Working on your strategy? 5 new trends that matter for IT solution providers

Every fall, many CIOs and information managers flock to the annual Gartner conference to hear the research company's proclamations and predictions about the IT world for the upcoming year. I won't regurgitate all of the items on the latest...
Value-added channel still rules for complex technology solutions

There is no denying the fact that direct purchasing and retail channels account for a larger portion of IT hardware sales than in the past, but small and midsize businesses (SMBs) prefer to work with VARs and systems integrators to define their strategies for networking, storage and server...
Do data center consolidation numbers signal start of cloud computing evolution?

More evidence of how software as a service and other forms of cloud computing are reshaping IT infrastructure is out this week in the form of IDC data showing that the number of data centers started shrinking in 2009. That's...
Security appliances continue global growth streak

How many other IT product sectors can claim nine quarters of consecutive year-over-year sales growth? Worldwide revenue for security appliances rose 6.3 percent during the second quarter, compared with the same time period in...