The VAR Guy

The dedicated cloud-watchers here at The VAR Guy have heard some rumblings. Rumor has it Microsoft’s BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) will soon gain a SaaS application store. Our sources include developers and partners that work closely with Microsoft in the SaaS market. If the rumor pans out, here’s what it could mean for software vendors and the channel.

We’d previously reported that hosted Internet telephony automation service provider Ifbyphone had acquired VoIP application development environment Cloudvox, but now it looks like the acquisition is yielding its first fruit. Cloudvox has announced a pay-as-you-go rate of $0.03/minute and some new features for developers. Here’s the scoop.

Despite our predictions, the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco ended with a whimper on Friday. Awards were presented, but the biggest announcements were made earlier in the week. Here’s the roundup of the day’s events and our overall convention analysis.

In a speech to the student body University of Washington, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer elucidated the promises and perils of the cloud, shedding some light on Microsoft’s cloud strategy.  Gizmodo’s got the blow-by-blow – here’s a recap and our take.

The biggest news out of the the third day of the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco: a gamut of computing industry leaders, including Google, Verizon, and CA, announced the formation of the Open Identity Exchange, a non-profit organization dedicated to building trust in online identity credentials. Here’s the scoop, along with the rest of the day 3 highlights.

Second verse, same as the first: cloud security continued to be a major theme at the second day of the RSA  Conference in San Francisco. Here are the highlights…

The RSA Security Conference started up in San Francisco on March 1, gathering the best and brightest in the computer security field. It seems like everybody in attendance had their head in the cloud. Here’s a day 1 conference roundup.

Public institutions are looking into the cloud as a money-saving maneuver, and rightly so. Now Microsoft is breaking into that market with the unveiling of BPOS Federal, a version of its hosted online collaboration and productivity suite with enhanced security aimed at filling the needs of the federal government. Here’s what VARs should know.

Services are where the money’s at right? One hundred percent margin! What about when you sell a hosted solution, can you still wrap the same services around it? Maybe not, but maybe you can sell more profitable services.  The way I see it there are 3 basic service groups that most solutions providers and MSPs offer. Here are the implications for partners.

CA Inc. is continuing its push into cloud services with the acquisition of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solution provider 3Tera and their flagship product AppLogic. Here’s the deal.

During the Parallels Summit in Miami, CEO Serguei Beloussov described how hosting providers can focus on small customers and stay ahead of Amazon.com, Apple, Google and Microsoft in the cloud. But how can service providers move more customers into the cloud? Here’s a recap of Beloussov’s keynote.

Hewlett-Packard is launching a Google Android-based netbook. Shipping under the Compaq brand, HP calls it the AirLife 100. It will debut in the United Arab Emirates (no word on a U.S. launch). The big question: Is Android for netbooks a good computing solution?

If you’re a VAR leveraging Microsoft’s Windows Azure and you’ve been using their SQL Azure server, good news: SQL Azure Database Service Update 1 is now live. Here’s what it adds.

Ever wish you could debug something collaboratively? Maybe you wish you could actually debug a piece of software without actually having to be on the machine you were building the code on? DebugLive.com, which just launched, is a potential solution to those challenges.

The VAR Guy speculated months ago that Google might launch a partner program for independent software vendors (ISVs). The fact that they just launched a Google Apps Developer Blog is just fuel for the fire. Here’s why.

Instead of a big bang, Microsoft’s new cloud platform Windows Azure, has made lots of small news since launching as a paid service on Feb. 1. In this regard, Microsoft is similar to cloud competitor Amazon Web Services, which only breaks radio silence when they have new features to launch. No doubt, Microsoft and Amazon have been trickling important news, so let’s take a look.

Let’s clarify that headline a little: Windows Azure has been available through an extended technology preview for several months. Today, though, Microsoft’s new cloud computing platform debuts as a full, paid service. Here’s what VARs need to know.

Microsoft is seeking feedback as it prepares to officially launch the Windows Azure cloud on February 1. Specifically, the software giant has launched MyGreatWindowsAzureIdea.com as a forum for user, developer and partner feedback. Hardly surprising: Ideas are flowing into the forum fast. And some of the top submissions involve Azure pricing. Here are some details.

Microsoft VP Cindy Bates surfaced on the Fort Worth Business Press web site yesterday. In an editorial piece, Bates describes how solutions providers and small business owners can benefit from software plus services and Microsoft Cloud Services. The piece was super-basic. Maybe that’s why it was on the mark.

That headline might go a little far, but Microsoft has announced plans to hold workshops across the United States to educate VARs and other IT pros about what Windows Azure is, what it can do, and how best to deploy it.  It seems like the closer we get to the February 1 grand opening of Azure, the more eager Microsoft is to push their new cloud platform.

Ifbyphone, which provides hosted Internet telephony automation solutions, has acquired Cloudvox. The move gives Ifbyphone a voice application developer platform that alledgedly “changes the face of cloud telephony.” That sounds like hype. But we’re intrigued. Here’s why VARs should pay attention.

Even a month ago, I’d have bet money against it, but it looks like Microsoft is going to have Windows Azure ready for paying customers by a target release date of February 1, 2010. Here’s a quick rundown of what you should know as the date draws near.

You read that right: the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking into cloud computing, trying to figure out what the very real security and privacy concerns could mean for consumers and what they have to do about it. The real trouble is that if the FTC hasn’t made itself entirely clear on what “cloud computing” even is, and resellers could be in trouble if the government decides to legislate and regulate SaaS (software as a service) applications like Salesforce.com or Zoho under that umbrella. Here’s the scoop.