Solution providers and tech vendors alike are not taking the soft economy lying down. At Breakaway XChange this week, new technologies, new strategies and new partner programs were pouring out the doors of the Disney World Dolphin hotel.
Of course, the highlight of Breakaway was VARBusiness' Annual Report Card awards. Viewsonic and Veritas snagged the Lifetime Achievement and Breakthrough Player awards, along with other vendors scooping up 15 other catetgory awards.
At his Fireside Chat at Breakaway, CMP's Robert Faletra talked to executives from Compaq and Ingram Micro about their strategies going forward, and how solution providers fit in to both companies new initiatives.
While all that was going on, new and enhanced channel programs were being announced by companies including BEA, IBM, Compaq, Lexmark, HP, SMC and FrontRange Solutions. Read about all of them in our XChange News Center
Sounds The Same
In unrelated news this week, ASP pioneer Breakaway Solutions has, like so many other companies, hit hard times. This week, CEO William Loftus, in office only four months, announced his departure.
Other News
Another departure announced this week was that of Cisco senior vp for worldwide channels Tom Mitchell. CRN's Larry Hooper has posted an exclusive interview with Mitchell about his plans and the status of the networking giant.
On Wednesday, we could practically hear the sighs of relief from down the Long Island Expressway as Computer Associates chairman Charles Wang defeated an attempt to remove himself and three other CA Board of directors members. Nevertheless, Wang has promised changes in the way the company does business, and Texas entrepeneur Sam Wyly, who mounted the challenge, is taking credit for shaking up the company.
And, in the midst of a very tough week for stocks, Tech Data bucked the trend after reporting stronger-than-expected second quarter results.
Top Talkbacks
ChannelWeb's Talkback tool has been picking up steam throughout the summer, generating more and more posts from our smart, involved ChannelWeb readers. This week, they responded en mass to an article on Linux creator Linus Torvalds comments on Microsoft Passport at this week's Linux World Expo.
Also kicking up some dust was a brief article from last Frinday on McDonald's plan to replace thousands of playgrounds at their restaurants with McMagination game kiosks built by Compaq. Several ChannelWeb readers gave the move the thumbs-down. This issue hits close to home, since the McDonalds my wife and take our kids to recently locked up their playground without explanation. When my wife heard about the kiosk plan, she shrugged and said, "That's one less place to spend money at."
