The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy has been researching the unified communications market in recent weeks. And he’s stumbled across an interesting trend: More and more open source startups are pushing into the unified communications market. Here are four prime examples:

Microsoft is scheduled to bury Windows XP today — basically forcing Windows customers to buy Vista instead. Yet, Dell’s channel blog actually has the guts to show VARs how to continue offering XP to customers. Don’t underestimate the significance of Dell’s move.

Is Dell facing a partner revolt? Not really. But a few VARs allege that customers who buy direct from Dell receive better pricing than solutions providers. Now, Dell has a memo to help communicate its pricing policies to partners. Here’s a look.

In a single day, legacy channel publication Computer Reseller News posted two glowing stories about Dell’s progress in the laptop and government markets, respectively. Has hell frozen over? Is Dell that hot — or has CRN finally put the deep freeze on all the negative Dell coverage?

Dell surprised lots of folks with a strong quarterly earnings report yesterday. But the company didn’t surprise The VAR Guy. He knew Michael Dell would begin to turn the company around. Still, is Dell’s recent momentum most associated with cost cuts — or is the company beginning to gain some traction with managed services and IT channel partnerships?

If you want to know when a high-tech market is reaching its tipping point, keep a close eye on Dell Inc. Generally speaking, Dell only jumps into high-volume, mass market opportunities. So the company’s decision to offer TelePresence solutions — designed by LifeSize Communications — is worth watching. Here’s why.

Generally speaking, The VAR Guy is a procrastinator — except when it comes to timely blogs. In fact, he’s already confirmed plans to blog live from Ubuntu Live 2008, scheduled for July 21 and 22 in Portland, Oregon. Here are five reasons you should care about the Ubuntu distribution of Linux, and the Ubuntu Live conference.

Dell will host a webinar for its managed service provider partners on May 1. The VAR Guy spotted some early details about the Dell webinar over on his sister site, MSPmentor.

A technology revolution started today. Most people don’t know about it. In fact, most folks won’t hear about today’s events for another five to seven years. But circle April 24, 2008 on your calendar. A decade from now, historians will say today was the day Ubuntu Linux reached its tipping point — especially on servers. Here are five reasons why.

Within the next few weeks, Dell plans to launch a channel blog to help communicate the company’s partner strategy, and to interact more closely with solutions providers. Smart move. But The VAR Guy hopes Dell takes the following 5 steps with the blog.