MSNBC.com posted a scary story today showing how the global credit crisis may
be driving one computer consultant in suburban Washington, D.C. out of business.
Jesse Gilleland got a letter from American Express stating that the credit
card company was lowering the spending limit on the Platinum Card he uses to
operate his business because AmEx basically didn't like the places where he
makes purchases or the company that wrote his mortgage.
The money quote from Gilleland: "I'm literally at the point where I have
to fold the business up, and another dream bites the dust." Check out the
story here.
Posted by Scott Bekker on October 07, 20083 comments
Staples is taking its managed service provider business mainstream.
The Framingham, Mass.-based office superstore chain quietly entered the MSP
market in December 2006 with the unannounced acquisition of Thrive Networks,
a seven-year-old, 250-customer MSP based in Concord, Mass.
Little growth has occurred with Thrive in the interim; Staples currently claims
about 300 clients. But it appears Staples' Contract Technology Solutions unit
has been busy prepping the 60-person firm's business model and leveraging its
branding for a nationwide rollout.
On Wednesday, Staples launched Staples
Network Services by Thrive. There will initially be three services: Thrive
Protect, Thrive Onsite and Thrive Online Backup.
Thrive Protect is standard MSP fare -- anti-spam, anti-virus, anti-spyware,
patch management, systems and network monitoring, and remote helpdesk. Staples
promises cross-platform support, including Windows, Mac and Linux, for Thrive
Protect customers. Thrive Onsite will send IT engineers to customer sites on
a regular basis for some face time. That service will only be available in Boston
and Atlanta in the beginning, but support for other major metro areas is planned.
Thrive Online Backup is automatic, incremental backup of PC and server data
to a secure site over an encrypted connection. EMC Corp. will handle the storage
on the back-end through its Mozy Inc. subsidiary.
It certainly seems like a logical and workable idea to market an SMB-focused
MSP offering through Staples' network of 1,800 office supply stores in the United
States and Canada. Staples reaches target customers every day as those customers
come in to fill their offices from the Staples inventory of more than 7,000
products. And it's a trusted brand.
Of course, the gutters of the business world are filled with logical ideas.
We'll see how it goes. What do you think? Can Staples become a profitable player
in the MSP market? Let me know at [email protected].
Posted by Scott Bekker on September 25, 20080 comments
Semantra, which aims to make the data in Microsoft Dynamics CRM easier for
non-technical business users to search and analyze,
launched
a partner program Wednesday that already includes some high-profile Microsoft
partners.
The initial batch includes Tectura, ePartners, Hitachi Consulting, Quest, First
Tech Direct and I.B.I.S. The Dallas-based startup has about eight partners lined
up and is looking to eventually have about 20 partner relationships with Microsoft
National Systems Integrators and leading regional VARs.
The company has been engaging with the channel since April, and in May announced
the hiring of two executives to build its channel -- former Teradata executive
Kurt Pimental as vice president of business development and former ePartners
vice president Travis Grubbs as vice president of channel operations for Microsoft
Dynamics.
"We are 100 percent focused on channel sales," said Cody Aufricht,
vice president of marketing at Semantra. "Even though we'll do some of
our own demand creation, we will introduce a partner into any deals we take
down."
The new channel program includes a co-marketing program, sales incentives and
business development funds, among other benefits.
Semantra's channel buildout comes as the company prepares for the Oct. 1 release
of Semantra 2.5 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which Chris Davis, CEO of Semantra,
jokingly described as the "check-writing" release -- or the first
version that customers are expected to pay for -- of the product for the five-year-old
company. The private equity-backed firm with about 30 employees, mostly developers,
has spent part of the time since its inception finding the right market for
its technology.
The business intelligence technology allows users to enter common business
terms into a simple search box. Semantra requests clarification from the user
on vague terms, then translates the natural language request into a SQL query
to pull data from databases. The company optimized its product for Dynamics
CRM first, Davis said, because "we wanted to target an application of record,
one of import."
