Channel Centric

BoB Conference Expands, Will Now Feature SP500, Channel Leadership Forum

April 02, 2013

XChange Events, the events division of UBM Tech Channel, has made improvements to its annual Best of Breed channel thought leadership conference. In response to the needs of attendees, sponsors and the event's board of advisors, XChange Events will unite the Solution Provider 500 Conference and awards and the Channel Leadership Forum into this year's BoB Conference.

The moves significantly expand the event's footprint and will enhance the overall experience for attendees and sponsors. The BoB Conference is scheduled to be held Oct. 15-17 in Tampa, Fla., at the Grand Hyatt. The expanded format will allow industry-leading solution providers and top channel executives to come together under one roof to discuss the transformation of the solution provider business model and how vendors are responding from program, go-to-market and technology perspectives to support the channel's seismic shift.

The merged event platform will be branded under the BoB Conference and feature executives from CRN's list of the SP500, Tech Elite, Fast Growth and leading-edge solution providers. The decision will allow XChange Events to focus its content and recruitment efforts on large, leading-edge solution providers who want to gather with their peers and with today's top IT vendors to share best practices and gain a deeper understanding of customer trends, technology road maps and business models.

Attendees also will now be able to engage with more vendors given the limited number of available sponsorship opportunities for hardware, software and networking companies at each event. Having a larger event with more vendor participants will provide a more efficient platform for both attendees and sponsors.

The audiences for both conferences have been slowly merging over the past three years, with current market conditions accelerating the need to bring both communities together for a grander annual conference.

"This enhanced conference platform will provide a stronger ROI for our customers," said XChange Events Senior Vice President Lisa MacKenzie. "It will also eliminate any conflict or confusion in the marketplace over which conference and event to attend."

Findings from the recently released UBM Tech State of the Market survey support bringing both communities together at one conference. The State of the Market survey shows that 89 percent of today's solution providers define themselves as "Progressive" or "Transformative," focused on above-average growth through services, cloud, mobility and high-value applications and software solutions.

"When the BoB conference was launched, our goal was to provide content and speakers to help move the channel forward and set clear examples from peers who had successfully transformed their businesses," said Allison Cohen, XChange Events Program Manager. "There is no doubt that SP500 companies are on the forefront of business model innovation and should play a central and bigger role at the BoB Conference."

One single conference also will allow UBM Tech to build a stronger community for these organizations via our Web-based, newsletter and media platforms.

For our vendor sponsors, the combination of the two conferences will make it easier for them to reach this important community in a more efficient setting. Advisory board members said they were looking for ways to streamline event attendance and out-of-office time associated with numerous industry conferences, especially vendor-specific ones run by Cisco, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, VMWare and others.

Content at the combined conference will cover the following topics: midmarket, the selling to line-of-business customers, hybrid IT, advanced cloud computing, mobility, services-based revenue, business model transformation, actionable analytics, app-based initiatives and next-gen managed services.

Sponsors of the BoB Conference 2013 include CenturyLink, Condusiv Technologies, Eaton, IBM, Juniper Networks, Ruckus Wireless, ShoreTel Sky and VMWare.

PUBLISHED APRIL 2, 2013

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XChange SP: The Secret Sauce Of Business-Driven IT

March 07, 2013

In just a few days, several hundred solution providers, vendors and industry experts will pour into Orlando, Fla., to participate in the channel's most important gathering of the year -- the XChange Solution Provider conference.

The event will bring together not only today's leading solution providers but serve as home to the single largest gathering of vendor channel executives ever assembled.

The burning issue these channel leaders will discuss, debate and dissect until all hours of the night is the future of the channel.

The XChange Solution Provider Conference, March 9-12, certainly arrives at a critical juncture in the transformation of the solution provider business model accompanied by fundamental changes reshaping the VAR-vendor partner structure. In addition to those seismic shifts, solution providers are coming to grips with new buyers of IT who reside outside corporate IT departments. Those new and influential buyers have been empowered by Software-as-a-Service, cloud and mobile technology solutions they can acquire as a service to help them achieve their business goals.

That is the reason behind the event's theme this year, "Driving Business Forward with IT." The theme and surrounding discussion are designed to put into focus the channel's impact and influence on customer innovation through the technology and business solutions they sell to customers. The XChange Advisory Board was the driving force behind the theme and selection of speakers, who will focus on how solution providers can help customers achieve positive business outcomes.

