Jessica Davis

The Distribution Executive of the Year Award goes to the broadline, specialty or value-added distribution executive who exemplifies leadership, sound business acumen and direction that in the end provides the channel community with superior support in product logistics, solution building, training, sales and marketing support, and peer networking. Awards are given for the following: CHALLENGER […]

The Channel Insider Bull’s Eye Product of the Year Award goes to the vendor that released a new hardware or software product in 2009 that provides resellers with good sales margins, integration and deployment opportunities, and after-market services. The product addresses pressing end-user needs and is interoperable with deployed technologies. Awards are given for the […]

Lean and Green Seems like one of the mantras of 2009 was “Do more with less,” and that’s what going green is most often all about. Whether it’s greater energy efficiency or greater attention to recycling IT assets when they’ve come to the end of their useful lives, green was a big trend for the […]

Even as this recession eroded salaries and increased unemployment, top-notch virtualization and VMware engineers have defied the trend, remaining in high demand and getting six-figure salaries. And while certifications don’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll get that kind of a deal—experience and skill factor in as well—they will help land that job or contract. To meet […]

While the recent Department of Labor report showed that IT employment may have turned the corner recently, that doesn’t mean there will be a big job recovery in IT in 2010. Expect IT hiring to remain sluggish through most of 2010, only picking up at the end of the year and maybe not even until […]

Dell is taking the build-to-order philosophy that vaulted the company to success in the 1990s and applying it to the data center with a plan for modular components of computing, storage, networking and infrastructure management that can be easily assembled, deployed and managed. The announcement Dec. 10 is Dell’s answer to Cisco Systems’ and Hewlett-Packard’s […]

7 Disruptive Forces that Threaten the Channel Look at the IT world today and it’s very different than it was 10 years ago. Cloud computing, hosted software, smartphones, the consumerization of IT, and a vastly different economy are all disruptive forces that potentially threaten solution provider business models. But there’s a silver lining to that […]

Nobody’s going to argue with the fact that x86 server sales were dismal in 2009. Blame it on a combination of a recession that tightened IT budgets together with the effects of virtualization and server consolidation and purchase delays. But what will 2010 look like for VARs looking to sell server hardware to customers? Plenty […]

One of the changes that analysts and other observers are talking about as potentially a major trend for the next several years is the “consumerization of IT,” or end users buying their own technology and using it for work—laptops, smartphones, netbooks. A recent Gartner survey of enterprises showed that 10 percent of respondents said that […]

BT and Cisco Systems announced Dec. 9 that they will collaborate to put unified communications in the cloud, letting customers buy UC services on a per-user utility basis, a service available in the United Kingdom now and in the United States and Europe, Middle East and Africa in 2010. The companies say the "scalable, business-grade, […]

Even though the overall economy is still shedding jobs instead of adding them, IT job creation seems to have turned a corner. U.S. employment numbers released last week by the U.S. Department of Labor showed a third straight month of improvement in IT-related employment. Categories that grew included those in professional and technical services businesses […]

IT Investments What IT Leaders are Whispering in Budget Meetings IT is becoming more strategicThere is greater acknowledgement from business unit managers and staff of the importance of the IT function’s objectives to the business.53% agree19% strongly agree22% disagree No Title Impact of the Financial CrisisSurvey subjects were asked if increased pressures resulting from the […]