Semantra can also be integrated with Oracle and SAP, although Microsoft is
the major ISV partner at this point. Davis said Semantra has plans to optimize
for other Microsoft Dynamics applications in the next year, and possibly Microsoft
Office SharePoint later.
Posted by Scott Bekker on September 25, 20080 comments
Now that Hurricane Gustav has blown through New Orleans without too much damage,
I guess Microsoft feels the coast is clear to launch a 2.0 version of its Big
Easy promotion.
The company sent around e-mail announcing Big Easy 2.0 today, although the
program formally launched Aug. 25.
You may remember
the Big Easy as the mega partner subsidy program. It combined several partner
subsidy programs into one comprehensive offering designed to reward partners
on a sliding scale for upselling, cross-selling and selling licensing.
The details are complex enough that Microsoft provides calculators to help
partners figure out how much their customers are getting back. For the first
run of the program, which went from Feb. 1 to June 27 of this year, Microsoft
set aside $10 million for the incentives.
Now that Microsoft is in a new fiscal year, the program is back until Dec.
31. Microsoft will provide more details on the revised program in a Partner
Learning Center webcast Thursday at 9 a.m. Pacific.
Posted by Scott Bekker on September 03, 20080 comments
IT distribution giant Tech Data Corp. has expanded its one-stop training capabilities
for resellers by entering into a partnership with Element K.
Tech Data is now delivering courses through Element K's Learning Management
System KnowledgeHub, which is Web-based, doesn't require software or hardware
installation, and includes virtual labs for course-takers to romp around in.
Also, by putting its TDEducation system on the Element K infrastructure, Tech
Data should improve the ability of its resellers to track their users' progress
and will allow them to create custom training programs.
In all, the Tech Data-Element K system will include more than 4,000 online
courses covering many of the technologies Tech Data distributes.
According to a Tech Data spokesman, more than 1,000 reseller employees have
already utilized training in the format through Tech Data this year.
"Our agreement with Element K significantly expands our ability to offer
VARs access to self-paced, e-learning tools, especially offerings for them to
resell to end users for software applications like the Microsoft Office suite
and Adobe design products. These tools can act as basic instruction and ongoing
reference for users, lessening their reliance on help desk support," the
spokesman said.
Pricing for the courses ranges from a few hundred dollars to about $1,000.
Posted by Scott Bekker on September 03, 20080 comments
Google has the tech world atwitter with its launch of a beta today for its
own browser, called
Google
Chrome. Keep an eye on this one; it has a strong chance to make a serious
dent in Microsoft's browser dominance.
My view doesn't have much to do with the specifics of this beta browser release.
Early reviews, such as Walter Mossberg's at the Wall Street Journal,
put it neck-and-neck with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8. Read Mossberg's take
here
(registration required).
Instead, my view is that Google will be competitive with Microsoft here because
the company simply has to be. In order for Google to continue to grow and for
its Web-centric vision of both home computer use and business computer apps
to come to fruition, the browser simply has to be better. It can't hang while
you're writing an e-mail. It can't crash while you're halfway through editing
a document. It can't chug endlessly when too many browser tabs are open. If
the browser keeps doing those things, you're going to go back to using Microsoft
Office.
Judging by the emphasis in Google's comic
book introducing the new browser, the major design objectives in Google
Chrome were improving speed and stability. It seems very geeky and 1990s, until
you think about how critical a fast, stable browser is to Google's business
ambitions.
There's the concern that Microsoft can shut down competitors by making competitive
Web apps incompatible with IE, thereby blocking the bulk of Internet users from
accessing the apps. I think such a naked exercise of power on Microsoft's part
is unlikely at this point. The more basic issue is that Microsoft has no incentive
to make the browser any better unless the competition is hot on its heels. Microsoft's
current business model is built on the idea that customers, especially in the
business world, live in Microsoft Office and occasionally pop onto the Web to
find some fact, then pop back into Office. IE is currently good enough for that.
