Collaboration software

Google reseller program on the way?

A Google reseller program seems to be in the works, according to this video posted Friday on YouTube.

The 14-second video features Dave Girouard, Google Enterprise president, and 10 Google employees standing behind him. Girouard says, “On behalf of the Google Apps reseller team, I want to say thank you for taking the time to learn about this exciting new program.”

The employees then yell, “Go Apps resellers!”

Google Apps Education Edition, which offers email, word processing, instant messaging and other programs for college students and faculty, is already gaining some traction in the channel. But there’s also concern that Google’s focus on Web-based applications could take away on-premise sales opportunities for solutions providers. Maybe this “Google Apps reseller team” will help address those issues.

UPDATE (7:04 p.m. Eastern): The owner of the video has removed it from YouTube. 

Cisco VARs consolidate: INX acquires NetTeks

INX Inc. snapped up Cisco VAR NetTeks Technology Consultants this week, continuing a trend in VAR consolidation.

The acquisition went for an initial $1.35 million in cash and 30,770 shares, with a potential payout of $2.8 million if NetTeks hits performance targets. NetTeks saw revenue of approximately $12.7 million for the 12 months ending September 30, 2008. Continued »

Microsoft-hosted ERP: Still a mystery

Microsoft has been all over the map about whether it will offer self-hosted ERP.

Company CEO Steve Ballmer some years ago told solution provider partners that the vendor would offer self hosted ERP and CRM applications as needed. It was all about customer choice, he said.

Continued »

Ripped from the headlines: Virtual adultery leads to real divorce

By Elaine Hom, Associate Features Editor

Just when you thought people couldn’t be any dumber about their avatars, Second-Life-being-someone’s-only-life makes the news again. A UK couple recently filed for divorce after the wife, Amy Taylor, discovered that her husband, David Pollard, was having a virtual affair. How scandalous!

Continued »

Microsoft fills in some cloudware bits with Azure

As expected, Microsoft started to talk up some details of its cloud computing strategy Monday at its Professional Developers Conference.

Amidst all the cloud talk, there were a few deliverables mentioned in Monday’s keynotes including activation codes for four new Azure Services outlined by Microsoft chief software architect Ray Ozzie on Monday morning. Developers and VARs can use those codes to poke around and try out the hosted services.

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Up, up and away: Oracle heads for the clouds

It looks like Oracle is embracing “the cloud.”

At Oracle OpenWorld on Monday, the two Chucks — Oracle president Charles Phillips and executive vice president Chuck Rozwat–said Oracle is making its full Fusion middleware toolset, and its database, available to run on Amazon.com’s  cloud infrastructure.

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Cisco’s Jabber acquisition heats up the collaboration race

Cisco Systems has acquired open source instant messaging and presence company Jabber less than a month after it picked up e-mail and calendaring software provider PostPath. The move signifies Cisco’s ongoing moves to reach out of the network and onto the desktop.

Terms of the deal have not yet been announced. Cisco executives were unavailable to discuss the impact of the deal on Cisco or Jabber partners.

Though Cisco already owns instant messaging and presence features, Jabber’s applications are open source and based on its own Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). These applications are therefore easier to integrate into emailing, calendaring and other Web 2.0 software across the board, giving Cisco a leg up in the collaboration race against Microsoft and IBM. Continued »

Cisco to Wall Street: ‘We feel your pain’

Cisco CEO John Chambers kicked off his keynote address at the company’s Financial Analyst Conference with an unusual message: “Ask not what Wall Street can do for Cisco, but what Cisco can do for Wall Street.”

Chambers offered condolence to financial analysts reeling from plunging markets and failing banks.

“We went through a life threatening experience in 2001,” Chambers said, not referring to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center but the ravaging of the tech markets. “We truly understand what you and you’re colleagues are going through.”

Then he flipped the script on analysts.

“If there is anything we can do, we will be there for you.”

With that out of the way, Chambers assured analysts that Cisco’s long-term growth prediction of 12 to 17% is on track despite the economic downturn. Continued »

Will IBM acquire Nortel?

In case the speculation of a Microsoft-Nortel acquisition wasn’t enough to keep partners talking, now there are rumors that IBM could snap up the networking company, according to Mark Evans at the All About Nortel blog.

Those rumors (and Evans stresses that they are rumors) aren’t exactly shocking. For one, as Evans points out, Nortel is trading at under $6 now. That makes me think two things: 1. If I were Nortel, I might spin these rumors just to raise my share value. 2. (The more likely one) If I were IBM, I would be thinking two words: fire sale. OK, maybe I would be thinking a full phrase: Fire sale on a once-solid company that still has incredible potential. Continued »

Cisco’s elusive acquisition strategy

These days, Cisco’s name in the news is generally accompanied by major acquisition speculation (read EMC or VMware). But anyone looking for something more concrete may have an easier time finding affordable gas.

Wednesday morning Cisco senior vice president and corporate controller Jonathan Chadwick spoke at the Citibank Citi Technology Conference where analysts were on the hunt for potential acquisition tidbits.

In perfect Cisco executive form, Chadwick dropped just enough info to keep folks questioning … and nothing more. Continued »