MSPmentor

MSPmentor’s sister site — The VAR Guy — reveals what’s next in the IT channel. Here’s a look at the top nine headlines on The VAR Guy’s blog this week.

1. Google Android vs. Apple iPhone: Careful With Those Forecasts
2. Microsoft Unplugging Response Point VoIP?
3. Open Source Groupware Opens to Macs, iPhone
4. Social Media In the Channel: Fad or Here to Stay?
5. Cisco Partner Summit 2009: Small Biz Surprises
6. Open Source Business Intelligence: Small Niche, Growing Channel
7. Red Hat: The Fools Are Right
8. Cisco to Partners: We’re All Ears
9. Sophos: The George Costanza of Endpoint Security
10. Sorry, this is a top nine list. Get to know The VAR Guy and you’ll realize he doesn’t play by the rules.

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Forgive The VAR Guy for being briefly confused. Symantec announced Managed Backup Services earlier this week. But the announcement made zero mention of Symantec Protection Network (SPN), a software as a service (SaaS) platform that offers managed backup and storage. So, what’s the difference between SPN and Managed Backup Services? The VAR Guy found the answer.

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MSPmentor’s sister site — The VAR Guy — reveals what’s next in the IT channel. Here’s a look at the top nine headlines on The VAR Guy’s blog this week.

1. Canonical vs. Microsoft: Netbook Cat Flight
2. PlumChoice: Remote Tech Services for MSPs
3. The Open Source Channel Nears Tipping Point
4. Amazon’s Cloud Plus Open Source: One VAR’s Model
5. Which Windows Server Is Best for Your Small Business
6. Windows Server Foundation: Big Opportunity for Small Biz VARs?
7. Channel Marketing: Viral Video Generates DroboPro Storage Buzz
8. Novell SUSE Linux, PlateSpin: So Happy Together
9. Sorry, this is a top nine list. Get to know The VAR Guy and you’ll realize he doesn’t play by the rules.

MSPmentor is updated multiple times daily. Don’t miss a single post. Subscribe to our Enewsletter, RSS and Twitter feeds.

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Want to generate some buzz for an upcoming conference? Steal a page from Robin Robins. Some pundits give away iPods at conferences. Other marketing leaders give away netbooks. But Robins is driving in a different direction and going viral to promote a managed services event. Hint: Somebody’s going to win a Jaguar. Here’s the scoop and the viral video to prove it.

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Special from MSPmentor’ sister site, TheVARguy.com: The VAR Guy is touring Silicon Valley this week. He met Netscape veterans launching a new company. He visited Trend Micro insiders. He spoke with the CEO of Nimsoft. During more than six hours of meetings, the recession was discussed for about 15 minutes. Fact is, savvy IT businesses aren’t bombing. And they aren’t bogged down in recession talk. Here’s a recap of Day 1 in Silicon Valley.

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Who runs the top managed services software companies? Who oversees Software as a Service (SaaS) at Amazon.com? Where can I find a partner involved in hosted Microsoft applications?

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When we launched MSPmentor (in beta form) in 2007, some managed service providers were talking about ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library), a collection of best practices for IT activities and processes. Now as we all march toward 2009, the ITIL buzz is growing across the managed services market. Here’s why.

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Sparxent, a start-up company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is seeking to acquire managed service providers and VARs that generate roughly $5 million to $20 million in annual revenues.

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This just in from MSPmentor’s sister site, The VAR Guy: A start-up company, currently working in stealth mode, intends to acquire multiple VARs, integrators and managed service providers. Total combined revenues for the acquired companies will be about $100 million to $120 million.

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Is the party over for VMware and the virtualization market? Yes and no. In a surprise move, former Microsoft executive Paul Maritz has been named president and CEO of VMware, replacing ousted co-founder Diane Greene.

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