December, 2008

Some “year-begin” thoughts: Discipline and daydreams are not mutually exclusive

I’m sure that many of you, like me, are trying to figure out WHICH of the 10 or so New Year’s resolutions would not only be the most useful for you to pursue but are actually within the realm of possibility to pull off. You don’t EVEN want to know what’s going on inside my head right now, but might I suggest two mantras we should all choose to live by as we look ahead. (Who really wants to look back at 2008, let’s be done with this year already!)

Continued »

Dell’s New Year’s Eve surprise

Dell Inc. launched a major reorg on December 31. The move “globalizes” operations around three major customer segments — large enterprise, public sector, and small and medium businesses (SMBs). The press release posted quietly on Wednesday morning, making the Dell just the latest tech vendor to attempt to bury major news that could be construed as negative, before a holiday. Or so it seems. (The consumer segment was already handled globally.)

Continued »

Who, exactly, is feeling the IT spending slowdown?

Either every solution provider I know is brilliant or lying, or every IT decision maker is fudging their answers when they take IT spending polls. That’s because even though all the data suggests that companies aren’t buying tech or won’t buy tech or are too scared to buy tech, at least some of the solution providers I speak with anecdotally tell me they had a bang-up fourth quarter.

Continued »

IT services warning: Rough sailing ahead

If they’re not already kaput, the days of open-ended IT consulting engagements soon will be.

Unisys, a big IT consultancy and integrator and also a tech vendor, kicked off the holiday season on a bleak note. Last week Unisys said it would cut 1,300 jobs, or 4.3% of its employees; would consolidate plants; and stop contributing to employees’ 401(k) programs.  The matching contributions, it said, cost the company $50 million annually.

Continued »

Nortel for sale … maybe

Nortel is mulling over bids worth nearly $1 billion for its Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) unit.

Nortel placed the MEN unit — one of the healthiest divisions in the company — on the block in September to slash costs and earn some cash, but now the company is taking its time deciding on a bidder, The Globe and Mail of Canada reported this week. Continued »

Whose cloud is it anyway?

Raise your hand if you’ve heard enough about the proverbial cloud yet.

Understood. The hypefest has been enormous. And the payoff? Not there yet. Continued »

Virtualization predictions for 2009

With the end of the year approaching, virtualization pundits are coming out with their predictions for 2009. I won’t be coming out with any of my own — I had to sell my crystal ball to buy a few last-minute Christmas gifts — but here’s a roundup of what the experts say to expect in the next 12 months: Continued »

And the Oscar goes to… not this one

In my first blog post about the “life” of avatars, I joked about avatar deaths being the riveting subject of the next Law and Order episode.  I really meant it as a joke.  Hollywood execs must’ve seen their opportunity, however, because Gore Verbinski (of Pirates of the Caribbean fame) has secured the rights to the story of a Second Life nut who “cheats” on his wife, much like the scandal in the UK.

Dubbed Sadville: The Movie!, the sure-to-be-yawnfest chronicles the life of a 53-year old diabetic chain-smoker who’s addicted to living life through his Second Life avatar, a buff entrepreneur who apparently womanizes.  So far, I’m picturing 90 minutes of raw footage of a balding, overweight man with nicotine stains on his left fingers and Cheetos stains on his right fingers.  I can only hope Gore Verbinski plans to add some actual plot to this storyline. 

Continued »

VMware hires Google exec to head overseas channel

VMware has appointed Maurizio Carli as general manager of its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. In that role, Carli will run the region’s sales, channel, services and marketing programs.

Carli joins VMware from Google, where he was managing director for its enterprise division in EMEA. Virtualization.info’s Alessandro Perilli says Carli will have his work cut out for him at VMware, whose relationship with European channel partners is “not always idyllic.”

Carli’s 20-year career in IT has also included stops at Business Objects and IBM. His hiring by VMware was not this week’s only channel shake-up: F5 Networks channel chief Steve Hale has left the company and been replaced by his predecessor, Dean Darwin, according to The VAR Guy.

Dealing directly with directaphobia

In my last entry, I provided some suggestions for keeping a deal from going direct, but despite your best efforts it is going to happen and I think the temptation will be even greater next year. So what do you do?

First, don’t lose your cool. Continued »