The VAR Guy

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.

We’re not out of the woods yet, folks. Recession whispers continue. But positive financial news from multiple tech companies — Avnet, Symantec, Sybase and Xerox — lifted The VAR Guy’s spirits today. Alas, he doesn’t own any shares in the companies. But he always welcomes bullish statements from high-tech leaders. Here’s a sampling of what each company had to say.

You’ve saved a company from near bankruptcy. You’ve eliminated billions of dollars in debt. So what do you do for an encore? In Xerox’s case, you bang on R&D’s door and demand a product that can disrupt the traditional printer market–and you talk about real revenue and profit growth. It all sounds so simple. And the strategy just may work — if a new color printing technology from Xerox lives up to its billing.