The VAR Guy

“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.

Is cloud computing hot or hype? Will cloud computing bolster VARs — or destroy channel partner revenue streams? Nine Lives Media Inc., creators of The VAR Guy, provides the platform for answers starting December 7.

Some large cloud computing companies want to sell direct into small and midsize businesses. So how can VARs and MSPs maintain SMB relationships and generate new profits? For the answer join the MSPmentor Live webcast on December 8 at 2:00 p.m. eastern. Here’s what we’ll cover.

As The VAR Guy has been hinting for the past few weeks, Nine Lives Media Inc. — the creative team behind this Website — is heads-down on something new. What exactly is it? This new, 24-second video provides the latest clues…

rPath, the self-described “service factory for on-demand IT,” has released rBuilder 5.8, which adds automated Microsoft Windows server application deployment. The company says it’s a natural extension of its work doing the same in Linux server environments. Here’s the scoop on how rBuilder can potentially eliminate some headaches.

GI Partners has successfully played matchmaker for portfolio companies The Planet and SoftLayer, merging them into one hosting service monolith with 24,000 customers using 76,000 servers in 110 countries. The VAR Guy won’t say “he told you so,” but here’s the scoop.

The Open-Xchange Partner Summit 2010 wrapped up last week. Company executives and OX partners alike got to take the stage and talk about what they bring to the open source messaging and groupware platform. While CEO Rafael Laguna’s keynote laid out most of the ideas we would hear repeated over the course of the day, your humble correspondent still heard some interesting tidbits. Here are a few.

Something new? Check out this video…