Valtech's Onshore ApproachPrice. Speed. Quality. VARs are used to explaining the tradeoffs to customers. VARBusiness 500 solution provider Valtech is differentiating itself by focusing on speed. Brad Murphy, Valtech Senior VP, explains how they've found their niche: "Clients don't think in terms of big projects, but rather as a stream of incremental but strategic changes. It's not a neat, tidy project. How do you outsource that?... Posted by Joe Caponi at 01:57 PM, September 28, 2007 Watching The Customers: The InformationWeek 500Our colleagues over at Information Week have published their annual InformationWeek 500, documenting the technology practices and trends of the top IT consumers in the world. With breakdowns of over 20 specific vertical industries, it's worth your time to see what your customers, and potential customers, are planning for the future. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:14 AM, September 27, 2007 Be Like The Fast Growth VARsWhat makes a 'Fast-Growth VAR'? It's a topic we've talked about before, but Bob DeMarzo has been hanging out with a bunch of them, and has compiled a list of ten traits they have in common: "While the previous generation of VAR was an accidental business person because he was a tech-geek first, fast-growth execs are savvy business professionals first, and technologists second. They understand technology better than most, but have a strong vision of where they want to take their organizations." Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:10 AM, September 27, 2007 Should VARs Provide Customer Financing?This question came in last week from a systems integrator. Certainly distributors have made financing a part of their offerings for quite a while, but is it a worthwhile service for VARs to offer to end-user customers? "I'm looking for information or data demonstrating the effectiveness of SI's or VAR's offering financing. Is there evidence which suggest companies offering financing alternatives as part of the sales process generate more revenue, or are more profitable? I'm trying to build a case for my company to take a more "Financing" friendly view of the sales and marketing process." What do you think? Post your opinion in our comments section, below. Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:26 AM, September 24, 2007 A Fall Harvest Of New Developer ToolsStacy Cowley reports on the 'bonanza' of new programming tools just out: "Dynamic languages developers received new IDEs from the Eclipse Foundation's PHP Development Tools project and CodeGear's cleverly named 3rd Rail, a toolkit for Ruby on Rails development. Meanwhile, Sun launched version 2 of its GlassFish open-source application server and the beta version of NetBean 6, Sun's Java development IDE." CodeGear is the recent spin-off of Borland's developer tools group, so they know a thing or two about coding. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:20 AM, September 24, 2007 As Boomer Bureaucrats Retire, VARs Wait In The WingsBusinessWeek looks at Washington's Brain Drain: "The federal Office of Personnel Management expects 2009 will be the peak year for boomer retirements, when more than 61,000 workers will leave their jobs... Few expect the government to fill all the slots itself, however. And waiting in the wings are contractors like Accenture, BearingPoint, and Computer Sciences. They're angling to take over swaths of the bureaucracy and further accelerate the outsourcing of the government. "
Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:35 AM, September 21, 2007 Fast Growth 100 AwardsIn the wake of July's Fast Growth 100 special report, CRN brought solution providers together Tuesday to discuss what it takes to thrive in today's economy, and to hand out the Fast Growth awards to VARs that had achieved notable sales growth over the last two years. "Novacoast CTO Adam Gray said a bet on identity management six years ago and a tight partnership with Novell paid off in sales that have shot up from $8.5 million in 2005 to an estimated $16 million in 2007." You can do that to, if that's really what you want. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:46 AM, September 20, 2007 As SCO Burns Down, Channel Partners Feel The HeatStacey Cowley looks at the staggeringly ironic situation SCO now finds itself in, in the wake of a U.S. District Court judge's decision that Novell still owns the Unix copyrights SCO has been collecting fees on: "It also, ironically, left SCO needing protection from the financial consequences of its own lawsuits. Since the Utah court ruled that Novell owned the Unix copyrights, it also determined that Novell was entitled to a share of royalties SCO has earned from licensing those copyrights. Novell and SCO were slated to begin trial yesterday to determine the amount SCO would need to fork over, but SCO's last-minute bankruptcy filing prompted a postponement of the Novell trial." Unfortunately, SCO VARs, (one of the company's "most valuable assets") can do little but watch in dismay: "VARs who partner with SCO are left wondering about the fate of the company and its product line. PC-Pros Inc. in Port Washington, N.Y., has been working with OpenServer Unix for decades, dating back to its '80s origins as Xenix. The rock-solid operating system is popular with legacy clients, according to President Mark Schneider.
Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:48 AM, September 19, 2007 Sourcing 2007Distributors are still the key source of products for solution providers, even as alternative sources multiply and the roles of distributors change. In our new Channel Sourcing Study, we asked VARs where they're sourcing product from, and what makes a good sourcing partner. The right product, at the right price, goes a long way... "Solution providers buying from broadline distributors, specialty suppliers and alternative sources were in agreement: Pricing and availability is more influential than ease of doing business, product knowledge, breadth of product line and even relationships with sales reps." Editor Scott Campbell also looks at the tricky issue of using charge cards for VAR product purchases, and at upcoming technologies where VARs are looking to distribution for products and support. A slide show provides all the research highlights of our sourcing study, in bite-sized form. Posted by Joe Caponi at 01:44 PM, September 18, 2007 Chip And PC Powerhouses Battle For The ChannelToday's CRN includes takes on two major markets where tough competition is bringing prices down and generating new technology and business opportunities for channel players. Robert Faletra looks at the competition between Intel and AMD in the chip market, and loves what he sees: "The fact is that the resurrected and more interesting AMD of the past few years has forced Intel to behave differently in the market. Both companies have very astute managers and, as such, we can expect to see lots of innovation in product, pricing and programs in the coming months." Meanwhile, Larry Hooper examines the dizzying array of PC and OS options out there, and is pleased to report that "PCs Are Cool Again": "VARs are seeing good service revenues from replacing Vista on business machines with Windows XP. But as XP is phased out, Vista will no doubt lead to a rash of system upgrades. Keep a close eye on your vendors, present and future... Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:47 AM, September 17, 2007 One Day, You'll Be Glad You Backed UpMy home Mac Mini died a couple weeks ago. Fortunately, I shuffle my most critical documents back and forth to work on a flash drive, so I had my urgent data. And after a brief sojurn at the Apple store, and a new logic board, my Mac was back, and as good as ever. Luckily for me, my backup system, (dragging documents to a remote hard drive from time to time) wasn't put to the test. You don't need to rely on luck, of course. Nor should you. In today's TechBuilder recipe, Fahmida Rashid explores backup solutions for Windows Home Server for home and small business customers. Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:12 AM, September 17, 2007 SCO Files For BankruptcyNews here. Over at Slashdot, they're popping the corks Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:27 PM, September 14, 2007 Our Virtual Trade Show, Coming November 8Mark your calendar: Eight weeks from today, I hope you'll join me at our Virtual Trade Show, online, everywhere. If you've ever wanted to see what an XChange event was like, but couldn't get away, here's your chance. Our big boss, Robert Faletra will host a live Q&A on mid-market solution provider opportunities, and you'll be able to chat in real time with channel vendors and other solution providers. Ted Hunter, general manager of Champion Networks, thinks it'll be especially valuable for the technical folks that may not get out much: "Technical people are every VAR's first and last line of defense in the technology world, and companies can use virtual trade shows to bring them back into the evaluation process... There'll be much more information as we get closer to the date. I hope to see you there! Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:45 AM, September 13, 2007 On The Trail Of The Hyper-Growth VAROur Business Growth Survey, featured in this month's VARBusiness looks at what it takes to kick your business into hyper-growth mode. "Nearly 12 percent of VARs surveyed said they expect growth rates of 30 percent or more above the market in 2007. In addition, more than 22 percent said they plan to grow 15 percent to 29 percent greater than the market this year... The feature also examines the strategies VARs are using to find and keep new customers. Robert Faletra looks at the difference between "lifestyle VARs" and "growth VARs" and concludes that vendors need to stay alert to the differing behaviors of both groups: "No vendor should realistically expect all of its partners to be in hyper-growth mode. In the same respect, if too much of the base is lifestyle-oriented, it's a problem as well." Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:07 PM, September 12, 2007 HP Faces Rising Costs, Hot CompetitionEd Moltzen takes apart HP's latest 10-Q filing and finds some real concerns over at the channel's hottest vendor: "In a brutally competitive market, it may be difficult for HP to see continued declines in R & D spending. And it may also be difficult for HP to continue showing profitability improvements from the ongoing restructuring enacted after Mark Hurd became CEO." Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:27 AM, September 10, 2007 10-Gigabit Ethernet: That's FastVideo, voice, online backup. Is your gigabit network core already stretching it's seams? Well we've got the answer. Fahmida Rashid examines moving to 10-Gigabit Ethernet in the latest TechBuilder recipe: "Despite the fact that 10G is just another (albeit, faster) standard for Ethernet, upgrading is not as simple as just using a different network card. There are cabling decisions to be made, new switches and routers to be purchased, and environmental concerns such as space and power to calculate." Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:10 AM, September 10, 2007 Jobs Throws A Line To iPhone Early AdoptersYesterday, Apple cut the price of new iPhones by 33%. Great news, unless you already own an iPhone. Steve Jobs today: "Even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones... Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these. Nice. Though letting customers apply the credit to Apple VARs would have been nicer. Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:59 PM, September 6, 2007 TechInnovator Nominations: More Categories, More TimeDo you sell a leading-edge channel product? VARBusiness has just added three new product categories (Printing & Imaging, Enterprise Business Software and SMB Business Software) to their Tech Innovator Awards program, open for nominations now. Winners will be announced in October, at XChange Tech Innovators. VARBusiness has also extended the application deadline to next Wednesday, September 12. Apply Now! Posted by Joe Caponi at 12:04 PM, September 6, 2007 Blowing In The Subprime WindCraig Zarley pulls a classic out of the Bob Dylan songbook, to sum up his feelings about the "MBA wizards" responsible for the current Subprime Storm: "Lately I can't seem to keep the Bob Dylan song "Idiot Wind" out of my head. It's because the subprime mortgage debacle reminds me of how stupid brilliant people can be.... More cartoon perspective via The Big Picture. Posted by Joe Caponi at 05:09 PM, September 5, 2007 You Can Make Money On HardwareCRN's Margin Makers special report finds categories where savvy vendors, along with a long-delayed upgrade cycle for businesses, have combined to create opportunity for smart solution providers. "From LCDs, to projectors for conference rooms, to network scanners, solution providers are evaluating customer needs and filling them with hardware solutions that keep everyone happy." Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:51 PM, September 5, 2007 Stop Bad SQL, Before It StartsOkay, I admit to coding some web forms and basic databases that were way to easy to hack, but at least my data usually consisted of information we wanted to share anyway. Your requirements may be tighter. Frank Ohlhorst looks at how you can protect your web systems from SQL Injection attacks in our latest TechBuilder recipe: "SQL injection attacks have been the bread and butter of system crackers since the first SQL database became Web-enabled. Why is that? Simply put, if you can break through the authorization challenge presented at log-on, you can access the data stored in the SQL database." Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:42 PM, September 5, 2007 |
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