Year: 2009
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Microsoft CFO Liddell to Leave Company
(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp’s Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell is to leave the company at the end of the year, indicating that he is looking for a bigger job at another company. Liddell, 51, has been CFO at the world’s largest software company since May 2005, after joining from paper and packaging maker International Paper… Read more
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Apple Smoking Policy Has VARs Fuming
Categories: News and TrendsWord of Apple and its authorized maintenance partners’ denial of service to smokers broke when the Consumerist reported two instances where Mac users were denied service because they smoked cigarettes. A commenter on this blog said they were a victim of this “unwritten” policy, too, and it wasn’t recent. “You better believe it. They pulled… Read more
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GN Netcom Updates Deal Registration, Training Tools
Categories: News and TrendsGN Netcom appealed to the channel early this week with an announcement that it would tweak its Jabra Partner Program for North America in an effort to improve deal registration and learning programs and better support partners focused on Unified Communications. The headset manufacturer has enrolled more than 200 channel partners since first launching its… Read more
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HP, HDS Beef Up Back-Up
In separate announcements, storage heavyweights HP and Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) have expanded their data protection product line-ups. HP Data Protector Notebook Extension enables users to back up and recover data while working remotely and offline, while the HP Backup and Recovery Fast Track Services is a suite of scalable service engagements. At the same… Read more
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Finding Something Good About 2009
Categories: News and TrendsOK, it’s an understatement to say 2009 wasn’t exactly a banner year for the economy. The recession hit everybody hard, and the IT industry, including the channel, was no exception. Even as many companies managed to turn quarterly profits—albeit very modest ones—these came mainly as a result of deep cost-cutting, not revenue generation. And not… Read more
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Maintenance Contracts Commoditized as Vendors and VARs Compete
Categories: News and TrendsRemember when selling computer hardware was a good business? These days VARs are looking to the sale of services and other items for higher margins. But the recession may have taken the wind out of another business – the sale of maintenance contracts. This kind of sale is becoming more of commodity, according to Tina… Read more