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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on August 06, 20080 comments