The VAR Guy

Time for a surprising reality check from The VAR Guy. Conventional wisdom says there’s no margin left for VARs in hardware sales. But Pulse Inc. — a $10 million solutions provider that works closely with ADTRAN Inc. — strongly disagrees. Here’s why.

Somewhere between Cisco Systems and disruptive startups like Digium, there is a wasteland of networking companies that tried — and failed — to compete against Cisco. Still, a few nimble firms carve out solid networking niches for themselves. The VAR Guy will spend Nov. 17 through 19 with one such company: ADTRAN Inc. Here are four key issues he expects to explore during the visit.

As Cisco’s channel team gathers in Portugal to meet with media, downbeat financial news surfaced back in the states. Sure, Cisco’s latest quarterly earnings met expectations. But CEO John Chambers (pictured) warned that revenue could fall as much as 10 percent in the current quarter as the economic downturn spreads to Europe and Asia, Reuters reported. Time for The VAR Guy to pop sum Tums. Here’s why.

Back in January, The VAR Guy openly wondered if F5 Networks could become the networking industry’s next $1 billion company. Our resident blogger will have a chance to ask VARs and solutions providers that very question during the F5 Partner Summit in New Orleans this week. And he’ll also listen to F5 CEO John McAdam’s keynote. Here’s a preview.

Perhaps it is possible to fly below Cisco Systems’ radar, and succeed in the networking market. Just ask the folks over at Adtran, which attracted positive comments from Morgan Stanley on July 7, notes Barron’s.

Everybody hold your breath. Cisco Systems is set to announce financial results on May 6. Most observers are cautiously optimistic. If everything goes as planned, Wall Street will breathe a collective sigh of relief. But if CEO John Chambers is in another “lumpy” mood, things could get really ugly real fast.

About a year ago, Cisco CEO John Chambers predicted his company’s competitive landscape would shift from networking firms to software and Web 2.0 companies. Apparently, Chambers was right: Recent financial results from numerous networking companies suggest many of Cisco’s old rivals are falling off a cliff. Here’s a look behind the numbers.

Cisco CEO John Chambers and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer plan to participate in a chat session with Charlie Rose on August 20, The VAR Guy hears. Hmmm. So what’s the upshot?

Cisco Systems is showing no mercy in the unified communications market. CEO John Chambers wants to bury Microsoft and Nortel. Now, he’s calling on a massive software partner to help knock out the competition.

The VAR Guy is keeping an eye on 4G Metro, a solutions provider that specializes in WiFi for public transit.