Cast About Offshore

After all, being local to the customer is a key value proposition for VARs, particularly when it comes to serving small and midmarket businesses. It's tough to be neighborly at a distance of 2,000 or so miles away.

At a time when the United States is becoming increasingly nationalistic, however, it would be a mistake not to look beyond the U.S. border when considering vendor partners. The fact is, significant innovation is coming from places many of us have never visited.

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HEATHER CLANCY

Can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

Firewall leader Check Point Software Technologies, for example, got its start in Israel, and co-founder Gil Shwed splits his time between his native home and the company's base in Redwood City, Calif. BackWeb, which offers technology for enabling offline Web application usage, and Alvarion, which makes wireless broadband technology, also hail from Israel. It's also interesting that at least two acquisitions by high-profile management software companies,Veritas Software and BMC Software,were companies that got their starts in Israel. Veritas last year snapped up Precise Software, a maker of application management software, while BMC in 1999 bought New Dimension Software, which develops enterprise management technology.

Another tidbit: Did you know that Trend Micro, the content security and antivirus company, actually got its start in Tokyo? Or that Buffalo Technology, the wireless maverick, also hails from Japan. The list of Taiwanese companies that contribute products to the U.S. market, of course, is too long to list, but Taiwan has long been a valuable contributor of displays, drives and memory.

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I'm not suggesting that the U.S. channel ignore innovation right here at home. In fact, I believe the next 12 months will bring a new wave of emerging vendors, many of which will look to VARs and systems integrators as their sales vehicle right from the start. But as you consider all your options in a particular technology segment, you do yourself a disservice if you don't look abroad for possible vendor partners.

HEATHER CLANCY, Editor at CRN, welcomes your letters and feedback at [email protected].