This year's event is bringing together dozens of speakers, including leading analysts, vendor executives, technology visionaries and progressive solution providers. For the first time at XChange, CRN's editorial team will conduct a closed-door channel chief round table to gain insight into the indirect sales strategy of today's most influential and fastest-growing vendors.

The conference kicks off on Saturday, March 9, with the Cloud Integrators Forum and wraps up three days later with CRN's Channel Champions Awards Reception. In between, the early 800 attendees will engage with their peers, attend closed-door boardrooms and hear keynote presentations from a wide variety of industry experts.

This year's event features presentations from the following:

1. Robert Faletra, CEO, UBM Tech Channel

2. Wendy Bahr, SVP, Global and Strategic Partners, Cisco

3. Stephen Baker, VP of Industry Analysis, NPD

4. Ira Bell, COO, Nimbo

5. Renée Bergeron, VP, Managed Services & Cloud Computing, Ingram Micro

6. Tiffani Bova, VP, Distinguished Analyst, Gartner

7. Scott Brown, SVP, Chief Economist, Raymond James & Associates

8. Ginger Clay, Team Member, 4-Profit

9. Kelley Damore, SVP, Editorial Director, UBM Tech Channel

10. Jeff Davis, SVP of Sales, D&H Distributing

11. Robert DeMarzo, SVP, Strategic Content, UBM Tech Channel

12. Bill Donohue, VP, Business Partner Sales, North America, IBM

13. Ron Dupler, CEO, GreenPages

14. Scott Goemmel, Team Member, 4-Profit

15. Lincoln Haven, VP, Partner Marketing Services, UBM Tech Channel

16. Michele Hayes, Sr. Director, Global Partner Program, Riverbed

17. Linda Hofflander, Director, Vertical Marketing, Samsung Electronics America

18. Rick Jordan, Director, Sales & Strategic Alliances (North America), Tenet Computer Group

19. Larry Kesslin, Partner, 4-Profit

20. Kenny Li, Partner, Cloud Spectator

21. Donald Lopes, Director, Cloud Services, Synnex

22. Keith Lubner, Founder, C3

23. Jeremy MacBean, Director, Business Development, IT Weapons

24. Eric Martorano, Senior Director, U.S. SMB Channel Group, Microsoft

25. Phil Mogavero, VP & Regional CTO, PCM

26. Stacy Nethercoat, VP, Software Product Marketing, Tech Data

27. Rauline Ochs, SVP, IPED

28. Joe Pucciarelli, Lead Analyst, IDC

29. Dave Rice, CEO, TrueCloud

30. Kristin Rogers, Principal, KMR@work

31. David Rose, Product Designer, Serial Entrepreneur, MIT Media Lab Researcher

32. Don Ryan, VP, Fuld & Company

33. Meredith Scheraldi, Senior Manager, Channel Marketing, Symantec

34. Ken Thoreson, President, Acumen Management Group

35. Luanne Tierney, VP, Worldwide Partner Marketing, Juniper Networks

36. Dave Uhler, National Solutions Director of Research & Development, Slalom Consulting

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The Secret Sauce Of Business-Driven IT

March 05, 2013

Several hundred solution providers, vendors and industry experts have converged on Orlando, Fla., to participate in the channel's most important gathering of the year -- the XChange Solution Provider conference. The event will bring together not only today's leading solution providers but serve as home to the single largest gathering of vendor channel executives ever assembled.

The burning issue these channel leaders will discuss, debate and dissect until all hours of the night is the future of the channel. The XChange Solution Provider Conference, March 9-12, certainly arrives at a critical juncture in the transformation of the solution provider business model accompanied by fundamental changes reshaping the VAR-vendor partner structure. In addition to those seismic shifts, solution providers are coming to grips with new buyers of IT who reside outside corporate IT departments. Those new and influential buyers have been empowered by Software-as-a-Service, cloud and mobile technology solutions they can acquire as a service to help them achieve their business goals.

That is the reason behind the event's theme this year, "Driving Business Forward with IT." The theme and surrounding discussion are designed to put into focus the channel's impact and influence on customer innovation through the technology and business solutions they sell to customers. The XChange Advisory Board was the driving force behind the theme and selection of speakers, who will focus on how solution providers can help customers achieve positive business outcomes.

