Shadowram, April 7, 2003

One solution provider worked with the local IGS people and, after an enthusiastic initial response, was turned down as an IGS subcontractor. "All they want us to do is sell their services, period," the solution provider said. "They're not interested in learning about my business and what I have to offer. All they want me to be is their arms and legs and bring them opportunities."

Meanwhile, Cisco Systems took guff from IP telephony competitors Avaya and Mitel during a panel discussion last week at Spring VON 2003 for not sharing its proprietary Cisco Discovery Protocol, which provides inline power to Cisco devices. When asked whether Cisco is being a good corporate citizen, Bill King, Cisco's technology marketing manager, paused for a long time before jokingly responding, "What time is it anyway? Are we about done here?" In the end, King said Cisco plans to keep the protocol all to itself.

Other vendors at VON also offered a glimpse into their product plans. Nortel Networks expects to release in June its Succession Communications Server for Enterprise Multimedia Xchange, which was announced last May at Networld Interop.

At another industry event, Esther Dyson's PC Forum conference in Phoenix late last month, Oracle Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison stood up the industry pundit and several hundred attendees. Ellison was scheduled for a Sunday evening speech that showgoers flew in early to hear, but Ellison was a no-show. Apparently, he

forgot to call Dyson, so the audience patiently waited in their seats for Ellison, while Oracle PR people fumbled for an excuse. Eventually, one was provided: Ellison's plane reportedly would not start, so he couldn't get to Phoenix. Sounds a lot like "The dog ate my homework," doesn't it? For one thing, Ellison owns three different planes. For another, there are any number of airlines and charter companies running several flights a day in and out of Phoenix.

Back on the East Coast, Computer Associates International is looking to jump-start its Channel Preferred Programs with a major push behind its eTrust series of products. As part of an effort to compete more effectively against Symantec, CA is looking at accepting a break-even net model,rather than specifying any specific net income requirements,for its antivirus software. The goal is to get channel partners to use CA's antivirus software to break into customer accounts by undercutting competitor pricing and then give those partners incentives to sell products such as ARCserve from CA's BrightStor into the same accounts.