ShadowRAM: October 1, 2007

AND YOU THOUGHT RUNNING CISCO CHANNEL WAS TOUGH
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DUTKOWSKY: LET THEM EAT CAKE
• In an effort to meet more employees face to face and hear from a broad range of divisions within the company, Tech Data CEO Robert Dutkowsky has been hosting monthly birthday socials throughout the first year. If an employee has a birthday in, say, June, he or she is invited with all the other June birthday folks to meet with him for an hour and a half for some frank and open discussion about the distributor and, of course, get treated to some cake and ice cream. Employees ask him about anything from the number of reserved parking spaces available in the Clearwater, Fla., headquarters to his thoughts on market opportunities.

SEEN AND HEARD
• Apple caused a few heart palpitations in Mac-Land by shipping the latest beta version of its forthcoming Leopard OS—but not shipping a Gold Master version even as it drew ever nearer to its October launch. Without a Gold Master, some developers mused last week that the company might have to actually push back its planned Leopard launch for a second time. That led Apple to send out a missive to the effect of, "Psst. We're in the release candidate cycle. Quit belly-achin' about more delays and relax." Which leads to this question: Will Apple ever stop being cryptic about its beta cycle and release dates, or does it just like watching its channel and the market squirm? Perhaps with a 33 percent growth clip in its Mac business, compared with 12 percent to 13 percent for the rest of the market, some squirming should be expected.

• We keep hearing about storm clouds hanging over Lexmark's Lexington, Ky.-based headquarters, even though officials deny that any big changes are in store for its channel organization. The company remains under pressure, after failing to meet Wall Street expectations last quarter, and it quietly shuffled top executives and placed Marty Canning as president of its printer and services group. Paul Rooke, who had headed the printing and services division, is now running Lexmark's flagging consumer business. Paul Curlander remains as company CEO. In the industry, that is known as a "shakeup" and we hear the ramifications from the executive management musical chairs may only be in the early phases. Speaking of pressure: Lexmark stock recently dropped to a low of about $35 per share after starting the year at close to $75 per share. A further drop might not be viewed too favorably by the institutional investors.