Jessica Davis

IT distributor Tech Data will institute a $2 handling fee on all orders shipped, the company revealed during its earnings announcement and call Aug. 21. Tech Data’s move follows a similar one announced by its larger rival Ingram Micro earlier in August. A third IT distributor, Synnex, is "taking a wait-and-see approach" to adding such […]

Do you sometimes work with SAP customers but not enough to merit paying the 2,400-euro SAP channel partner fee? Or do you work with SAP so much that you need to outsource some of the work to other qualified solution providers? For partners who answer "yes" to either of those questions, SAP has a new […]

A top Hewlett-Packard executive has reaffirmed the company’s commitment to all its channel reseller partners a little over a week after a leaked memo revealed a deal between the vendor and direct market reseller CDW that raised questions about potential channel conflict.  Web site ChannelWeb first broke the story of the leaked memo, saying that […]

  5 Reasons Why IT Certifications Still Matter You’ve seen the headlines. Certifications just aren’t commanding the money they used to. But should you forgo getting new ones and quit renewing the ones you have? Maybe not. Here’s the top five reasons why you still may want to pay attention to those certifications.

As expected, Cisco Systems has digested the Linksys reseller partner program, making it part of Cisco Systems’ existing reseller partner program focused on small and midsize businesses. The move creates a single point of contact for all of Cisco’s second-tier partners, now numbering about 60,000. "Partners who wanted to focus on the whole portfolio had […]

Even as small and midsize business favorite Microsoft gets set to launch Hyper-V, its free virtualization offering, virtualization market leader VMware is preparing for the new competitor by creating a program to attract system builders. And the program’s ability to attract those board designers could have a big effect on who wins the next battle. […]

Broad line distributor Avnet reported that its Technology Solutions group sales reached $1.95 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, up 9.9 percent year over year but flat on a pro forma basis that excludes currency conversions and acquisitions. Technology Solutions is the company’s IT distribution arm. Avnet said sales in Asia for Technology Solutions […]

Eight months after she joined Novell as global channel chief, Pat Bernard has left the building.  A Novell spokeswoman said Bernard left to "pursue other interests." The company offered no further information about the circumstances surrounding Bernard’s departure. Novell is "actively searching for a permanent replacement" for Bernard, officials said. Meanwhile, Tim Wolfe, president and […]

Citrix is dumping all distributors in North America in favor of an exclusive arrangement with Ingram Micro as part of a plan to create a more focused approach to the market. For Citrix VARs that already go through Ingram Micro the change is likely to mean added benefits and rewards. But they won’t be able to […]

Ingram Micro CEO Greg Spierkel says that caution on purchases by small and midsize businesses is making for a more conservative Q3 for the world’s largest IT distributor. Spierkel told Channel Insider that "the forecast for Q3 was more conservative than some would have liked. We are reflecting the reality of the market environment. It’s […]

VARs will be happy to hear that Citrix Systems’ new channel chief has walked several miles in their shoes. Tom Flink spent most of his 22-year career working for reseller companies and trying to get the most profit out of manufacturer partner programs. He says that’s what he wants to help partners do with Citrix’s […]

One of the things Symantec Chief Operating Officer Enrique Salem told Wall Street analysts recently is that the company is looking to take some of its experience in automating consumer subscription renewals to its small and midsize business customers. Symantec Channel chief Julie Parrish July 16 clarified that statement, saying such a system would certainly […]