Networking technology

It’s not a Microsoft thing stupid, it’s about Juniper!

Is Juniper running scared? Moving in new directions? Something's up. CEO Scott Kriens -- who has been with the company since its inception in 1996 -- is out, and folks on the street say they didn’t see this one coming. Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s Platform & Services division is...

Is Fibre Channel over Ethernet really ready for primetime?

Ask Cisco executives about Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) deployment in data center and storage networks and they’ll tell you it’s a no-brainer. The technology will be ready for volume deployment by next year or 2010, and the channel should gear up and start training now.

HP’s mini-data center in a box: No partner play yet

HP has introduced a data center in a box. Or a pod. Well actually a shipping container.

The mini data center, called Performance Optimized Data Center or POD, is a 40-foot shipping container that houses more than 3,500 computer nodes, or 12,000 large-hard drives, and delivers the...

Belden-Trapeze deal complete

Belden Cable announced this week that its $133 million acquisition of one of the largest privately owned Wireless LAN (WLAN) providers Trapeze Networks is complete. Published statements from Belden still don’t make clear how, or even if, Trapeze’s 200 partners will be worked into Belden’s...

Cisco worldwide channel chief: Partners are about more than fulfillment

Cisco senior vice president of worldwide channels Keith Goodwin gave a mini state-of-the-channel address during a web conference with Wall Street analysts Wednesday. Goodwin painted a picture of an evolving channel that is based more on selling integrated technology and services than on pushing...

VMware CEO Diane Greene suddenly replaced

VMware CEO Diane Greene -- who is widely credited with driving server virtualization into the mainstream -- was suddenly replaced by Microsoft veteran Paul Maritz. Maritz had most recently been running the cloud computing division at VMware parent company EMC. The industry-shaking announcement...

Will Microsoft acquire Nortel?

Summertime is the time to mull. Today I have the time to consider whether Microsoft and Nortel -- currently unified communications (UC) partners -- will move from heavy dating to marriage. According to channel partners of both companies, rumors of such an acquisition have been swirling for some...

VAR lawsuit against Cisco pushes partner problems out of the closet

The VAR community has been abuzz since it became public that a silver-level Cisco partner sued the vendor for poaching a customer and handing it off to AT&T Business. The twittering is because most partners agree they’ve had the same problem but never taken any action for fear of losing...

I rue the day when the bad guys come after my iPhone

I have become so hopelessly addicted to my Apple iPhone for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that it has saved my butt on more than one occasion when I have been unable to get to my notebook to update this and my other way-to-many blogs. Indeed, when my laptop crashed a few weeks back...

Avaya executive-go-round

Avaya appointed former Motorola channel executive Jeremy Butt to be its worldwide channel chief today. The appointment is the latest in a series of executive changes at the company in recent months. Butt most recently served as vice president of worldwide channels for Motorola’s enterprise...