The Firefox project showed that an innovative approach could shake up Microsoft's
dominance, and force Microsoft to work harder and do better. But Firefox didn't
have much of a financial dog in the fight. Google does. (And unlike Netscape,
Google isn't trying to build a business powerhouse from a strong browser. It's
trying to build a strong browser from a business powerhouse.)
I'm not saying Google Chrome will beat Microsoft on market share. I'm saying
that by investing in a browser now, and continuing to invest in the browser,
Google will force Microsoft to keep making IE better and will press Microsoft
to support standards that emerge outside Redmond.
What's your take? Could Google Chrome usher in a new era of browsing speed
and stability? If so, would that help you improve the technology solutions you
offer or just harm your efforts to sell Microsoft products? Let me know at [email protected].
Posted by Scott Bekker on September 02, 20085 comments
There are some interesting new studies about Microsoft's market share with
IE. Jeffrey Schwartz has the story
here.
Posted by Scott Bekker on September 02, 20080 comments
HP today launched a major virtualization push. On the product side, the push
included new management software, virtualization enhancements to existing software,
blade servers optimized for virtualization, and virtualization desktop options,
including thin clients and blade PCs and workstations. See the details
here.
A study accompanying the release highlights the business opportunity for partners.
According to the HP-commissioned study, only one-third of survey respondents
thought of virtualization as a business tool, suggesting a greenfield for partners
who can successfully make the business case for virtualization. The summary
of the survey is available here
in a PDF.
Posted by Scott Bekker on September 02, 20080 comments
Earlier this week, IBM and several Linux distributors disclosed their intentions
to release "Microsoft-free personal computing choices." Interesting
timing, given Microsoft's struggles with Vista.
But check out Gartner analyst Michael Silver's catalog
of reasons that it's not yet the time for a Linux-based desktop to catch
on.
I have to say I find Silver's structural analysis pretty compelling.
Posted by Scott Bekker on August 07, 20082 comments
If you bank online,
check
out the story about a security briefing this week on the Coreflood Trojan.
Researcher Joe Stewart of SecureWorks Inc. got access to a command and control
server used to collect data from a botnet deployed by a Russian crime group.
Stewart shared some statistics at the Black Hat security conference in Las
Vegas. Among the findings: 8,485 compromised bank accounts, 3,233 credit card
accounts and more -- all collected in six months.
Here's the scary part. Coreflood is an older, well-known Trojan, but it's still
doing massive damage. "In the case of Coreflood, you've got people infected
who didn't do anything wrong," Stewart said. So users didn't necessarily
visit suspect Web sites, let their anti-virus lapse or commit other computing
no-nos.
Do you feel like current best practices in the industry are enough to protect
your customers? Let me know at [email protected].
Posted by Scott Bekker on August 07, 20080 comments
I've enjoyed writing the RCPU newsletter for the last few weeks, especially
because of the opportunity to hear back from you. But it's with a huge sigh
of relief that I'll be turning this hungry beast over to Lee Pender, who's back
from vacation. So the next edition in your inbox will be from Lee.
Posted by Scott Bekker on August 07, 20080 comments
Microsoft used the Black Hat USA conference in Las Vegas this week to announce one of its periodic rebalancings of its security patch program. This time, the company announced a program to give trusted security software vendors advance information about vulnerabilities and the creation of an exploitability index to help IT assess the importance of a given vulnerability.
The partner program is called the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP). It's supposed to allow security software providers to protect their customers more quickly.
"In the race between exploit and protection, Microsoft is committed to shifting the advantage to the security industry. The Microsoft Active Protection Program gives security software providers the information and resources they need to help better protect customers," Andrew Cushman, director of security response and outreach, said in a statement.
Amen. One of the big issues with security patches is that they serve as a starting gun for both security vendors and IT departments to patch their systems and for criminals who try to develop exploits on the acknowledged vulnerabilities. The more lead time the good guys have to help their customers, the better. This actually seems like something that Microsoft has probably already been doing with some select vendors, and this MAPP announcement is an invitation for more security vendors to get involved.
Posted by Scott Bekker on August 06, 20080 comments