The VAR Guy

There’s no question that Gmail has been one of Google’s overwhelming successes — especially compared to the company’s less well-fated endeavors such as Wave and Buzz. But lately, I’ve found myself disliking Gmail more and more. Here’s why.

The VAR Guy is quietly poking around the Autotask Community Live event in Miami. You’ll find official news and observations over on MSPmentor. But there’s also plenty of background chatter here involving executive strategies, potential alliances and… well… these seven rumors behind the scenes.

The VAR Guy hopes to watch this evening’s Miami Heat-Chicago Bulls Game 3 showdown. But before our resident blogger turns his attention to South Beach, Miami, here are six channel partner-related blog entries that The VAR Guy didn’t have time to write for the week ending May 20, 2011.

When Google unveiled the Chromebook for Business strategy today at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, The VAR Guy openly wondered where channel partners fit into the strategy. Now, The VAR Guy has received an answer from Google. Here’s the update.

The Google I/O 2011 conference (May 10-11, San Francisco) is designed mainly for software developers. But The VAR Guy has a hunch Google will discuss some key channel moves that could have implications for VARs and MSPs. In fact, Google’s Jeff Ragusa (pictured) will specifically address channel partners during the conference. Here are five potential channel trends and developments worth watching at Google I/O.

This story isn’t a reprint from 1991. Or from 1994. It’s not even a reprint from 2010. Microsoft has once again publicly called out the dwindling market share of IBM Lotus Notes, rekindling a decades-old feud ahead of Lotusphere 2011. Is The VAR Guy surprised? Not really. But this time, Microsoft isn’t teasing IBM by offering free training or promoting its channel partners; rather, it’s going in with both guns blazing, armed with market share statistics and highlighting enterprises that have made the switch to Microsoft Exchange from Lotus Notes. Here’s the scoop:

The VAR Guy had a lengthy conversation with Microsoft Channel Chief Jon Roskill (pictured) today. The call marks roughly six months since the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2010. During the discussion, Roskill offered some timely updates on Microsoft’s cloud, virtualization, CRM and channel partner strategies. Most of the points included key business milestones — including alleged competitive gains vs. VMware and Salesforce.com. Still,  Microsoft faces some key challenges. Here’s the scoop.

One might think The VAR Guy’s team would stop being surprised at how far Microsoft is willing to go to take potshots at its cloud rivals over at Google. But in a Q&A with Computerworld, Senior Director of Microsoft Online Services Tom Rizzo had some fighting words for Google, saying the company is “failing” at understanding the needs of the enterprise. Needless to say, his comments have the IT world abuzz. Here’s the scoop:

Google has taken the lid off the Google Cloud Connect plugin for Microsoft Office, which does exactly what it says on the tin: links Microsoft’s legacy desktop productivity suite with Google’s cloud offering by way of a toolbar. While your humble correspondent doesn’t have access to a Microsoft Windows machine to give the the preview version of the plugin a whirl, Google gave me a demo ahead of today’s launch for “Trusted Testers.” Here’s the scoop.

Everybody, it seems, is gunning for Google these days. You already know about the forthcoming Microsoft Office 365 initiative. But have you heard the rumor about Facebook taking Gmail? Here’s a recap of some of the chatter The VAR Guy’s been hearing and reading — and what it could mean for the channel.

As part of their never-ending cloud user drive, Google has updated the Google Apps Migration for Lotus Notes and Google Calendar Connector for Lotus Notes tools. Translation: Google is aggressively targeting the Lotus Notes installed base. In addition to a simpler interface, the updated solutions add improvements to things like security and BlackBerry support.

Google has enlisted the number-crunchers at Forrester Consulting to answer a simple question: How much is faster collaboration worth to businesses? More specifically, Google was looking to quantify the ROI of switching to the Google Apps cloud suite — and came up with a very impressive figure of 307% over three years. Where did that eye-popping figure come from? And is it accurate? Here’s some perspective.