This year's event is bringing together dozens of speakers, including leading analysts, vendor executives, technology visionaries and progressive solution providers. For the first time at XChange, CRN's editorial team will conduct a closed-door channel chief round table to gain insight into the indirect sales strategy of today's most influential and fastest-growing vendors. The conference kicks off on Saturday, March 9, with the Cloud Integrators Forum and wraps up three days later with CRN's Channel Champions Awards Reception. In between, the early 800 attendees will engage with their peers, attend closed-door boardrooms and hear keynote presentations from a wide variety of industry experts. This year's event features presentations from the following:

1. Robert Faletra, CEO, UBM Tech Channel
2. Wendy Bahr, SVP, Global and Strategic Partners, Cisco
3. Stephen Baker, VP of Industry Analysis, NPD
4. Ira Bell, COO, Nimbo
5. Renée Bergeron, VP, Managed Services & Cloud Computing, Ingram Micro
6. Tiffani Bova, VP, Distinguished Analyst, Gartner
7. Scott Brown, SVP, Chief Economist, Raymond James & Associates
8. Ginger Clay, Team Member, 4-Profit
9. Kelley Damore, SVP, Editorial Director, UBM Tech Channel
10. Jeff Davis, SVP of Sales, D&H Distributing
11. Robert DeMarzo, SVP, Strategic Content, UBM Tech Channel
12. Bill Donohue, VP, Business Partner Sales, North America, IBM
13. Ron Dupler, CEO, GreenPages
14. Scott Goemmel, Team Member, 4-Profit
15. Lincoln Haven, VP, Partner Marketing Services, UBM Tech Channel
16. Michele Hayes, Sr. Director, Global Partner Program, Riverbed
17. Linda Hofflander, Director, Vertical Marketing, Samsung Electronics America
18. Rick Jordan, Director, Sales & Strategic Alliances (North America), Tenet Computer Group
19. Larry Kesslin, Partner, 4-Profit
20. Kenny Li, Partner, Cloud Spectator
21. Donald Lopes, Director, Cloud Services, Synnex
22. Keith Lubner, Founder, C3
23. Jeremy MacBean, Director, Business Development, IT Weapons
24. Eric Martorano, Senior Director, U.S. SMB Channel Group, Microsoft
25. Phil Mogavero, VP & Regional CTO, PCM
26. Stacy Nethercoat, VP, Software Product Marketing, Tech Data
27. Rauline Ochs, SVP, IPED
28. Joe Pucciarelli, Lead Analyst, IDC
29. Frank Rauch, VP, Americas Partner Organization, VMware
30. Dave Rice, CEO, TrueCloud
31. Kristin Rogers, Principal, KMR@work
32. David Rose, Product Designer, Serial Entrepreneur, MIT Media Lab Researcher
33. Don Ryan, VP, Fuld & Company
34. Meredith Scheraldi, Senior Manager, Channel Marketing, Symantec
35. Ken Thoreson, President, Acumen Management Group
36. Luanne Tierney, VP, Worldwide Partner Marketing, Juniper Networks
37. Dave Uhler, National Solutions Director of Research & Development, Slalom Consulting

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NexTI: Case Studies Gone Wild

October 15, 2012

In just a few weeks, tech-oriented solution providers will pour into Las Vegas for this year’s NexTI Conference. At most events where solution providers gather, tech vendors talk about their latest products or programs. But at NexTI, VARs will hear mainly from their peers, who will share how they are designing solutions to solve a wide variety of business problems for customers.

Ten prominent solution providers, some members of the NexTI Advisory board who helped hatch this idea, will disclose how they engineered solutions for cloud, mobility and a variety of other areas, providing details on the vendors they selected, the missteps they experienced and, ultimately, their customer satisfaction and ROI.

Call it case studies on steroids or Nerd Nirvana, this is the first time I can recall anyone putting on such a display of solution provider firepower. In an age where it seems like vendors can solve any technology problem on their own, the conference presenters will remind the industry that they are the ones who turn technology into solutions. After all, they apply their magic to what vendors churn out of their factories so that customers can truly put a private cloud solution to use, for example, a wireless solution for a local museum looking to increase its visitor attendance.

