into the Presidio CEO post, The VAR Guy has learned.

The VAR Guy finally touched down in New Orleans, replete with swampy weather, great food and an abundance of jazz. But our resident blogger hasn’t lost of focus of the rhythm — the IBM rhythm, that is. He’s got a few ideas on what Big Blue’s plans are for the IBM PartnerWorld 2012 opening keynote and the future of IBM’s outreach in general. Here’s the scoop from the Big Easy …

The VAR Guy wouldn’t be The VAR Guy if he didn’t check up on global VARs from time to time, and this time he’s taking a look at Technology Services Group (TSG). The Newcastle, Britain-based IT support company has earned three gold-level certifications in Microsoft Partner Networking, bringing with it an expanded relationship with Microsoft that continues to make TSG customers happy campers. Our resident blogger has the lowdown on the update …

When the IBM PartnerWorld 2012 conference kicks off this week (Feb. 27-March 1, New Orleans), The VAR Guy expects to hear plenty of new chatter about IBM’s business analytics and business intelligence strategy. But The VAR Guy wonders: Is Business Analytics really a big, broad opportunity for the vast majority of IBM business and technology partners? Hmmm…

The VAR Guy is mobile at the moment, driving from New York to Orlando, Fla., for a not-so-secret mission. More details later. In the meantime, 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. 17, 2012.

Amid all the Parallels Summit 2012 noise about cloud, managed services and hosting technology, The VAR Guy noticed there was a vivid blip in the otherwise beige palette of typical services: Ting. Ting is a brand new mobile service provider with a twist. Would you like to cut down your phone bill and add “mobile provider” to your value-added checklist? Read on …

Day two of Parallels Summit 2012, and The VAR Guy still doesn’t have a tan. But there’s a great glow around Parallels, which is beaming about its potential success in the upcoming years. Both co-founders of Parallels took the stage for the keynote and explained why, for Parallels, the future looks rosy and bright …

HP kicked off its inaugural Global Partner Conference 2012 (GPC) Feb. 13 in Las Vegas with some major announcements aimed at creating recurring revenue streams for HP’s VARs.

NEVEX Virtual Technologies, an application performance solution provider, and Texas Memory Systems (TMS), a storage technology provider, announced they are partnering to “supercharge” virtual applications for VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V. Buckle your seatbelts — I think we’re about the break the speed limit. Read on for the details …

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.