The VAR Guy

ownCloud, Inc., which went commercial fewer than two months ago, may be young, but it’s already pumping out innovative new features for the ownCloud open source framework, including some interesting potential revenue streams. Here’s a look at the latest updates in version 3, out this week.

For the last decade, IT organizations have spent 70 percent or 80 percent of their budgets on maintenance costs while business demands are growing faster than ever. The result is that many requests for new projects have to be turned down and more and more business opportunities are missed. But Cisco channel partners have found a way to drive customer innovation.

It’s a been a while since we heard about Panorama Software, the business intelligence (BI) software provider for the enterprise. The company has made several upgrades to its BI software solution since mid-2011, but none bigger (and more relevant to you, reader) than its most recent upgrade: Panorama has further integrated its Necto platform with Microsoft SharePoint.

As a VAR or IT service provider, you’re often forced to react to technology trends that seemingly come out of nowhere. But if you slow down just a little and really think about the IT channel, you’ll find some predictable trends that can potentially bolster your business. Here are five such trends for 2012, and potential ways you can capitalize on them.

As a VAR, you know it makes sense to offer cloud-based services to your small and mid-sized business (SMB) clients. The cloud allows you to provide SMBs with enterprise-like features that are easy to implement and use, without large upfront capital expenses or huge monthly fees, while simultaneously adding recurring revenue for your own business. Yet you’re likely coming across multiple obstacles, including SMBs’ lack of understanding about cloud services or general inertia toward change. Here are five steps to overcoming common SMB objections to the cloud.

The beginning of a new year presents a prime opportunity for IT channel partners looking to expand into new markets or enter a new, fast-growing vertical. And to help them in that effort, CompTIA has made new 2012 training resources available for IT channel companies via a series of recently published 10-Week Guides.

There’s no shortage of cloud-based file sharing services out there these days, but many have flaws: Dropbox has suffered embarrassing security holes, Ubuntu One isn’t as cross-platform as one might like, and iCloud — like most Apple products — is buried in proprietary nonsense. But there’s a new cloud-based service on the horizon: ownCloud has announced a new commercial initiative that, based on open source code, promises flexibility and accountability without lock-in or security headaches. It’s an interesting move with fascinating possibilities for the open source channel, and I recently got a chance to speak with one of the founders behind it.

“The cloud” can be hard to visualize, not least because the hardware behind it is often an ambiguous collection of servers scattered somewhere across the ether of the Internet. But in Canonical’s vision, the cloud can be something as simple and concrete as a USB stick running the Ubuntu Cloud Live image, which makes the creation of private clouds quite trivial. I recently got a chance to play around with this neat tool, and here’s what I found.

Brocade is releasing a new line of networking technologies aimed at enhancing the enterprise connection between the corporate network and beyond.

Dozens of cloud vendors and potential channel partners gathered in Mountain View, Calif., on November 7 for the inaugural Cloud Channel Summit. The common goal: Connecting the dots between cloud services providers, VARs and resellers to build new revenue opportunities. But guest speakers — including folks from Salesforce.com, CompTIA, GoodData, rPath and more — frequently debated the path forward. Among the key topics discussed: Whether VARs need a vertical focus to succeed in cloud computing.

Good news for VARs with client businesses using Oracle test and development servers, product databases and applications. In late July 2011 EMC Corp. announced several new EMC Proven Solutions to help clients move to a virtualized, cloud environment more quickly using VMware vSphere. Here are the details:

Cloud computing and green computing are two of the IT channel’s most popular catch phrases these days. It’s rare, however, to hear talk of how the one affects the other. But perhaps it’s time for that to change. Here’s why.

Enterasys Networks is urging its channel partners to expand on their success by focusing on three areas of opportunity ripe for its networking wares: data center, wireless and physical surveillance.

Brocade, long a player in the data center infrastructure space, is releasing its tether through a line of cloud-optimized networking solutions to advance public and private clouds.

We’ve previously discussed Google’s play into the enterprise with Chrome OS and the differences between Android and Chrome in the mobile world. Android will exist on tablets, while Chrome will exist on netbooks — at least, that’s what we thought. But the mobile arena is far from predictable. New technology causes disruptions that upset marketplace predictions. Another case in point: Google is now positioning Chrome OS to be tablet-friendly. What does this mean for the channel? Read on for some perspective …

There was a time — before the cloud redefined computing, and when cell phones were just phones — when managing Active Directory environments was uncomplicated and limited in scope. That era passed long ago, and the AD-integration market is now evolving into a new creature entirely. But where exactly is it headed? I recently sat down (virtually, of course) with representatives  from Centrify for their take on the future direction of this channel. Read on for highlights of their vision.

The VAR Guy gets around the globe from time to time, and what blogger-at-large is good without his trusty laptop? But a recent New York Times article piqued The VAR Guy’s interest. The article, “Can You Frisk a Hard Drive?” discussed digital strip searches at U.S. borders. Luckily for us, there’s the cloud.

Canonical representatives recently announced plans for the next Ubuntu Developer Week, slated to begin at the end of this month.  What is Ubuntu Developer Week, what does it mean for you? Most importantly, what does it say about Ubuntu over the long term? Read on for details.

Many of us within Cisco are increasingly being asked, “How will Cloud computing impact our partner models?”  Our answer is, it will vary by the practice capabilities and the role each partner wishes to play in helping their end customers begin to transition from premises-based IT investments to virtualized “IT as a Service” spend.

Avnet celebrated its 50th year on the New York Stock Exchange by ringing the closing bell Dec. 15. But with the distributor’s knack for forward thinking, the opening bell may have been more appropriate. Resellers, in particular, potentially stand to benefit from Avnet’s progressive strategies. Here’s how:

I didn’t think there was anything left for cloud infrastructure megalith Amazon Web Services (AWS) to give away once it opened its free tier. But now users will be able to leverage Amazon CloudWatch to keep tabs on their Amazon EC2 cloud computing instances without spending a dime. Here’s a quick overview.

F5 Networks has done much to improve the storage game for data centers through its ARX technology, which features intelligent tiering to reduce the time and costs associated with regular backups, especially for large, data-intensive companies. Now the company is extending that functionality to support cloud-based storage.

Aiming to move further into the cloud infrastructure arena, Cisco is buying LineSider Technologies, which markets network management software to securely create and deploy cloud computing infrastructure.