TechAlert: New ChannelWeb Adds Tools For VARs

VARBusiness

The new ChannelWeb.com site will combine the news, product reviews and news analysis of channel news leader CRN with the strategic research and in-depth features of the award-winning VARBusiness magazine.

The new ChannelWeb also will add tools to help VARs and solution providers grow their businesses in today's increasingly competitive IT market. Two tools available at launch connect CMP Channel Group's audience with the IT end-user audience of CMP Technology's Business Technology Group, the publisher of InformationWeek and Network Computing magazines, among others.

ChannelWeb.com's solution provider readers will have access to the CMP Channel Group lead generator tool, which allows VARs to send marketing e-mails to a targeted, localized list of IT end-user readers of InformationWeek and Network Computing. The group's solution provider locator lets those same IT end users find a solution provider from among the readers of CRN, VARBusiness and ChannelWeb. ChannelWeb.com users also will be able to find partners with the locator, and they will be able to update and control their profiles in the solution provider locator.

In conjunction with the launch of CRNtech, CMP Channel Group also is unveiling a new white-paper library targeted at channel users. Available Jan. 29 at www.crn.com/library, the new CRNtech white-paper library will allow solution providers to search for technical information from vendors that have been selected with their needs in mind.

The new ChannelWeb.com also will include advanced community features designed to facilitate user-to-user communication. New features include user content ratings, user-led communities and enhanced message boards for targeted solution provider communities organized both by technology specialties and by primary vendors.

Other tools coming March 5 include the CRNtech ReviewFinder, which will let users compare technical product reviews from CRN's Test Center side by side by product type, company or category. The new tool, part of an expansive effort to help users find the information they need faster, will aid solution provider technical staff in identifying which products meet both their technical and business needs.

To provide feedback on the evolving ChannelWeb site, send e-mail to Online Editor Larry Hooper at [email protected].