It seems hard to believe, but for six months one of the most basic functions in business -- printing a PDF -- wasn't possible from Adobe's official Windows 8 Reader app. (For that entire time, it was possible to print from the Reader app built in to Windows 8.)
Just ahead of the operating system's six-month anniversary on April 26, Adobe posted an update in the Windows Store to support printing in Adobe Reader Touch for Windows 8. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 18, 20131 comments
Continuum brought on Mark Zahar last August to make a difference for its MSP partners.
"A number of our partners expressed a critical need for help in marketing and sales to help them scale their business," said Steve Ricketts, vice president of marketing at the Boston-based MSP-solution provider company. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 17, 20130 comments
Kaseya is embracing a freemium model to expand the customer base for its cloud services.
The remote monitoring and management tools vendor this week released a set of five SaaS IT tools that are free solutions for very specific IT headaches. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 11, 20130 comments
Ingram Micro is demoing a revamped insourcing platform this week at the distributor's Cloud Summit in Phoenix.
Launched Monday, the platform is called IM Link. Like the programs it replaces, the Ingram Micro Services Network (IMSN) and the IM Onsite platform, IM Link is designed to allow North American Ingram Micro partners to round out their capabilities for one-off business deals by contracting with authorized services partners that can perform white-labeled work. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 10, 20130 comments
Backup vendor Datto Inc. this week unveiled a major revamp of its partner program, including a new partner portal, expanded support for partners and the introduction of a partner conference.
According to Datto CEO and Founder Austin McChord, the portal overhaul and other changes have been under development for more than a year, with substantial partner input along the way. "These tools are something we have been working on for a long time," McChord said in a statement. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 10, 20130 comments
Mobility solutions are getting more important to the channel every day, and Tech Data Corp. has been focusing more and more on mobile.
The effort included a joint venture between Brightstar and Tech Data to create the TDMobility infrastructure and numerous agreements with Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint that allow resellers to supply and configure mobile devices on the customers' carrier of choice. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 08, 20130 comments
With Windows XP exactly one year out from its support retirement date today, Microsoft marked the milestone with a new deal that involves partners.
As Microsoft has repeatedly reminded partners for the last several years, Windows XP support completely ends on April 8, 2014. The same date portends the end of support for Office 2003. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 08, 20133 comments
Now that it's April 2013, that means there are approximately 365 shopping days until the official end of support for Windows XP.
All of Microsoft's many customers for Windows XP, which was on sale between 2001 and 2010, must be off the OS by April 8, 2014. To paraphrase what they say in the bar at closing time: "You don't have to go to Windows 8, but you can't stay here." More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 03, 20134 comments
DataCore Software on Monday compressed its channel program for storage virtualization partners from three levels to one and increased its standards, while simultaneously boosting investment in partner margins, marketing funds, training and sales engineers.
The moves come as enterprise demand for storage virtualization solutions is beginning to take off, Steve Houck, COO for the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company, said in a phone interview. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 01, 20130 comments
A month after expanding the billing options for partners around Office 365, Microsoft is offering broad training to help partners make sense of the new rules and connect with distributors.
On March 1, Microsoft released Office 365 for Open licensing and for Full Package Product (FPP) sales. For years, partners had been asking for the Open licensing portion, which will allow the channel to bundle Office 365 into other services and handle customer billing. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on April 01, 20131 comments
Remember to submit your entries for the RCP/Rocket Award. This award is a joint creation of Redmond Channel Partner magazine and Revenue Rocket Consulting Group. We're recognizing and honoring excellence in growth. The RCP/Rocket Award will be awarded to up to three IT services companies whose innovative business strategies have resulted in sustained growth over a three-year period.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on March 28, 20130 comments
A billion "smart connected devices" shipped in 2012, but the four types of devices that make up that overall International Data Corp. definition are on radically different trajectories.
Desktop PCs occupy a bitter plateau, declining slowly but rapidly losing share compared to an overall market expected to more than double to 2.2 billion device shipments by 2017, according to IDC's latest forecasts released this week. Portable PCs are in a slightly better place, and looking forward to decent share gains over the next five years. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 28, 20132 comments