VARs Sense Warmer Tech Sales Climate

Though disappointing earnings from some major vendors--notably Hewlett-Packard--recently raised fears that a bear technology market might be in the offing, VARs say they're not alarmed because customers are assessing their IT needs and starting to pull the trigger on purchases.

"The economy is picking up, and people are looking at either technology refreshes or new technology," said Scott Scrogin, vice president of professional services at Network Management Group, a Hutchinson, Kan.-based solution provider. Scrogin said one of his primary missions at XChange, held by CRN publisher CMP Media, was to find new security wares.

Wes Jensen, president of Progressive Technology, a Bakersfield, Calif.-based solution provider, said he's seeing activity warm up on the small-business front. "Things are getting better," Jensen said. "We deal with small-business clients, who are maintaining a growth mode. They are not quite as tight-fisted as they were."

One hot area is wireless networking, according to Tris Kemp, co-principal of InfoSystems Technologists, a Chicago-based solution provider. "Wireless is flying out the door," Kemp said. "Customers are moving away from wired environments and are looking at campus implementations. We see a lot of nonprofit organizations asking us about wireless solutions."

Government clients also are opening up their technology budgets, said Tanesia Barrow, product sales manager at solution provider Systems Plus, Rockville, Md. "They're analyzing what they have, they want to fix it and they finally have the money for it," Barrow said. "Budgets are wide open right now."

However, some solution providers noted that recent business IT spending doesn't necessarily paint a picture of a robust market.

"The market is coming back, but it is not fully strong," said James Addlesberger, CEO of NavigateStorage, Concord, Mass. Addlesberger said he has seen growth in e-mail and instant-message archiving as more companies look to store electronic messages in response to requests from lawyers regarding litigation.

John Marks, CEO of JDM Infrastructure, a Rosemont, Ill.-based solution provider, also said the increased business activity is certainly no windfall. "I see more interest. We are seeing incremental sales growth. We see people from the finance side starting to make decisions to move ahead," Marks said. "Do I see the floodgates opening? No."

Still, the overall feeling among XChange attendees seemed to be that things are looking up. "We're starting to see some nice deals in the hopper," said Alvin Brown, an account manager for SBC, the Des Plaines, Ill.-based regional telecom giant. "We're seeing an upward trend."