Two pieces of channel news from Google today: The search giant’s Google I/O Conference (May 10-11, 2011, San Francisco) could evolve to include more channel partner content, The VAR Guy has learned. Plus, Google says more than 2,000 channel partners have signed up to sell Google Apps — the company’s SaaS productivity suite. That milestone is an important morale-booster for Google’s base of solution providers ahead of the forthcoming channel battle with Microsoft for SMB cloud service supremacy. Here’s the scoop.

Cloud migration specialist Binary Tree is no stranger to Microsoft’s BPOS SaaS productivity platform, with a stated focus of moving customers from legacy messaging systems to Exchange Online. And now Binary Tree has signed a strategic partnership for Microsoft to use their software tools when migrating customers from the IBM Lotus Notes to BPOS. Here’s the story.

When Open-Xchange CEO Rafael Laguna began his live demo at the company’s partner summit here in Germany, I sank into my seat a little. Single sign-on and a revamped interface are nice for Open-Xchange (OX) open source email users, but it’s not the kind of thing to energize a room full of channel and SaaS partners. But then Laguna got to a live demo of the work-in-progress version of the Open-Xchange Web Desktop, an interface designed to bring any SaaS application into an environment eerily reminiscent of Apple iOS. Here are some details.

The keynote was called “The Sky is the Limit – How to grow your SaaS and On-Premises Business.” But Open-Xchange CEO Rafael Laguna had his head in the cloud when he kicked off the open-source messaging and groupware provider’s second-ever partner summit here in Cologne, Germany. His speech covered a lot of ground in a very short time, but the core message to VARs was constant: Microsoft and Google aren’t the final word in the channel, especially as you head to the cloud. Here are 15 key takeaways for VARs and solutions providers.

As you may guess from the name, Cloud Sherpas has built its business around leading enterprises from legacy deployments to the cloud- specifically, to managed Google Apps cloud productivity solutions. It’s a business model that’s garnered them some attention from VCs, with Cloud Sherpas announcing that they’ve completed a $1.6 million round of Series A-1 financing. The VAR Guy sees it as a potential vote of confidence in the future of Google Apps. Here’s the scoop.

When it comes time to compare cloud suites Google Apps and Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), The VAR Guy isn’t the only one who notices that the former tends to focus on the SMB space while the latter’s efforts center on the large enterprise. But that all changes with the launch of Microsoft Office 365, which provides SMBs and large enterprises alike access to cloud productivity, messaging, and collaboration. Here’s the scoop.

Google may be pushing the Google Apps SaaS productivity suite to businesses of all shapes and sizes, but search remains the company’s bread and butter. Now, those two specialties will finally meet in the enterprise thanks to an update to the Google Search Appliance, featuring a cloud connector that enables search of not only on-premises data but also web services like Google Docs, Google Site Search, or even Twitter. Here’s the scoop.

Who’s afraid of Google? It sounds like the answer might be “everybody in the IT world.” Take, for example, What If Google Does It?, a site designed to provide an answer for VCs who ask the question when you’re in mid-pitch. Here’s a quick look at the markets Google’s made waves in — and at least one where it failed to make a splash.

Zoho likes to position itself as the enterprise-targeted SaaS competitor to Google Apps, but it still knows that if you can’t beat them, join them. That’s why Zoho takes their Google integration a step further with Gmail contextual gadgets. The move brings Zoho CRM, Zoho Invoice, and Zoho Projects into the conversation. Here are some details.

As part of their years-old Customer and Partner Experience initiative, Microsoft has launched the Global Relationship Study — meaning channel partners and customers alike will have the opportunity to tell Redmond what they really think. Here’s the lowdown.

Another day, another incremental Google Apps upgrade. This time, the search titan is upping its security game on its signature cloud productivity suite with the launch of OAuth support in a bunch of Google Apps APIs for secure data retrieval from the cloud. Here are some details.