Netgear Makes Bold WiFi Prediction February 13, 2007 The VAR Guy, like everyone else, has been waiting for 802.11n to become an official WiFi standard. But technical hurdles and vendor debates have repeatedly delayed the higher-speed wireless standard. Still, the market for preliminary 802.11n gear appears to be gaining traction. “Last year was exhausting,” concedes Som Pal Choudhury, product line manager for advanced […]
Adtran Enhances Partner Program February 13, 2007 ADTRAN is using a familiar formula in a bid to grow sales this year: Develop IP telephony solutions, recruit some strategic partners and take aim at the SMB market. The VAR Guy heard rumblings in January that ADTRAN was prepping partner program enhancements. Those rumors were fulfilled this week, when the company introduced a mid-tier […]
Buffalo Tech Builds its Brand February 13, 2007 While U.S.-based IT companies seek to establish a foothold in Asia, Buffalo Technology is moving in the opposite direction. “Our roots are in Japan and 80 percent of our business is still done overseas,” says Erny-Jay Mezas, director of sales at the networking, storage and wireless specialist. “We launched a successful VAR program in the […]
Six Trends at LinuxWorld February 12, 2007 The VAR Guy will be watching closely when the LinuxWorld Open Solutions Summit kicks off Feb. 14 in New York. Here are six trends and key developments to note ahead of the show. **1. AMD Does Open Source:** Some people are surprised that AMD is among the show’s top sponsors. The VAR Guy isn’t surprised […]
Ready for Instant Boot-ups? February 11, 2007 The next time Microsoft overhauls its operating system, maybe the software giant should give University of California Professor Qing Jiang a call. Jiang is designing a computer that boots up instantly when powered on. His design also writes data directly onto a hard drive–making “saving” a thing of the past. Sure, Vista appears to be […]
Symantec Makes Good on Partner Promises February 11, 2007 The VAR Guy is skeptical when vendors unveil long-term roadmaps for their partner programs. Very often, the roadmaps change in mid-journey because of technical glitches or partner confusion. That’s not the case at Symantec, which today unveiled a new Technical Specialist and Assessments Program, a Unified Technical Support Program, and a three-fold investment in its […]
Xerox Unveils Partner Tools, SMB Push February 11, 2007 In anticipation of this week’s Xerox Partner Summit in Orlando, The VAR Guy spent much of last week speaking with partners to hear how business was shaping up for 2007. He liked what he heard. Partners like Smart Technology Enablers of Ojai, Calif., are using managed services platforms to maintain customers’ Xerox multifunction printers from […]
Memo to Michael: 10 Ways to Fix Dell February 7, 2007 Dear Michael: The VAR Guy has held his breath for a bit, giving you ample time to settle back in to the CEO job. As a frequent Dell customer and long-time company watcher, The VAR Guy offers you these unsolicited steps to get Dell back on track. 1. Visit CIOs and Apologize: If Dell had […]
Not Another Storage Company February 7, 2007 T.M. Ravi has been launching, building and selling storage companies for more than a decade. But the CA and Cheyenne Software veteran didn’t want to launch “yet another storage company” into a largely saturated market in 2003. Instead, he aimed his latest venture–Mimosa Systems–at email archiving, discovery and compliance. Full disclosure: The VAR Guy briefly […]
Swedish Army Shoots NT Server February 7, 2007 The VAR Guy is having flashbacks to 1997, when Microsoft, Novell and Unix providers promoted tools to help you move from one server operating system to another. It was a mad scramble for market share and NT came out on top. Fast forward to 2007, and the tug of war now involves Microsoft, Novell … […]
Small Biz IP Phones: Who You Gonna Dial? February 6, 2007 Sure, small businesses are moving to VoIP phone systems. Now for the challenge: Which partners should you dial for help? The list of options grows by the day. There are Asterisk-based open source solutions such as Digium, Fonality and SwitchVox; traditional players such as Cisco, 3Com and Nortel; and startups like TalkSwitch to consider. Even […]
Ingram Gets Right to the Point February 5, 2007 Don’t force customers to think. Give them simple names that immediately identify the services you offer. That sounds like logical advice from The VAR Guy. But too often, vendors ignore it. How else can one explain missteps like Chevy Nova–a car that didn’t sell well in some Spanish-speaking countries because “No Va” means “Doesn’t Go.” […]
More B.I. Opportunities for VARs February 4, 2007 VARs that serve midsize businesses could benefit greatly as more business intelligence vendors push downstream. Business Objects is the latest BI vendor to announce a small and midsize customer push that depends heavily on solutions providers. The company’s SMB initiative targets customers with less than $1 billion in annual revenues or fewer than 2,500 employees. […]
Open Source Vendors Prep Major Announcement February 1, 2007 Lookout Oracle. Move over Microsoft. At least eight small companies are forming an alliance that could stir demand for open source applications in the enterprise, The VAR Guy has learned. The group, apparently led by SpikeSource, will help guide and promote the integration of open source applications, databases and IT support. Known as The Open […]
Surprise: The Two Best Cities for Linux Sales Are… February 1, 2007 Where is Linux selling best: New York? San Francisco? London? Try Raleigh-Durham and Boston. That’s the view from Levanta, maker of a popular hardware appliance that manages Linux across commodity hardware, racks, blades, boxes, and even virtual machines. “We’re not saying that we’re not interested in New York,” quips David Dennis, director of products and […]
FASTCHAT: Why an MSP Needs to Extend Detection and Response Beyond Endpoint Security October 22, 2019