VARs/SIs

Dell Opens Wider For Open Source

• March 28, 2007

Finally, The VAR Guy believes, Dell is listening to the market. The hardware giant spent recent weeks gathering data about customers’ interest in Linux desktops and notebooks. And on the server, Dell continues to show more love for MySQL–the increasingly popular open source database. Both moves should soon make Dell’s hardware more attractive to customers […]

Meet The VAR Guy In Vegas

• March 28, 2007

Will Free Software Foundation Impact Novell VARs?

• March 28, 2007

For better or for worse, these are interesting times for Novell SuSE Linux VARs. Even as some VARs strive to profit from the Novell-Microsoft partnership, that high-profile relationship continues to draw concerns from The Free Software Foundation (FSF). In fact, the FSF today released the third discussion draft for version 3 of the most widely […]

Red Hat and MySQL: Friends Today, Foes Tomorrow?

• March 27, 2007

We’ve all seen it: Friendships that start in grammar school, blossom in high school and collapse in college. Or worse, the grade school friends who become fierce rivals in the corporate world. Does such a fate await Red Hat and MySQL? The two open source companies are growing up together in the IT industry and […]

Lions and Tigers and Best Buy — Oh My!

• March 27, 2007

The VAR Guy has a confession: He likes Best Buy. A lot. He blows 12o percent of his holiday budget and most of his annual tax refund (before Uncle Sam even cuts him a check) at the Big Box retailer. Some channel watchers consider Best Buy a big, scary company that will smother small business […]

Aruba IPO Makes A Splash

• March 27, 2007

VARs that partner with Aruba Networks can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Aruba, which specializes in secure wired and wireless networks, launched a successful IPO today. Shares rose 29 percent during Aruba’s first day of trading. Alas, The VAR Guy didn’t get in on this offering.

Vegas VAR Hits Wireless Jackpot

• March 27, 2007

The VAR Guy will be in Las Vegas next week (April 2-5) for several business meetings. But don’t try striking up a conversation with him when he’s walking The Las Vegas Strip. He’ll be too busy testing a new wireless broadband network deployed by Cheetah Wireless Technologies (CWTI). The network, which uses wireless mesh technology […]

iPhone Sales Predictions

• March 27, 2007

The VAR Guy loves crunching numbers. So he spent some time today looking at the iPod’s installed base and the cell phone market — trying to determine how many of those customers would purchase an Apple iPhone … and how soon. First, The VAR Guy examined Apple’s latest 10Q filing with the SEC. In it, […]

Backed By Customer Survey, Dell Preps Linux Desktops

• March 26, 2007

Even as Microsoft continues to promote its most ambitious operating system launch ever, Michael Dell is finally ready to dance with the penguin. The PC giant is “crafting product offerings” in response to customer demand for Linux desktops and notebooks, according to the company’s Direct2Dell blog. Dell on March 23 completed an online customer survey […]

Ganging Up Against Cisco Systems

• March 26, 2007

The unified communications market is quickly organizing itself into two camps: There’s Cisco Systems Inc. … and then there’s everybody else. Sure, that’s a bit of an exaggeration from The VAR Guy. But it’s clear that Cisco’s rivals–from Avaya Inc. to Juniper Networks Inc.–are working with each other to gang up against the networking giant. […]

What Was Right–and Wrong–With Novell Brainshare

• March 25, 2007

The VAR Guy skipped last week’s Novell BrainShare event because of other pressing deadlines, but he got a comprehensive brain dump from a senior IT manager who attended. Here are some hits–and misses–from the event. 1. Spoof of Apple Macintosh Ads (Huge Hit): You know those humorous Apple TV ads (“Hello, I’m a Mac … […]

Novell’s “Macintosh” Ads Are A Hit…

• March 23, 2007

The VAR Guy just had dinner with a buddy of his. Call him The Network Guy, a savvy IT manager who just returned from Novell’s Brainshare. Lots of info to share from the show. Stay tuned for updates over the weekend. But the hit of the event appears to be Novell advertisements that poke fun […]

3Com: Profiting From Big Blue?

• March 22, 2007

3Com reported a narrow quarterly loss on March 22, but the bigger story is the company’s blossoming partnership with IBM. Within the next few days, The VAR Guy hears, IBM and 3Com will announce that they’re ready to ship an integrated IP telephony server with email, messaging and other business software. The VAR Guy usually […]

Red Hat Preps Desktop Blitz, Regional Events

• March 22, 2007

Lookout, Novell: Red Hat is getting ready to leap from Linux servers onto desktops and mainframes, The VAR Guy hears. After focusing mainly on x86 servers in recent years, Red Hat will move both downstream and upstream while rallying partners at regional events later this year. Until now, Red Hat had largely ignored the mainframe […]

Motorola and Symbol: Driving Like Thelma and Louise

• March 21, 2007

As they wake up for work Thursday morning, Symbol Technologies employees may feel like hitting the snooze button. Sure, many of those employees survived a corporate accounting scandal and fierce competition from Cisco Systems. And life was supposed to be just dandy once Motorola acquired Symbol in January. But unfortunately, Symbol jumped in the car […]