MSPmentor

He’s doing it again… The VAR Guy is pulling together his list of the Top 100 Channel Partner Conferences for 2012. Which ones should MSPs attend? Check out the list so far and add your suggestions and revisions. Then, hit the road and potentially meet The VAR Guy — if he really exists — in 2012…

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Sure, The VAR Guy loves managed services providers. But The VAR Guy also enjoys timely gossip, chatter and insider dialog even more — including these 28 insights from Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, posted on The VAR Guy’s own website.

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It’s not quite the Wolfpack. But MSPmentor and The VAR Guy have a special offer for readers who are traveling from San Francisco to Los Angeles for Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2011. Up to three readers are invited to join the ultimate road trip — driving down the California coastline on July 9 (Saturday) and July 10 (Sunday) — before arriving at Microsoft WPC 2011. Here are the details.

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So, you’re a managed services provider that needs a small business loan, a lease or some other financial assistance. What are your options? Our sister site, The VAR Guy, is putting together a research report just for you. The VAR Guy’s Channel Finance 25 — an annual report — will help VARs and MSPs to find the key companies, organizations and financial lenders that can assist with short-term cash flow and long-term growth strategies. Here are the details.

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Novell, which has been working more closely with MSPs lately, has been sold. But the deal raises nearly as many questions as it answers. Here’s why: Attachmate has acquired Novell for $2.2 billion. That sounds simple enough. Now for the twist: As part of the deal, a Microsoft-led consortium has acquired certain Novell intellectual property assets. Which assets? That’s a huge question, especially since Novell’s war chest included R&D related to Unix and Linux. Here are 11 questions about the Novell company sale, written as only The VAR Guy can present them…

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Here’s a novel idea: What if there was a central, well-organized list of channel partner conferences and partner summits designed for managed services providers (MSPs), VARs and solutions providers? And what if you could use that list to plan your schedule for 2011? Alas, MSPmentor doesn’t have such a list… Only a lunatic like The VAR Guy would be crazy enough to pull together all that information. And here it is: 75 channel partner events and channel partner conferences designed for MSPs, VARs and everything else channel. Take a look and feel free to post your suggested changes/updates.

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The VAR Guy rarely ventures away from his own web site. But when Intel decided to launch a viral video involving the MSP legend of Geoff Bradshaw, The VAR Guy was intrigued and tuned in. Here’s why…

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In case you were holding your iPhone 4 the wrong way and didn’t receive the email alert, Apple is set to hold a press conference at 1:00 p.m. eastern/10:00 a.m. Pacific today (July 16). Most pundits think Apple will address the iPhone 4 antenna issue. MSPmentor’s sister site, The VAR Guy, will provide a complete recap and perspectives following the webcast.

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Hmmm… The VAR Guy has noticed an apparent link between Zenith Infotech and a telepresence upstart called Vu Technologies. Is Zenith Infotech getting into the next-generation video conferencing market? Too soon to say. But here’s some chatter involving Zenith Infotech, Vu Technologies and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

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The VAR Guy will be in four places at once the week of Nov. 2. The reason: ConnectWise Partner Summit, the HTG Peer Group meeting and Symantec Partner Engage all are in Orlando, Fla., that week. Three events — right down the road from Walt Disney World. The VAR Guy couldn’t have planned the schedule better himself. Oh, except for one nagging problem…

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Sure, Avaya has won the auction to acquire Nortel Networks’ enterprise business. But now the real fun starts. Here are the top three partner and customer questions Avaya needs to answer as soon as reasonably possible, according to The VAR Guy.

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Say hello to Trend Micro in the managed services market. The VAR Guy hears Trend Micro is working to integrate with a range of remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools. In fact, this is more than high-tech gossip. The work is real. Here’s the scoop.

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How’s this for ironic: As Microsoft pushes ahead with its Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), some of Microsoft’s own SaaS partners say their hosted offerings are several steps ahead of Microsoft’s internal BPOS efforts. A case in point: Consider the situation at Intermedia, a major hosted application provider that’s working with nearly 5,000 channel partners.

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Plenty of managed service providers want to host Microsoft applications or push into software as a service (SaaS). Now, there’s a partner program — called Microsoft Communication Services — to help MSPs get started. The big question: Is the partner program designed for smaller MSPs? Or does it funnel more recurring revenue opportunities to Comcast? Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.

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When Office 2010 ships, Microsoft will blur the lines between on-premise and Software as a Service (SaaS) productivity suites. A case in point: Office Web — the “lightweight Web browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote” — will be available for customers to host on their own. Smart move — but where do managed service providers fit in the picture?

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As The VAR Guy heads to this year’s Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, he looks forward to quizzing four key Microsoft executives about the company’s cloud, software as a service (SaaS), small business and netbook/OEM strategies. Take a look, and submit your own questions to The VAR Guy (if you have them) for Microsoft.

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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. 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.

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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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