Heather Clancy

Can you claim the title of trusted partner?

One moniker that gets bandied about plenty in the channel, especially in times like these when everyone is trying to define their “value,” is the idea that an IT solution provider should be considered a “trusted adviser” or “trusted partner.”

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HP introduces two small-business tech financing promotions

One of the things that will separate the successful high-tech vendors this year from the rest of the pack will be their ability to help their reseller and VAR partners manage credit and cash flow.

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Websense gives partners more reasons to say “yes” to its program

One of the philosophies that I really appreciated out of former Intel Chairman and CEO Andrew Grove when he was still active was his staunch belief that investments in the future should not be sacrificed for the short-term good of a company’s stock price. This is not something that many high-tech vendors usually pay much attention to when the economy is all whacked out (like right now), so it’s refreshing when I hear about a company that subscribes to that notion, especially when the investments are focused on solidifying and supporting its channel relationships.

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Former Sage channel exec moves to Promethean. Hmmm. Maybe time to reconsider education software?

He’s back! Taylor Macdonald, the former VAR who was instrumental in developing the channel programs for CRM vendor Sage Software, has taken on the post of vice president of channels, America, for education software company Promethean.

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Storage virtualization is hot. Ingram snags DataCore, too

Server virtualization is soooo last year.

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Who needs IBM? Synnex gets nod for new Fujitsu enterprise storage

After being dissed by IBM last fall, which took away its System x distie business, Synnex got a boost this week for its midrange and enterprise storage practice when Fujitsu Computer Systems tapped it to handle several new products typically reserved for closed-distribution model industrial distributors.

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Tech Data extends data center virtualization play

Hmmmm. First, virtualization management software, now a play in storage virtualization.

Distributor Tech Data has signed up DataCore Software, which provides a series of enterprise applications that can be used to manage and provision storage devices attached to a SAN. So, instead of requiring a one-to-one relationship between servers and different storage devices, virtual disks can be created that serve multiple masters. Tech Data says the DataCore products address the following areas:

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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!)

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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.

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Now that you’ve helped your clients go virtual, how can you help manage it all?

A vendor agreement announced last week by distributor Tech Data is definitely a sign of things to come in the virtualization space. That is, a move to manage and secure all the virtual environments that have sprung up all over your clients’ data centers.

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