Recent Articles
-
VARs Must Protect Themselves Against Possible 2006 Downturn
While the IT spending outlook for the remainder of the year remains strong, concerns are growing about prospects for 2006. Forrester Research reported early this month that CIO confidence has dipped to the lowest level since the first quarter of 2004, which the research firm warns could translate into IT spending cuts. For the channel,…
-
Automation: What’s Good for Customers Is Good for VARs
It’s tough to be a VAR in a competitive, low-margin world, so VARs have to constantly refine their business models to remain profitable. One approach, which many in the channel admit is underutilized, is to adopt the very notion VARs constantly pitch to customers: automate. That means taking customer orders and processing them electronically. But…
-
Mac Retailers’ Reactions to Intel Move Are Mixed
Apple’s announcement that it will migrate its Macintosh line of computers away from the PowerPC architecture in favor of CPUs from Intel came as a surprise, not just to fans and developers, but to retailers, who have long carried the Mac torch as Apple’s market share declined in the 1990s. Though there are concerns about…
-
CompTIA Partners on Certification Textbooks
IT trade association CompTIA has signed a deal with Thomson Course Technology to publish textbooks related to the organization’s certification curriculum. CompTIA is supplying the materials that Thomson Course Technology, a division of Stamford, Conn.-based Thomson Corp., is turning into textbooks, study guides and other training-related publications, said William Vanderbilt, vice president for education and…
-
Open-Source VOIP PBX Maker, Consultancy Debut
Switchvox Signs Resellers for SMB VOIP Switchvoxthis week formally launched a reseller program designed to promote the company’s open-source-based private branch exchange systems to small and midsize businesses. The San Diego-based company has been marketing its Switchvox VOIP (voice over IP)-capable PBX systems since February. During that time it has signed more than 200 resellers,…
-
Apple Still Pushes VARs’ Emotional Buttons
Nothing stokes the VAR community more than talking about Apple’s channel strategy. While there is no argument that Dell Inc. has been a channel killer for years before it started working with integrators and service providers, the mere mention of sales and service opportunities around the Mac platform raises a reseller’s ire to alarming proportions.…
