ShadowRAM: September 3, 2007

Former VAR's New Moves
• Will "Dancing with the VARs" be the new spinoff? That's the question we have to ask now that former VAR, former CRN columnist and current Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been tapped to strut his stuff on this fall's "Dancing with the Stars." Cuban joins the likes of Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Jane Seymour, Marie Osmond and Wayne Newton on the ABC series that begins Sept. 24. We're betting that Cuban performs as his Mavericks did last season: An NBA championship favorite that bowed out in the first round of the playoffs.

Seen And Heard
• Is former IBM channel executive and current Juniper channel chief Frank Vitagliano heading over to Dell to help the direct vendor craft its new channel strategy? Not likely. But that's the recommendation offered to Dell by some solution providers attending the XChange '07 conference in Orlando, Fla. last month. The point Vitagliano's backers were trying to make is that Dell would be wise to bring in an outsider who understands and has a rapport with solution providers if it ever hopes to shed its legacy as a direct competitor to the channel. Right now, Dell may want to engage the channel, but Dell doesn't get the channel. People like Vitagliano do.

• When a handful of rival tech journalists gather for dinner with a major vendor's executives, a certain amount of one-upmanship is expected. But at a recent such dinner, one self-proclaimed blogging "A-lister" might have made name-dropping history when he said, "When I was interviewing Bill Gates, I was reminded of a conversation with Steve Jobs ..." Fortunately, the appearance of the appetizers interrupted his story before he could work in Larry Ellison and John Chambers.

Cruisin' The Channel
• Leslie Conway is trying to give new meaning to the phrase "Fast Ethernet." Adtran's top marketing executive who, with Ted Coles, is one of the driving forces behind the company's rapid ascent in the channel and its recent VARBusiness Annual Report Card award turns out to have more than a passing interest in motorcycles. Conway, a lifelong biker thanks to her father, who founded a Honda motorcycle dealership years ago, enjoys hitting the road on two wheels. She wouldn't answer as to whether she wears any colors, but word has it the back of her leather jacket has "Channel Champs" embroidered on it. Conway wouldn't say whether her favorite movie is "Wild Hogs" or "Easy Rider," but we're guessing she prefers Travolta to Hopper.