The VAR Guy

Amid HP layoffs totaling 27,000 employees, there’s troubling news in Hewlett-Packard’s Autonomy software business. Indeed, “Autonomy saw a significant decline in license revenue” during Q2, prompting HP Chief Strategy Officer Bill Veghte (pictured) to take over that software business. Autonomy founder Mike Lynch will exit the company after a transition period. So what’s the bottom line?

Business IT provider EMC (NYSE: EMC) has been moving steadily toward greater integration with the channel, and its EMC World 2012 conference has given the company an opportunity to not only unveil a host of cloud-based products and services but also turn the heat up on its partner program.

Enterprise software specialist Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is prepping its partners for the release of its next-generation open standards-based business applications, Fusion Applications, with training and certification resources available through the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN).

ownCloud, the open source channel’s most dynamic file storage project, took another major step forward recently with the release of version 4 of its community edition, offering a suite of new features that position it even more strongly to compete with proprietary data sync services. Here’s the scoop, and why it’s a big deal for the open source community as a whole.

Business information and storage specialist EMC (NYSE: EMC) wasted no time rolling out announcements at its EMC World 2012 conference, launching a whopping 42 products focused on the hybrid cloud and acquiring cloud-based sync and share file management provider Syncplicity.

Gamers are not exactly the first group that comes to mind when one thinks of Linux users.  Yet eRacks, a PC vendor specialized in open source systems, recently launched a new line of high end desktops, called AresPro, aimed at gamers and other customers with specific needs for powerful computers.  Here’s the scoop, and its meaning for the open source channel.

On the heels of its cloud-based mobile device and application management release, SAP (NYSE: SAP) unveiled support and integration with Hadoop environments including an expanded Big Data partner council, which includes a cross-section of startups, hardware vendors and software providers.

Enterprise software giant Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced the release of VM Server for x86 Release 3.1, the latest version of company’s server virtualization solution, designed to support application deployment and simplify data center management.

The VAR Guy has high hopes for Windows 8, especially in the Ultrabook business market. But there’s some concern bloatware (free trial software most folks don’t want) could bog down Windows 8 systems. The VAR Guy wonders: If the PC industry is so committed to matching Apple’s end user experience, then why does PC bloatware still exist? Here’s the unfortunate two-part answer.

Talk about a familiar theme. Last week, Kaspersky Lab talked about dominating the SMB security software market. This week, McAfee is making SMB security software claims. Next week, Sophos will step into that spotlight — perhaps sharing details about Sophos Unified Threat Management (UTM). Here’s why.

McAfee, an Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) security business, continues to accelerate its SMB push with channel partners, according to Senior VP of Worldwide Channels Gavin Struthers. But what exactly is McAfee doing in the SMB market with partners? Struthers, McAfee’s channel chief for about four months now, offered The VAR Guy some updates.

If the steadily growing user base and market share of Skype are any indication, the service, which is now nearly a decade old, will remain widespread on PCs, smartphones and other devices for a long time to come. But for Linux users, the future of Skype support is appearing a bit less certain. Will Skype — owned by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) — still run on open source platforms five years from now? Here are some thoughts.

As a company, Inktank, one of the open source ecosystem’s newest commercial enterprises, is only days old. But it has already made a determined foray into the Linux server market with the announcement this week of integration of the Ceph distributed file system into Ubuntu 12.04. Here’s the scoop, and what it says about both Inktank and Ubuntu.

Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) are countering VMware (NYSE: VMW) in the government market, promoting a secure virtualization platform on IBM x86 servers. But here’s the twist: VMware has offered a similar level of security since at least 2010. Here’s what channel partners need to know.

Authorization management specialist BeyondTrust has acquired vulnerability management solution provider eEye Digital Security and its plan to offer a context-driven security and compliance solution using eEye technology. BeyondTrust will integrate its PowerBroker family of products with eEye’s Retina CS Vulnerability Management and Analytics solutions. Here’s what’s in it for channel partners.

Ubuntu’s greatest successes are arguably among home PC users and developers who use it in test environments. But there can be little doubt that Canonical remains committed to making Ubuntu the open source desktop of choice for businesses as well. Its latest move in this vein was the recent release of an updated version of Ubuntu Business Desktop Remix. Read on for details, and what they reveal about Canonical’s long-term strategy in the world of the enterprise.

Kaspersky Lab is ready to run at the speed of opportunity with channel partners to capture an “unfair share” of the IT security market, Senior VP Nancy Reynolds told partners today during the Kaspersky Lab 2012 North American Partner Conference. “We believe the [security] market is ripe for a leader and we intend to take control,” said Reynolds. But that’s not all.

How will VMware (NYSE: VMW) help partners to secure virtualized applications an virtualized infrastructure? Some VMware updates surfaced today at the Kaspersky Lab 2012 North American Partner Conference today in the Bahamas. Here are live highlights from the VMware keynote, which includes Parag Patel (VP, global strategic alliances) and Jonathan Gohnstand (pictured, director of product marketing, networking and security). So here is…

Kaspersky Lab is developing a secure operating system platform. The target market: Utilities, nuclear reactors, financial systems, and other companies that need to defend their IT systems from so-called cyber warfare and cyber terrorism attacks. Kaspersky Lab CEO Eugene Kaspersky briefly described the secure operating system project during a keynote this morning at the Kaspersky Lab 2012 North American Partner Conference.

VMware (NYSE: VMW) appears to be the only third-party software company with a major presence at Kaspersky Lab 2012 North American Partner Conference (May 10-12, Bahamas). A big theme for the conference, obviously: Security across virtualized environments. But just how deeply are VMware and Kaspersky Lab working together? Hmmm…

The Kaspersky Lab 2012 North American Partner Conference kicked off this morning in the Bahamas. The VAR Guy swam ashore just in time for the kick-off keynote, which covered secure endpoint connectivity amid the age of mobility, cloud computing and virtualization (yup, VMware is here, too). Also, Kaspersky Lab CFO Dave Eggers (seated, right) said the company is seeking $750 million in bookings for 2012, and $1 billion in bookings for 2014. But will Kaspersky Lab launch and IPO? Here are keynote highlights so far…

Security specialist Norton, a subsidiary of Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC), announced the availability of Norton 360 Everywhere, a security solution aimed at protecting multiple devices and platforms including PCs, Macs and Google Android-based phones and tablets.

Energy management specialist Schneider Electric has launched InfraStruxure for Small IT, the company’s first physical IT infrastructure offering, which integrates power, cooling, racks, security and management components plus services.