Bradley Baymack, 1972-2006Bradley Baymack, ChannelWeb's project manager, and our good friend, passed away this week, succumbing after a long battle with cancer. One of the most smart, energetic, upbeat guys you'd ever hope to work with, Brad was an invaluable problem solver, approaching any challenge with humor and confidence. It was a quality that he'd have to the end, never giving up, and reassuring those close to him that he'd be on the mend soon. But his life revolved around the family he deeply loved--his wife, Helene, two young boys, and a baby girl on the way, that filled him with joy and hope. "In the coming weeks and years, there will be hundreds of little things like that to remind us of Bradley... He will always be here. Bradley was that type of person." Rest in peace, friend. You've left behind a lot of good, both in our memories and our hopes for good things yet to come. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:06 AM, September 29, 2006 Top Distributors '06
Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:16 AM, September 27, 2006 Apply Now For VAR of the YearVARBusiness is looking for a few good VARs... those that go above and beyond in terms of delivering services and solutions to customers. These are the VARs that could win VARBusiness' annual VAR of the Year Award. Last year's winners varied from small to large, but had a passion for excellence. Are you one of those VARs? Posted by Joe Caponi at 03:08 PM, September 26, 2006 Building The Green PCSystem Builders can differentiate their offerings, provide cost savings to their customers, and do a good turn for the environment by building and deploying 'Green PCs' and other business tools. Our newest TechBuilder recipe examines the construction, use and disposal of "processors, power supplies, motherboards, disk drives, monitors, printers and fax machines, and copiers and scanners." Posted by Joe Caponi at 01:10 PM, September 26, 2006 High Noon At HPWhat the heck is going on at HP? With the Washington Post now reporting that CEO Mark Hurd was involved in a 'sting' on reporters the company will hold a news conference this afternoon to address the widening scandal. HP's chair, Patricia Dunn, has already to announced she will step aside this coming January in the wake of a revalation that she ordered an investigation into internal board of directors leaks that led her investigators to illegally access private phone records . "By trying to contain bad news rather than getting out in front of it, HP and companies like it exacerbate their positions. Read the news accounts about the unraveling HP scandal, and you have to hunt for the reason behind the investigation. The story now and will continue to be how HP possibly broke the law, spied on nine journalists and, ultimately, violated the trust of its own leaders and unaffiliated third parties" Stay tuned... UPDATE: Board of Directors chair Patricia Dunn won't leave in January --she already has. Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:09 AM, September 22, 2006 UnBlog On Microsoft's MeetingBarbara Darrow sums up the mood at Microsoft's all-company meeting: "(CEO Steve) Ballmer again swore up and down that the company will never take five years to ship a new product again. Gee where have we heard that before?" Also featured: Mini-Microsoft a blogger with their own perspective on the meeting: "I can't imagine anyone who wants to clap for hiring more people... but that's just me rocking back and forth in my own little bubble world. I especially can't see those crammed together with coworkers in buildings with zero parking spots clapping: yes, please, hire more rats to put in my box. " Posted by Joe Caponi at 09:42 AM, September 22, 2006 Smart Buildings: A Smart VAR OpportunityMichelle Pepe looks at IP integration on a grand scale: "Think about an office building. You've got networked computers, servers, printers," says Jim Young, co-founder and producer at Realcomm, a San Diego-based trade group for the commercial real-estate industry. "Now look around. Look at the lights, the doors, the locks, the [emergency] sprinklers. Imagine the opportunity that comes with networking all of that. Where you had 20 or so IP addresses before, you now have thousands of them." Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:40 PM, September 20, 2006 The 2006 CRN Sourcing StudyThis year's CRN Sourcing Study notes a surprising new trend: increasingly, VARs are buying products from other VARs. Trusted relationships, the opportunities for better margins, and dissatisfaction with major vendor programs are among the reasons. Craig Zarley says vendors should take note: "Vendors would do well to study and emulate some of the VAR-to-VAR strategies in their own channel programs. The messages that come across loud and clear: Keep programs simple, and don't betray a trust by competing against your partner. Most VARs learned those lessons long ago, but many vendors can't seem to grasp them." The study includes a directory of the top channel suppliers, including broadline and speciality distributors, component manufacturers and mass marketers. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:28 AM, September 20, 2006 Latest Internet Explorer Exploit" An unpatched vulnerability in all editions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser is being exploited, security researchers said Tuesday, with the attack dumping a broad range of adware, spyware, and Trojans onto PCs whose users simply surf to an infected or malicious site." Posted by Joe Caponi at 05:22 PM, September 19, 2006 VAR Wires Up 'Extreme Makeover' HomeHeather Clancy's been following the work of Silicon East, a New Jersey-based VAR that provided accessibility technology for the family featured in this week's "Extreme Makeover" tv episode. "Guen Llanes, the oldest of the three Llanes children and a sophomore at a nearby community college, told me that the portable "reading" devices included as part of the makeover have profoundly changed how she views the outside world. " Look for an upcoming feature with all the details. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:06 AM, September 19, 2006 A Security Check-Up For MacsLots of people (especially that Mac guy from the commercials) rave about the Mac OS's security. But does their claim hold up? A look at the latest vulnerabilities and patches in the Mac OS world finds the company on pretty solid ground: "The fact is that like any other well-designed OS, Mac OS X is highly resistant, but not invulnerable, to attack." Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:16 AM, September 18, 2006 Build An Innovation CultureLawrence Walsh sings the praises of solution providers who make innovation a priority: "Solution providers not only need to create systems that meet customers' needs, but they must create systems that anticipate the future needs of new opportunities. And this means providing the support for fanatical staffers who will pursue ideas even when there's little support, resources or budget." Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:09 AM, September 18, 2006 Lock Down That Laptop!You'll laugh at the bad guys once you've implemented the steps in our newest TechBuilder recipe on laptop security and data protection for mobile computers. "This three-step plan includes: Securing the contents of a laptop with basic encryption methods; recovering a stolen laptop using tracking technology; and rendering a stolen laptop virtually unusable to a thief by installing a simple 'kill switch.'" You might not have personal data on 27 million veterans on your laptop, but I bet you want to keep it safe anyway. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:31 AM, September 18, 2006 Fifteen Years Of The World Wide WebTechWeb has just posted a special package of articles on the fifteenth anniversary of Tim Berners-Lee's little hypertext project we now call the World Wide Web. Features include a web timeline dating back to 1945; a history of the browser wars; a look at what Web 2.0 is all about; and this cool gallery of web browsers Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:21 AM, September 14, 2006 Sun's Schwartz Sees 'Global Build-Out'At an event this week in New York, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz was upbeat about the global economy and his company's prospects in the coming year. " Schwartz said Sun is poised to benefit from positive technology trends and recover from the dot.com bust. Sun recently passed Dell to rank third for server market share, according to Gartner. Sun was among the most injured IT companies during the bust, suffering a dramatic drop in shares from about $64 in 2000 to less than $5 last week." Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:44 AM, September 14, 2006 PC Makers Sweat The DesignsIn a commodity world - actually any world - good design makes a product stand out. Ed Moltzen looks at how Lenovo sweats the details: "(Lenovo's David Hill) then asks for readers to vote on their favorite TrackPoint cap/pointing device. It's a choice between "classic dome," "soft dome," "soft rim," "touchpad" or "mouse." (There is no choice for "The one my IT department handed me.")" Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:35 AM, September 14, 2006 GovernmentVAR RedesignedWe've just launched a redesign of GovernmentVAR, VARBusiness' site for public sector solution providers. You'll find news for VARs working in the federal, state and local, education and healthcare verticals; tech news, opinions, and exclusive research, including the GovernmentVAR 100, top Government Distributors, and the State of the Governement Market. Let us know what you think! Posted by Joe Caponi at 02:53 PM, September 13, 2006 HP's Board ScandalNo one comes off well, according to Robert Faletra, who says we've still got a long way to go in reforming corporate governance: "The practice of posing as someone else (otherwise known as pretexting) to obtain that individual's private phone records is flat-out morally wrong, if not illegal... [but] it seems to me that when you sign up for the lucrative monetary package that comes along with a seat on the board of the largest high-tech company in the world, it comes along with an obligation to be trusted." With HP chair Patricia Dunn stepping aside, and now board member George Keyworth resigning, it does make you wonder why, over and over, smart people go do the wrong things. Posted by Joe Caponi at 01:14 PM, September 12, 2006 Channel Chatter: Defending The PenguinChannelWeb members take exception to Frank Ohlhorst's column on whether Linux is ready for the corporate desktop. Some comments (you'll find the full postings at the bottom of Frank's column): "I would argue that your comments about Linux's names being non-obvious or "cute" is due to your lack of familiarity with the OS." Posted by Joe Caponi at 12:30 PM, September 11, 2006 Flash Drives For PC RescueWhen trying to restore a crashed PC, the answer may be right at hand. "But with the advent of the tiny, lightweight, and portable USB key drive, system builders now have a new tool. I believe the USB key drive could alter—even usurp—our old rescue and recovery methodologies forever." Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:33 AM, September 11, 2006 The Road From 9/11Working in Boston that morning, Lawrence Walsh remembers the morning of Sept. 11, 2001: "It wasn't until I was clear of the concrete awning that I learned of the horrible events unraveling in New York -- from the Howard Stern radio show... A day would pass before I learned that the terrorists who hijacked the two flights out of Boston stayed at the very hotel in which I met with Symantec." Also, five years ago, VARBusiness publisher Bob DeMarzo posted this column on the afternoon of the attack. "I was trying to contact a friend who worked in the World Financial Center that is adjacent to the Trade Center. He had witnessed the plane striking one of the towers while the other burned. He was evacuated and was on the run." Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:10 AM, September 11, 2006 Last Weekend For Top Technologist NominationsToday's the deadline to enter VARBusiness' Technologist of the Year awards (though I have it on good authority that entries this weekend will be accepted as well!) Posted by Joe Caponi at 01:58 PM, September 8, 2006 Macs Climb The Core Duo LadderApple announced upgrades yesterday to it's entry-level desktops, moving the Mac Mini line to all Intel Core Duo-based, and the iMac line to all Core 2 Duo-based. "George Swords, marketing manager for PowerMacPac, a Portland, Ore.-based Apple specialist, said the iMacs had previously been selling "ridiculously hot. Really, really selling well." About 60 percent of the early adopters of the Intel-based iMacs were previous Mac users who were upgrading, and "the rest are ex-PC people," he added." The Minis have been making their mark here at CMP, where they're appealing for their ease-of-swappability with low-priced LCD displays. Look for more Apple announcements on the consumer side next week. UPDATE: HP also refreshed it's client line yesterday, with new notebooks, desktops and displays. UPDATE: Over at The Big Picture, Barry Ritholtz suggests his wish list for Apple's Tuesday announcements. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:13 AM, September 7, 2006 Businesses Still Feel Behind On E-BusinessHeather Clancy looks at a new survey on corporate e-business planning: "The even better news for solution providers, I believe, is the fact that only 30 percent of the surveyed companies felt that they were ahead of their rivals with their e-business initiatives -- suggesting that solution providers could have an opportunity to help make over their prospects' e-business profiles." Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:07 AM, September 7, 2006 Put The Penguin On Ice?If Ask.com could get rid of Jeeves, can Linux thrive without the penguin? Frank Ohlhorst says Linux has a ways to go before it's taken seriously by the business desktop market: "The "crafty" names of some Linux applications simply come across as immature to the business world. Now, I am well aware that part of the allure of Linux is the fun factor, but that is going to have to change before most businesses take the OS seriously for the desktop." Posted by Joe Caponi at 12:16 PM, September 6, 2006 Dual-Core Processor GuideIn the market for a PC or processor? Then you know there's a thicket of choices out there. TechWeb's Buyer's Guide To Dual-Core CPU's sorts out the options from Intel and AMD at the high, middle and low end. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:36 AM, September 5, 2006 Cook Up A Kitchen PCCalendars, phone numbers, music, the Web, and of course, recipes--a kitchen-based PC can keep an entire family moving. But don't try hauling a tower and CRT in there--small size and simplicity are key. Our newest TechBuilder recipe puts together a touch-screen based, small form factor kitchen PC that can spice up a system builder's offerings. "The ability to offer customers a life-altering, real-world use for a system can help differentiate a system builder's services, attract new customers, and turn a nice profit in the process." Posted by Joe Caponi at 08:40 AM, September 5, 2006 Labor Day LinkfestHappy Labor Day weekend! Though the Northeast looks like it's in for a rainy one, I'm hoping for sun on Monday. In the meantime, there's plenty to read: Two new links in the Blogroll: CRN's Russ Redman is guest blogging on the channel and distribution over at TechSearch. In particular, keep an eye on Russ's coverage of Apple, a company he knows well. Meanwhile, my fellow Stony Brook alum, David Ewalt, is blogging over at forbes.com on the collision of internet technologies with the business and consumer markets. VARBusiness has nominations open for their new Technologist of the Year award, but only for one more week. Nominate the person who gets the bits flying in your organization. Today's soundtrack: Bob Dylan's new When The Deal Goes Down, at AOL Music, with a video featuring Scarlett Johansson. For a more upbeat Bob, check out Unbelievable, from 1990. The starlet in that one is Molly Ringwald. Top articles on the ChannelWeb network in August: After a slow start, the hurricane season has picked up. If you need to keep an eye on the weather, there's nowhere better than the StormTrack blog. Some employment links: no surprise, but Most IT Pros Are Looking For A New Job. It's tough to keep 'em satisfied, particularly if they have business skills to go with their technical abilities. Unfortunately, it looks like a bunch of people will be out on the job hunt with Intel on their resumes. And speaking of employment, Barry Ritholtz is not at all happy with today's job report, or the coverage thereof. Slate started this blog earlier in the summer, but I only chanced upon it this week: Blogging The Bible. Very funny, very insightful. Have faith! Wish I was there: Microsoft Awards $951 Million In Bonuses. Have a good weekend! Lawrence Walsh recommends you take some time to unconnect this weekend. Whether he will is still an open question. Posted by Joe Caponi at 02:54 PM, September 1, 2006 Development DarlingsStacy Cowley tracks down the top five issues in application development today: Rise Of Ruby On Rails & AJAX Eclipse Dominates Among Java IDEs Sun's Open-Source Java Plans The Looming Vista Wave Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:45 AM, September 1, 2006 |
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