Any time you have this many solution providers in one place talking about what they do, it is an event worth attending. Here is who you will hear from at the Oct. 28-30 conference:

Jeremy MacBean, director of business development for IT Weapons, will show how his firm is helping customers avoid BYOD disasters. MacBean willl share some candid experiences and insight on how to help clients find the gains and avoid the pains of bringing consumer devices into their corporate networks.

Peter Valters, general manager of Empowered Networks, has built his share of Wi-Fi networks, but none can compare to the one he built for The Canada Science and Technology Museums Corp., which operates museums in Ottawa and offers interactive exhibits and programs to more than 700,000 visitors annually. Valters will share how he built Wi-Fi access for three museums in 14 different buildings, expanding over hundreds of square feet, and how he focused on environmental concerns, reducing power consumption and waste.

There's plenty of big noise that surrounds big data and analytics, but Stan Duda of Alpine Consulting will put the issue into perspective. Duda will share his story of how Alpine Consulting engaged with MoneyGram to stop more than $85 million in fraudulent transactions using leading-edge technology from IBM, along with his firm's own intellectual property, to develop a solution that he says will pay for itself in just a few months' time.

There's no doubt that a solution provider must have a strong mobility practice to succeed. Rick Jordan of Tenet Computer Group will disclose how Tenet engaged with clients around the globe in multiple vertical markets, and how Tenet built a strong relationship with one vendor and partnered with other solution providers to allow his company to reach clients in Latin America.

John Krikke of Onward Computer Systems will share information about his solutions, and the company’s entire business model, as it transitioned from VAR to MSP, and then to the cloud. Krikke also will deliver straight talk about this painful, yet transformational, journey of a traditional SMB reseller.

No matter what you sell, understanding compliance is critical to a VAR’s success. Jeff Reich, chief risk officer at Layered Technologies, contends that regulations, industry standards and policies affect more and more customers today, yet many cannot build or buy the expertise needed to deal with compliance issues. Reich will tell you how Layered Tech is leveraging security and compliance experience with a mix of custom configuration of industry-standard tools to offer complete compliance management services.

Sarah Ducharme, Symtegrity founder, will tackle the one topic every VAR can't seem to get enough of -- the private cloud. The big issue for customers concerning cloud is security, and for MSPs it's maintaining control. Symtegrity built its own private cloud platform for customers that needed a place to test new software and rescue their servers. Learn the benefits and drawbacks of having your own cloud business, and best practices for moving your existing customers into the cloud and ensuring their satisfaction once they have made that transition.

Finally, everyone’s favorite VAR, Quy "Q" Nguyen, CEO of Allyance, will dive deeper into the cloud, sharing his expertise on and how his firm is driving cloud opportunities around co-location, disaster recovery and network services.

See those case studies and much more at the upcoming NexTI Conference. You can find out more by visiting our website xchange-events.com, or email me at Robert.demarzo@ubm.com

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XChange Attendees Pick Top Vendors

August 29, 2012

At last week's XChange 2012 Conference in Dallas, UBM Channel honored several major and emerging vendors during CRN's Annual Report Card ceremony and the XChange XCellence awards. CRN will publish details of the ARC winners in an upcoming issue and has already previewed the top scorers online. Below are details of the winners of the XChange XCellence awards.

The XChange XCellence awards were voted on by the more than 250 solution providers who attended the four-day conference. IT integrators judged vendors on the basis of their ability to communicate their value proposition throughout the event during such venues as closed-door boardroom sessions, keynote presentations, Quick Fires and Tech Symposiums. After the votes were cast, the UBM Channel conference executive team tallied the results and the winners were announced during a formal gala that preceded the CRN Annual Report Card. Several hundred industry executives were in attendance.

The awards are highly prized by the event sponsors because they represent immediate feedback and validation on their performance at XChange that can assist them at other partner engagements. For the vendors that were nominated but did not win, the survey results and solution provider feedback offer an opportunity to make course corrections that will help their message resonate better with partners.

At XChange, vendors engage in a wide variety of activities with hosted attendees, who are influential C-level executives playing critical leadership roles in their solution provider organizations. Vendors run the gamut from emerging players such as Symform, which has raised more than $20 million in venture capital, to established market leaders such as Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Samsung, HP and EMC.

