Will telecom operators shake up competition in cloud computing?

AT&T’s announcement last week that it has entered cloud computing is a sign that software as a service (SaaS) players will see heavy competition from a powerful source — telecom network operators.

In June, Verizon also announced a so-called on-demand computing program, and analysts say other network operators are soon to follow.

For systems integrators trying to find their place in the already precarious SaaS market, it means going to bat against telecom operators that already have deep relationships with enterprises.

“There are companies out there that want hosted solutions, and they are going to say [to network operators] ‘you’ve got my circuits already, so you can host too,’” Chris Thompson, Cisco senior director of solutions marketing, said. Continued »

Microsoft releases SQL Server 2008

Five months after its official launch, SQL Server 2008 released to manufacturing today.

Microsoft made the announcement this afternoon during a conference call with Ted Kummert, corporate vice president of the data and storage platform division. He touted SQL Server 2008′s out-of-the-box data management and business intelligence capabilities. VARs and customers will also be happy to know that this latest version does not come with a price increase.

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Cisco will go acquisition hunting in FY ’09 — but not necessarily for EMC

Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers said Tuesday that regardless of “challenging macroeconomic times,” the company would make major acquisitions in the coming year — though he didn’t indicate that one of those purchases would be EMC.

Chambers made the comments during a fourth quarter earnings call. Continued »

Novell channel chief departs

Novell channel chief Pat Bernard has left the company.

Novell said today that Bernard, its first vice president of global channel sales, left to pursue other interests. The company named Tim Wolfe, president and general manager of Novell Americas, as her acting replacement. Wolfe said in a statement that the company will move quickly to find a permanent successor.

Novell has seen strong growth this year, and the company expects that momentum to continue — with help from channel partners. Next year, more than half of Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise revenue will come through the channel, a company exec told me back in June. But that prediction could be off target if the channel’s leadership is in limbo for an extended period of time.

Bernard, a former Hyperion executive, joined Novell in November 2007. She took over for former channel chief Steve Erdman, who held the title of vice president of North American channels and aliances.

New leadership for Motorola’s handset division

Motorola said Monday that it appointed former Qualcomm executive Sanjay Jha to head its struggling wireless handset business. Appointing Jha was the first major step toward spinning of the handset unit, a move Motorola announced in the spring.

Jha will also serve as co-chief executive office with Gregory Q. Brown, who will lead the company’s home and enterprise broadband business. Continued »

What are VARs’ biggest concerns?

Learning about new technologies, winning new business and recruiting skilled professionals are some of the top challenges facing solution providers today.

How do we know? Well, we asked you.

We surveyed our readers, got the results back, and now we’re doing something with them. We just launched an IT Channel FAQ guide on the Top VAR Business Concerns, featuring channel expert Paul Myerson from Enterprise Strategy Group. A lot of you said you’re VARs looking to get into managed services. Paul has advice for you — even if think you’re too small to be an MSP. Or maybe you’re having a hard time finding new customers. Paul says what you can do to set yourself apart from competitors.

You can either browse the list of VARs’ top concerns, or you can listen to the guide in podcast form. Either way, check it out and let us know what you think!

Maybe it’s time to call it something other than Web 2.0

For the past eight or so months, I’ve been writing a column called Web Sight (spelling intentional) for Entrepreneur magazine. (Here’s a sample piece from the latest issue.) The focus has been on how so-called Web 2.0 technologies, such as blogs or social networks or customer feedback tools or real-time analytics, can drive revenue or cut costs for small businesses. It hasn’t been all that hard to find examples to use as case studies, but it has been astonishingly hard to convince anyone in the solution provider channel that Web 2.0 are useful.

Granted, as I write this blog entry, I consider all the VARs and solution providers that have recently befriended me in Facebook or LinkedIn. So, the climate may be changing. Kudos to you, I say, because you are exposing yourself to all sorts of possible new connections and reinforcing existing ties. But as I’ve interacted with various channel executives about this topic over the past few months, invariably they tell me they’re too busy in the real world on sales calls or customer visits to worry about what’s commonly called Web 2.0.

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Shareholders approve HP-EDS acquisition

It looks like the odyssey leading to Hewlett-Packard’s (HP) acquisition of Electronic Data Systems (EDS) is finally over. This morning, EDS shareholders overwhelmingly approved the $13.9 billion purchase, The Dallas Morning News reported. Shareholders owning 98.8% of shares voted in favor of the deal. Continued »

Zimbra wants to out-Outlook Outlook

 You have to hand it to Zimbra.The company, now part of Yahoo and seemingly unfazed by all that entails, is nothing if not aggressive. With Zimbra Desktopit’s now taking on the grand poobah of e-mail clients.

Yes, Zimbra is trying to out-Outlook Microsoft Outlook. The nerve!

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SAP CEO: Partners key to recruiting skilled workers

SAP wants to see at least 30,000 new SAP consultants enter the market in the near future. And partners will be the driving force behind that growth.

That’s the word from Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP Americas and Asia Pacific. My colleague Courtney Bjorlin, news editor for SearchSAP.com, just posted an exclusive interview with McDermott. She asked him if there’s a shortage of skilled SAP workers, and if so, what SAP’s doing to address that. Here’s what he had to say:

Over these next few years, we’ll add 30,000 to 50,000 trained SAP consultants. Some of that will be SAP. But we’ll be the small amount. Partners will continuously invest in these students from university. Also, hiring from the industry where a lot of these smaller software companies have failed, or companies like Oracle where the demand continues to go down, that supply will be regenerated toward SAP. It’s the partner ecosystem.

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