CRN Networking News for VARs and Technology Integrators

The 10 Hottest Emerging Opportunities For The Cisco Channel

CRN asked Cisco CEO John Chambers, Cisco's top channel executives and several solution providers where the best emerging opportunities are for the Cisco channel. Here's a look at some of the most compelling.
25 Telling Talking Points From John Chambers

Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers doesn't attack, per se, loaded questions, but he doesn't back off them, either. Here's a look at key topics Chambers addressed in a recent CRN interview, from data center architecture to Cisco's rivalry with HP.
Net Optics Enables Holistic Monitoring For Physical, Virtual Networking

Net Optics' latest release, the Phantom Virtual Tap, lets companies manage their network across both physical and virtual deployments.
Mucho Mobile: 20 Buzz-Builders At Mobile World Congress

Mobile World Congress, taking place this week in Barcelona, is an international hot spot for the latest in mobile devices, trends and service provider solutions. Here's a look at what's making the rounds, from tablets to infrastructure to speculation.
LifeSize Adds Mobile HD Streaming To Video Center Play

The next update of LifeSize's Video Center video management appliance will include HD video content streaming for mobile devices.
Juniper MWC Haul Includes Project Falcon Launch

Mobile World Congress saw the debut of Juniper's long-awaited Project Falcon: an open mobile packet core called MobileNext.
Cisco Touts New Service Provider Framework At MWC

Cisco's MOVE framework for service providers targets the more efficient management of their mobile data and mobile video traffic demands.
Polycom, Cisco Spar On Video Interoperability Question

Polycom makes its UC Intelligent Core interoperable with Cisco's telepresence interoperability protocol to "closed" Cisco systems, but Cisco says TIP is an open standard.
Cisco Consumer Group Chief Exits

Cisco's Jonathan Kaplan, the former CEO of Pure Digital and head of Cisco's consumer business group, leaves the company following a disappointing revenue performance.
HP VP: Networking Battle Against Cisco Yielding Astronomical Sales Growth

HP Vice President Phil Walton says the computer giant's networking offensive against Cisco is paying off in a 2,000 percent sales growth explosion in HP's networking business.
Cisco: Data Center, Collaboration, Services Buoy Solid Q2

Cisco reported respectable Q2 results, even with a year-over-year quarterly profit decline and drop-offs in several product segments.
Paetec CEO: Xeta Buy Offers Big Channel Opportunity

Paetec's $61 million acquisition of Xeta Technologies gives it a broader national footprint and more traditional VAR business to supplement its service provider portfolio, according to Paetec's CEO.
Paetec To Acquire VAR500 Staple Xeta Technologies

Paetec will pay approximately $61 million to acquire Xeta Technologies, which, like Paetec, is an Avaya Platinum partner and managed services powerhouse.
Carousel M&A Juggernaut Continues With OmniPresence

Carousel Industries intends to acquire OmniPresence, bringing its streak of acquisitions of fellow VARs to six in the past two years.
Mitel Fires Up New Partner Accreditation Program

Unique for VARs under Mitel's new accreditation program is that their specializations and certifications with other vendors, such as Cisco and RIM, factor into their Mitel certifications.
Cisco To Strengthen Videoscape TV Play With Inlet Acquisition

The networking giant has agreed to acquire Inlet Technologies, which specializes in adaptive bit rate digital media processing, for $95 million.
Verizon Chokes Wireless Data Use, Changes Data Transmission Tech

Verizon said it is trying to improve the wireless data service of its growing user base by throttling back the data sent to its top users and changing how that data is sent to everyone.
Carousel Moves To Acquire NY Avaya Stronghold Juma

Carousel Industries' voracious M&A streak continues with a letter of intent to acquire Juma, another powerhouse Avaya VAR.
Cisco's Partner, Distribution Strategy For Tandberg Solidifies

Nine months after Cisco completed its acquisition of Tandberg, its partner program and distribution strategy for Tandberg video products has come into focus.
Cisco Targets HP-3Com Base With Aggressive SMB Financing

A new three-year, zero percent financing program from Cisco targets SMB UC and voice deployments and kicks off Feb. 1.

Slide Shows

	Head-To-Head: ThinkPad X1 Carbon Vs. Surface Book 2 The CRN Test Center compares the latest editions of the workhorse laptops from Lenovo and Microsoft. Here's how Lenovo's 6th gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon compares with Microsoft's Surface Book 2.
	5 Companies That Came To Win This Week For the week ending April 20, CRN takes a look at the companies that brought their 'A' game to the channel.
	5 Companies That Had A Rough Week For the week ending April 20, CRN looks at IT companies that were unfortunate, unsuccessful or just didn't make good decisions.