The big winner of the event was Lenovo, which won Best of Show. This was a competitive category that included more than 100 XChange vendors showing off their strategy, technology or partner programs. Of the 100 vendors listed, the final nominees included Lenovo as well as Eaton, Intel and Microsoft. Lenovo's win was no doubt led by a spot-on keynote given by Ashley Perry, Lenovo's Brand Ambassador, who carried a small tote on stage during Lenovo's general session keynote and slyly told attendees it contained a notebook, desktop, tablet and display. Perry is no doubt one of the best presenters to appear on stage at XChange. Lenovo also was voted No. 1 for Executive Presentation and Hardware.

Another big winner was cloud storage and backup provider Symform, a relatively new company founded by former Microsoft product directors Praerit Garg and Bassam Tabbara. Symform is challenging traditional storage vendors and backup providers including Mozy and Carbonite. Symform captured three top honors for Cloud Implementation, Breakthrough Tech Vendor and Best Newcomer.

On the strength of Microsoft's keynote by SMB Channel Marketing Director Jeff Turner, the company captured top votes for Best Software Vendor at the show. Microsoft also anchored the Cloud Computing Boot Camp, which brought together nearly 60 solution providers prior to XChange's official start on Sunday, Aug. 19.

One of the event's most entertaining presentations is Quick Fire, where vendor executives must serenade attendees in three minutes or less with pitches that are colored by singing, faux carnival acts, comedy sketches and buzzers for those running over time. It has become a crowd favorite and featured more than 16 "acts" at this past event. Dressed in costume, Ruckus' Janet Hendrickson and David Callisch had the courage to perform an entertaining carnival act that drove their point home and helped them receive top honors as best Quick Fire presenter.

In other categories, hosted software provider ConnectWise captured the XCellence award for Best Services Solution. The company has a strong following among MSPs and VARs with growing managed services practices. Power-management company Eaton claimed the trophy for Best Boardroom while Buffalo Technology, a storage supplier, nabbed Best Demo Room.

Intel, which returned to XChange after a brief hiatus, captured the most solution provider votes for Best Solutions Pavilion Booth.

NetSuite, which has supported the XChange Cloud Computing Boot Camp since its inception, was voted the solution provider favorite for the day-and-a half pre-conference event. Led by Craig West, NetSuite's pioneering vice president of channel sales, the company has used the Boot Camp platform to help solution providers understand the opportunities surrounding Software-as-a-Service. West's presentation was an example of the company's no-holds-barred style set by company CEO Zach Nelson and one appreciated by their solution providers.

Winners and nominees are listed below:

XCellence in Channel Executive Presentation Nominees: Ingram Micro, Lenovo, Samsung, VMware
Winner: Lenovo

XCellence in Quick Fire Vendor Session Nominees: Axcient, LSI, Ruckus Wireless, Symform
Winner: Ruckus Wireless

XCellence in Hardware Nominees: HP, Intel, Lenovo, Samsung
Winner: Lenovo

XCellence in Software Nominees: ConnectWise, LabTech, Microsoft, Trend Micro
Winner: Microsoft

XCellence in Cloud Implementation Nominees: Axcient, Microsoft, NetSuite, Symform, Trend Micro
Winner: Symform

XCellence in Service-Based Solutions Nominees: ConnectWise, IBM, Reflexion, Xerox
Winner: ConnectWise

XCellence in Boardroom Execution Nominees: Condusiv Technologies, Eaton, Iomega, Samsung
Winner: Eaton

XCellence in Cloud Computing Boot Camp Execution Nominees: eVault, Microsoft, NetSuite, Symform, Trend Micro
Winner: NetSuite

Best Demo Room Nominees: Buffalo Technology, ConnectWise, Epson, Fortinet
Winner: Buffalo Technology

XCellence in Solutions Pavilion Booth Strategy Nominees: ConnectWise, Eaton, Intel, Samsung
Winner: Intel

Breakthrough Technology Vendor Nominees: Intel, Lenovo, Ruckus Wireless, Samsung, Symform
Winner: Symform

Best Newcomer Nominees: Czech ICT, GFI MAX, LogiXML, Ruckus Wireless, Symform
Winner: Symform

Overall Best of Show Nominees: Eaton, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft
Winner: Lenovo

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