The VAR Guy

The Super Bowl is nearly here — but The VAR Guy can’t say much about The Big Game since some of our blog team members are lifelong New England Patriots fans. And other bloggers here are far wiser New York Giants fans. (Guess which camp the always-wise VAR Guy belongs to?) While you’re weighing the answer to that question, here are the nine most read technology news and channel partner stories from our blog network — The VAR Guy, MSPmentor and Talkin’ Cloud — for the week ending Feb. 3, 2012.

The channel ebbs and flows with a variety of partners and vendors, and some shine more than others. That’s why Syncsort is highlighting its partners that exemplify the company’s values. Which partners secured Syncsort’s coveted 2012 Partner of the Year award? The VAR Guy’s got you covered…

The VAR Guy just got a call from HR double-checking a help-wanted ad for a freelance website manager. Yes indeed, our resident blogger’s alleged media empire needs to find additional talent to fuel more growth. But even before more help arrives, web traffic continues to grow. Here are the nine most read technology news and channel partner stories from our blog network — The VAR Guy, MSPmentor and Talkin’ Cloud — for the week ending Jan. 27, 2012.

The VAR Guy may try to squeeze his way into Candlestick Park this weekend to watch the Giants vs. 49ers. But before our resident blogger begins an alleged cross-country journey from New York to San Francisco, here’s a look at the nine most read channel partner news stories from our blog network — The VAR Guy, MSPmentor and Talkin’ Cloud — for the week ending January 20, 2012.

Please don’t touch The VAR Guy. It’s not that he doesn’t like to be touched, he’s just sore from thinking he’s a tough guy.

My time here at the McAfee FOCUS 2011 Security Conference is just about over. I leave you with the details on two major McAfee announcements around partner profitability and network security before I pack up and hit Dallas for the 2011 Tigerpaw User Conference.

Is the Motorola Xoom – a Google Android-powered tablet – ready for business users and channel partners? David Courbanou, my peer here at The VAR Guy, wasn’t all that impressed with early Xoom  2 chatter. But I’ve spent recent days using the original Xoom. iPad lovers cover your ears: I believe the Xoom tablet has something to offer the business world.

Cisco Systems has published the second of its annual Connected World Technology Report, focusing on the importance of the Internet to the daily lives of college students and young professionals. Considering the fact that Cisco interviewed a generation of people who have never lived without the Internet, The VAR Guy finds the results less than surprising but more than a little sobering.

AutoVirt has broken out its channel partner program to help OEMs, VARs and SIs leverage AutoVirt’s file migration and management software.

The fall season is almost upon us, and as the air gains a morning chill and trees start to shed their leaves, Intronis is gearing up for its annual Fall release — a major cloud storage upgrade designed for MSPs and VARs. Ted Roller, VP of channel development at Intronis, describes the strategy in a FastChat Video.

Yes, The VAR Guy has a new owner — Penton Media. But did The VAR Guy sell his soul when Penton acquired Nine Lives Media? Hardly. Our resident blogger visited Penton Media’s Fort Collins, Colo., offices this week. During the visit, The VAR Guy gathered lots of information about Penton Media’s web prowess. It’s too soon to say how The VAR Guy may potentially leverage those resources. But our resident blogger promises to maintain his unique voice. Here’s a look at the visit.

At first glance, today is like any other day for The VAR Guy. Our anonymous blogger is seated at Starbucks, sipping a Venti Mocha Latte, and tapping into free WiFi. But if you check the news wires you’ll notice one big difference today: Nine Lives Media Inc., the company behind The VAR Guy, has been acquired by Penton Media. So, how will the deal impact The VAR Guy’s unique voice? In short, The VAR Guy’s voice is about to grow even louder. A lot louder. Here’s why.

Hurricane Irene knocked out The VAR Guy’s electricity and flooded our resident blogger’s basement. Roughly 400,000 customers are without electricity today on Long Island. But overall, the Nine Lives Media Inc. team is up-and-running today. Check out The VAR Guy’s latest FastChat Video for a look at some of the storm damage and recovery process on Long Island, which The VAR Guy calls home.

The VAR Guy stumbled upon a comScore report that tallied the numbers of mobile devices in the United States and a surprising figure emerged: iOS devices are beating out Android devices by nearly 59 percent. The VAR Guy finds this report much more tantalizing than others of the same ilk, since this survey accounts for all iOS devices vs. all Android devices. Read on for some fun numbers and The VAR Guy perspective …

The VAR Guy knows big UC companies aren’t the only video players in town, and he knows interoperability is key to success in the videoconferencing/collaboration space. LifeSize is one of the vendors that understand that, and is now offering a solution that allows customers using Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 R2 to integrate with LifeSize collaboration offerings. Read on for The VAR Guy’s HD-quality channel perspective …

The VAR Guy has been seeing the technology sector ‘go green’ for the better part of 10 years. HP certainly has done more than its share of green initiatives, but that’s not stopping the company from resting on its laurels. Now, HP is moving forward with a bevy of new products, services and HP Labs research to help customers (and likely the channel) reduce their energy usage. Read on for The VAR Guy’s quick details on the earth-hugging initiative …

Generally speaking, Cisco Systems isn’t a name that’s synonymous with consumer products. Even dedicated Flip users might not know that the video camera comes from the big, ubiquitous networking company. Nevertheless, Cisco has a growing portfolio of consumer products — including Flip, Umi TelePresence, and the LinkSys/Valet line home networking solutions. But Morningstar, the investment research firm, recently called on Cisco to exit certain consumer electronics niches in order to refocus on the enterprise market. Should Cisco heed Morningstar’s advice?

After spending a few years as the upstart technology in the channel, unified communications finally seems to be coming into its own. The VAR Guy has always had high hopes for UC as a great add-on technology for communications- and convergence-focused solution providers, which is why his ears perked up over Alteva’s new Unified Communications Certification (UCC) program. Read on for the details …

Adobe is showing some love for HTML5 with the the release of Wallaby, a marsupial-named program that essentially converts Flash applications into HTML5. It’s now in pre-release format for developers and coders to get their hands on. The VAR Guy believes Wallaby carries in its pouch some pretty big implications. Here’s why …

The VAR Guy eats up channel news like a Hoover on dirt, but sometimes news slips through the cracks. This time, our resident blogger was so busy attending partner conferences that he missed out on FalconStor’s new PartnerChoice partner program. With a mighty mea culpa for missing the news, here’s a rundown of PartnerChoice …

The VAR Guy is always interested in hearing about ways vendors are helping their partners tap new market opportunities. The SMB space, in particular, is full of opportunities. HP is well-aware of the $57 billion market, and has launched its SMB Central portal to help partners feast on the bounty. Here are the details …

Jeannine Sarragossa, director of IT at Camelbak Products, is an expert on Oracle technologies. But even a pro like Sarragossa depends on trusted advisors across the IT channel. One prime example: As Camelbak continues to enhance its internal applications and customer-facing systems, Sarragossa leverages regular advice from Intelenex, an Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized solutions provider in Santa Rosa, Calif.

The VAR Guy’s ears always perk up at iPhone 5 rumors — including iPhone Nano speculation — but now the rumors are getting more interesting. A larger iPhone, perhaps? A slide-out keyboard? The VAR Guy is licking his chops at the prospect of what Apple has up its sleeve …