Meanwhile, mirroring sales trends in the first half of the year, Cisco came out head and shoulders above the competition in terms of total dollars for deals VARs expect to close during the second half of 2008 (21.5 percent of all money expected to close). Microsoft came in second, followed by Symantec.

Novell ranked fourth in total value of deals closed, but the average expected transaction size for Novell partners was by far the highest, at $35,700.