Sign Up: Fast Growth 2008With a hat tip to Bob Dylan, Steven Burke says the choice facing today's soluition providers is Grow Or Die Hard: "Everything Channel has classified [solution provider businesses into] one of three buckets: lifestyle business, moderate growth and hypergrowth. The place to be, obviously, is hypergrowth. That is where channel stalwarts are working hand in hand with partners to drive crucial midmarket sales" And once again, we're on the lookout for hypergrowth VARs. Our upcoming Fast Growth 100 report will spotlight the fastest growing solution providers, and detail how they've gotten themselves into that enviable position. If you think you're one of those business, Apply Now. Inclusion on this list will demonstrate that your organization is one of the leaders of the technology industry, as well as being really cool, to boot. The application deadline is May 21. For a better sense of what makes the Fast Growth tick, see our 2007 Fast Growth special report. Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:50 AM, May 13, 2008 Mergers On Tap: HP Bids For EDSWell, this is big news: "Hewlett-Packard late Monday confirmed reports that it is in talks to acquire systems integrator giant EDS in a bid to boost its fortunes in the global services arena. At 'The Pervasive Datacenter', Gordon Haff compares the move to HP's unsuccessful bid for Pricewaterhouse Coopers in 2000, and sees "the ghost of Carly": "Something that's really striking is just how closely HP has maintained the course that [former CEO Carly Fiorina] laid out... While at Nicholas Carr's blog, the author sees parallels with Oracle's software acquisitions: "Oracle has enjoyed considerable success by rolling up the software side of the the now-mature client-server model of corporate computing. With its $13.9 billion acquisition of outsourcing giant EDS, Hewlett-Packard is playing the same game on the services side." Carr also points to analyst Om Malik's blog, which claims the deal is "About The Clouds, Baby!": "Typically, such a major deal means two things: Either the buyer has some issues with his current business, or he wants to make a big bet on the future. In case of HP CEO Mark Hurd, it might be a bit of both. There is only so much market share HP can carve out when it comes to printers and computers. More importantly, HP seems to be realizing that the future is about on-demand infrastructure. EDS brings to the table about 100 data centers around the planet." Not to rain on the parade, but at All Things Digital, John Paczkowski forsees integration and cultural issues: "When the dust has settled around the merger, HP will be the second-largest provider of consulting and outsourcing services, behind IBM. But it will take some doing to get there. 'It’s a very significant combination,' said Ben Pring, a research vice president in the IT Practices Group at Gartner. '[But] people who are skeptical of big integrations will have a field day around this. It’s putting together two large businesses with two different heritages. It’s going to be a big culture clash.'" More to come... Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:48 AM, May 13, 2008 High Tech, The Candidates, And The Public SectorIn today's CRN, Robert Faletra asks the question "Which Presidential Candidate Would Be Best For High Tech?", but eventually concludes that none of the big three has yet addressed our most important technology challenge: "The biggest issue we face as an industry is education and graduating more engineers, and I haven't heard any of the candidates give me an answer as to what they would do about that." Meanwhile, over on Small Business Resource, Gayle Kesten compiles a few guides (including ours) to the candidates's positions on high-tech issues. Among small business managers, the most critical issue she's seeing is dealing with health care costs. Of course, the government isn't only a source of policy opportunities/challenges. It's also a big IT buyer, and Robert DeMarzo says it's a great hedge against a downturn in the business sector, if you know how to play it: "The VARs who stuck with it and spent time securing contracts or serving as subs to the large prime contractors built a steady, profitable business that, in many cases, is growing faster than their commercial side while guaranteeing a predictable rate of return."
Posted by Joe Caponi at 12:36 PM, May 12, 2008 Apply Now For Our 'Women In The Channel' Special ReportWe're once again looking for a few good women - the leading women at solution provider organizations, vendors and distributors involved with the channel. In last year's report, VARBusiness recognized 50 women driving innovation and creating opportunities at channel organizations. To be considered for this year's listing, apply today
Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:35 PM, May 9, 2008 Sign Up For The 2008 Emerging Technology Vendors DirectoryIn last year's Emerging Technology Vendors special report, we wrote "[Emerging vendors offer] far superior technology, more robust margins and uncompromising technical support... they're reshaping the information technology industry, solution providers say, by handily beating established vendors in head-to-head product, margin, technical support and field engagement comparisons... It's not even close." Smart solution providers are always looking for new opportunities, and once again, we're looking for the newest vendors reaching out to the channel. If you're a vendor (under $1B in revenue) selling though the channel, Sign Up Now. The deadline is next Thursday, May 15. Posted by Joe Caponi at 05:04 PM, May 8, 2008 Quote Smarter: Product Pricing and AvailabilityWe want to change the way you build quotes for clients. Our newest tool offers real-time pricing, availability, and research on thousands of IT products, to help you get the best solutions into your customers hands, at the best prices. Most significantly for solution providers, it's possible to enter your reseller ID with D&H, Ingram Micro, Synnex or Tech Data, to determine your specific partner pricing from any of those distributors. Along with our partner, VARStreet, we're eager to see how this helps you operate your business, and how we can continue to improve it.
Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:52 AM, May 8, 2008 20 Great-Looking Solution Provider WebsitesLike Captain Kirk, when he was split into good and evil halves, great technology solutions won't thrive without great design. While great design doesn't always come naturally to solution providers, it can provide a key differentiator in positioning their businesses. And I've found some sites that do just that. We've just posted "20 Great-Looking Solution Provider Sites," a slide show I've put together, recognizing some of the sharpest sites in our industry. Starting with the 2007 VARBusiness 500 companies, I whittled the list down to sites that demonstrate appealing design, imagery and typography, along with elegant navigation, and I learned quite a bit myself. Coming soon: What not to do.
Posted by Joe Caponi at 03:20 PM, May 7, 2008 Can You Hear Me Now? Not With Vista AudioOn Friday, our Kevin McLaughlin posted a brief piece audio problems experienced by Windows Vista users running the new Service Pack 1 and Windows Update: "The update for IDT (Formerly Sigmatel)'s high definition sound and is called "IDT High Def Codec," according to several users on a Dell customer forum, who claim that installing the update results in a "Code 10" Error after rebooting, as well as the loss of audio." As of late this afternoon, over 120 ChannelWeb readers have posted in our forums about their experience with problem, and how they were able to fix it (if they were). It's the hottest forum topic we've seen in recent memory. Though not specifically Microsoft's fault, it's another black eye for Vista which really didn't need it...
Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:48 PM, May 5, 2008 Could Microsoft 'Blink' On Vista?We were just discussing how XP will be with us for a long time. Ed Moltzen takes the idea one step further, suggesting that it's Vista that may be the OS that disappears, much like "New Coke": "While a lot of people will remember Coca-Cola's initial mistake, many tend to forget that, in the long run, its chief brand has endured and strengthened. Meanwhile, BusinessWeek reports that Macs are making inroads ino the corporate marketplace. Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:55 AM, May 2, 2008 |
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