The VAR Guy

What a difference a year makes. At the 2010 HP Americas Partner Conference (APC), then-CEO Mark Hurd spoke mostly about product sales: More server, PC and printer shipments every second through the channel. Fast forward to this year’s HP APC (March 28-30, Las Vegas), and current CEO Leo Apotheker (pictured) will surely deliver a strong cloud computing message to channel partners. But that’s not all. Apotheker is sizing up potential software acquisitions. If HP is serious about succeeding in the cloud, then Apotheker should take a close look at Red Hat for possible acquisition, The VAR Guy believes. Here’s why.

It’s just about time for The VAR Guy to stop blogging and start reconnecting with his family for the weekend. But before our resident blogger pretends to stop checking his Twitter alerts, here six channel partner blog entries The VAR Guy didn’t write for the week ending September 10, 2010.

Business intelligence ain’t just for large enterprises anymore. Multiple proponents — including Google, technology distributors and even open source VARs — have helped to stir business intelligence conversations within small businesses. Here are the details.

Red Hat already focuses on Linux, JBoss middleware and virtualization. But there are multiple signs the open source company will make a business intelligence move soon. And Red Hat’s move could involve either Jaspersoft or EnterpriseDB — or both. Here’s some analysis, some speculation and some potential implications for Red Hat’s channel partners.

At the SAP Partner Summit in Las Vegas, Business Objects partners expressed optimism about business intelligence opportunities for 2010, though some partners are keeping close tabs on BI moves by Oracle and open source upstarts like Pentaho and Jaspersoft. Here’s the chatter.

The VAR Guy spent another week chasing (and missing) a few deadlines. Even with his growing staff, our resident blogger didn’t quite cover all the channel chatter this week. Here are six blog posts The VAR Guy didn’t write for the week ending Dec. 11, 2009.

They aren’t household names. But in the world of open source business intelligence (BI) software, Jaspersoft and Pentaho are trading some impressive blows and building out their partner programs. Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.

As The VAR Guy has reported, SugarCRM veteran Lars Nordwall is now senior VP of business development at Pentaho — an open source business intelligence software company. Nordwall’s focus area includes building Pentaho’s channel partner program. The VAR Guy traded email with Nordwall to learn why he leaped to Pentaho. Here are Nordwall’s thoughts on the open source BI and the IT channel.

From Best Buy to Wal-Mart, big companies use business intelligence (BI) software to drive new revenue and market opportunities. Now, those high-end market solutions seem to be pushing down — through the IT channel — into small and midsize businesses. Skeptical? Check out this anecdotal information from SAS Institute.

The Global 2000 is nice. The Fortune 500 is very nice. But selling into the Fortune 50 — especially for a small open source company like Pentaho — is extra sweet. Pentaho, which recently launched version 2.0 of its open source business intelligence software, says it has won business with several Fortune 50 companies. And Pentaho’s partner network is expanding. Here’s the scoop.

I’ve watched SAS Institute quite a bit the past two years. First, as the company built a channel program for its business intelligence software. And more recently, during a road show on business analytics. Instead of pitching products, SAS has been evangelizing customer outcomes. It’s a strategy worth noting. Here’s why.