The VAR Guy

SUSE Linux, now owned by Attachmate, will unveil some partner and customer surprises at Novell BrainShare (Oct. 10-14, Salt Lake City), the company confirms. Meanwhile, Michael Miller, VP of global alliances and marketing, has been polishing partner and cloud services strategies for SUSE. And Miller has been busy meeting with strategic SUSE partners like Microsoft, SAP, VMware, IBM, Dell, HP and Fujitsu. So, what’s the message from Miller to SUSE Linux partners and customers? The VAR Guy got the answer.

The VAR Guy just took a look at his travel schedule for October 2011. Simply put: It could be the busiest month ever for channel partners that plan to attend VAR- and MSP-centric conferences. Skeptical? Take a look at this packed schedule of October 2011 events, many of which The VAR Guy and his editorial team plan to attend…

Novell, now owned by Attachmate, is marching forward with its BrainShare conference (Oct. 10-14, Salt Lake City). But this won’t be any ordinary BrainShare. Instead, topics involving three Attachmate divisions — NetIQ, Novell and SUSE — are on the agenda. And The VAR Guy suspects SUSE will use BrainShare as a stage to launch or elevate its cloud strategy. But can one conference serve so many different masters? Hmmm…

Several of Novell‘s top executives — including Ronald W. Hovsepian, Dana C. Russell, John K. Dragoon, Colleen A. O’Keefe, Scott N. Semel and James P. Ebzery — have exited the company following Attachmate‘s recent buyout of Novell. Sources say Novell has made additional staff cuts. Next up, Attachmate and Novell must move quickly to publicly describe Novell’s channel, collaboration and security strategies going forward. The good news: Novell’s partner program remains unchanged. The big question: Which Novell executive will lead that program going forward?

Sputter, sputter. The VAR Guy is running on fumes today. The recent VMware Partner Exchange and IBM PartnerWorld conferences, both in Orlando, were high-octane events that drained our resident blogger’s energy. So it’s time to recharge this weekend… before running off to Orlando again — this time for Parallels Summit (Feb. 22-24). In the meantime, here are six channel partner news blogs The VAR Guy didn’t find time to write for the week ending February 18, 2011.

Move over, Red Hat Summit. In addition to that annual customer gathering, Red Hat is now planning an entirely separate Red Hat Partner Conference, The VAR Guy has heard from sources who wear the red fedora. Smart move. Here’s why.

How does Attachmate plan to manage Novell’s products and channel partner strategy? An SEC Filing dated January 3, 2011 provides some new clues. The bottom line: While Attachmate seems committed to Novell’s products and partner program, some individual brand names could change or fade away. Plus, Attachmate and Novell still need to work out when and where the Novell BrainShare conferences will be held this year. Here’s the update.

The VAR Guy is nearly done with business travel for 2010. Is it time to for our resident frequent flier to kick back and relax? Hardly. Here’s a list of 75 different channel partner conferences and events in 2011. For the most part each conference is designed for VARs and/or managed services providers — though a few focus more on ISVs (independent software vendors). Take a look.

As OSCON (Open Source Convention) gets set to start July 19 in Portland, Oregon, I’m reminded of an Ubuntu-centric conference that once showed great promise. The event, called Ubuntu Live, was co-located at OSCON in 2007. But it no longer exists. Here’s why it’s time for Canonical to revive Ubuntu Live for partners and customers.

When Novell announces quarterly results on May 27, The VAR Guy wonders: Will Novell provide a status report on the potential sale of the company? Here’s an update for channel partners, and some educated guesses from The VAR Guy.

Novell expects to evaluate initial takeover bids for the company this week, according to The Wall Street Journal. As many as 20 companies have expressed interest in Novell, the Journal said. Of course, The VAR guy has his own opinion of the situation. Here it is…

Alas, The VAR Guy is suffering from double vision. In one eye, he’s reading about Cisco Pulse, a collaboration platform and enterprise content management system. In the other eye, The VAR Guy is reading about Novell Pulse, a real-time collaboration and social messaging platform for businesses. Hmmm… will both companies stick with the Pulse name?

Set expectations and beat them. That’s the situation facing Novell as the company prepares for BrainShare EMEA, scheduled for May 18 to 21 in Amsterdam. This is the first time in five years Novell is hosting a BrainShare conference for EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) partners and customers. Novell Chief Marketing Officer and Channel Chief John Dragoon says the event is sold out. Here are the details.

When it comes to hardware and software, IBM and Novell have a longstanding SUSE Linux business relationship. So where are the two companies heading next together? Novell and IBM provided some clues during last week’s Novell BrainShare conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Here are the details.

Deloitte & Touche has a key goal for 2010: To be Novell’s largest, most successful partner in the Identity and Security market. Lyle Carlson, director of Deloitte & Touche’s Novell practice, shared his vision — which emphasizes Novell-SAP integrations — during a meeting at Novell BrainShare. Here’s the scoop.

During an executive breakfast at Novell BrainShare this morning, Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian and other members of the executive team answered key questions from partners specializing in Software as a Service, SUSE Linux, Identity and Security Management, and Novell’s other product specialties. Novell also named its partners of the year. Here’s a look at the conversation.

At the BrainShare conference today, Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian addressed the elephant in the room — Elliott Associates’ unsolicited $2 billion takeover bid for Novell. Then, Hovsepian and Chief Marketing Officer/Channel Chief John Dragoon put the spotlight on Novell’s broader strategy — Intelligent Workload Management (IWM) to enable cloud and virtualized applications — and a new partnership with VerizonBusiness. Here are the top 12 highlights from the keynote.

As The VAR Guy suspected: Nearly a dozen software partners are set to rally around Novell’s SUSE Linux Appliance strategy at BrainShare, a customer and partner conference held this week in Utah. Here’s a look at the SUSE Linux partners — from Black Diamond to Zmanda — and the implications for Novell’s channel partners. Plus, a look at potential software appliance partners Novell still needs to recruit.

The VAR Guy is set to see Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian (pictured) and Chief Marketing Officer/Channel Chief John Dragoon at the Novell BrainShare conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Here are five key channel partner questions for Hovsepian and Dragoon.

Novell’s board has considered and rejected an unsolicited $2 billion takeover bid from Elliott Associates, a hedge fund that wants to swallow SUSE Linux and Novell’s other core products. Novell’s rejection of the bid, announced March 20, answers some questions but raises others on the eve of BrainShare, the company’s big customer and partner event in Salt Lake City, Utah. Now the twist: Novell’s board essentially wrote an open letter to other potential suitors. Here’s the analysis from The VAR Guy.

As the big Novell BrainShare conference gets set to start on March 21, Novell’s board of directors is considering an unsolicited offer for the company. But here’s the twist: More software developers seem to be flocking to Novell’s SUSE Linux platform — at a time when Novell’s ownership status could potentially change. Here’s why partners seem to be flocking to SUSE Linux.

Elliott Associates, the hedge fund that’s seeking to acquire Novell and SUSE Linux, is denying a report that it plans to break up Novell and sell off the pieces. Hmmm… But The VAR Guy still wonders: Will Novell and Elliott Associates reach a buyout agreement in time for Novell BrainShare — a big customer and partner that starts March 21? Here’s some speculation.

When the Open Source Business Conference starts March 17 in San Francisco, The VAR Guy will be watching and listening closely for signs of corporate open source momentum from upstarts like Canonical and giants like Microsoft, Oracle and even SAP. Yes, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP. Here are five trends to anticipate at the OSBC conference.