The VAR community has been abuzz since it became public that a silver-level Cisco partner sued the vendor for poaching a customer and handing it off to AT&T Business.

The twittering is because most partners agree they’ve had the same problem but never taken any action for fear of losing their businesses.

Last week SearchITChannel.com ran a story about Infra-Comm Corporation suing Cisco on claims that the vendor violated the deal registration process by passing along a multimillion dollar customer to AT&T at the very same pricing structure Infra-Comm had negotiated. Sources close to Cisco said the company lived up to its obligations under the deal registration agreement by providing exclusive pricing and protection to Infra-Comm, but couldn’t stop the customer from wanting to change VARs.

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Being an Oracle partner can be a pricey business.

For example: If you’re a select Oracle partner who wants face time with Oracle reps at the vendor’s yearly sales kickoff, you can pay either $6K, $10K or $25K for the privilege.

For that amount you get to be an Exhibitor Partner at the big Las Vegas event. The idea is to get your pitch to Oracle sales reps. There are many. The event draws some 40,000 people in early June. Maybe even (knock wood) get a look from Charles or Larry. Read more »

Dell has launched a new wiki, PartnerStorm, that is already fielding reseller complaints about the fledgling Dell channel program.

On PartnerStorm, the channel version of Dell’s popular IdeaStorm forum, users can post their ideas about the channel program, which is called PartnerDirect. They can also comment on each others’ ideas and vote on which are the best.

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Talk about channel conflict!

The Boston Globe has a story today about Tech Superpowers, an Apple reseller facing quite the threat: a ginormous Apple store opening right next door. One of VARs’ biggest peeves is when a vendor moves in on their business, but in this case, Apple is literally MOVING IN on their business.

Tech Superpowers has been shifting its business model from consumers to the enterprise market, to differentiate itself from the Apple store. Founder and president Michael Oh also adopted a slightly more creative strategy: He buried a company T-shirt at the Apple store site, much like the Red Sox fan who buried a David Ortiz jersey at the new Yankee Stadium to curse the Bronx Bombers.

Ortiz started the season in a terrible slump and didn’t start hitting until the Yankees dug up his jersey and auctioned it off for charity. Hopefully Tech Superpowers will have better luck and won’t get hit out of the park by Apple.

Microsoft partners really, really, really want to be recognized by the quality of their work. And not surprisingly, they want to be paid for it.

One recurring theme sounded by Gold Certified partners as reported earlier this week in SearchITChannel.com, is that being Gold is no longer enough. These partners say there are too many VARs sporting the Gold designation and that leads to cut-throat pricing to win deals. And razor thin margins on the deals won.

Several solution providers, Rand Morimoto, president of Converged Computing among them, say the vendor needs to recognize its truly -top tier partners.

“I’ve always commented to Microsoft that there’s a need for a ‘platinum’ level, kind of like what Novell had during their heyday,”

Partners say Microsoft has been told this over and over and talks about better recognition of partners who put the most “skin in the game” but still resists the notion of another program level.

But least one Gold partner disagrees with the notion of another tier, saying that would just add more confusion into an already confused partner program.

Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) Dynamics partners, in particular, feel that the company has done too much recruiting in their bailiwick. This is a particular sore point since the ERP and CRM offerings they deal with make for a longer sales cycle, more hand holding and thus so far command higher margins than the volume-oriented Windows-Office-SharePoint-type products that can be sold by anyone. A Dynamics sale, on the other hand, requires an authorized MBS partner.

“There seems to be a continued push to add more and more partners instead of driving the capacity and ability to scale to those partners that continue to constantly grow and invest in Microsoft. The monies spent on recruiting new partners should be directed toward accelerating and adding capacity to the successful partners in the channel,” said one partner, who thinks his organization would benefit from this treatment. But he is not alone. Over the past two or three years, there has been a push among larger MBS partners to consolidate talent and geographical coverage all to better sell and support CRM and ERP applications.

Barbara Darrow can be reached at bdarrow@techtarget.com.

I couldn’t bring myself to write about this survey on April 1, because I figured you’d think I was pulling your leg. Although those who DO know me know that I am pretty much incapable of lying (my face gives me away) and am generally a very unfunny person (at least intentionally).

But, here we are on April 2, and it’s safe now, so here goes.

I was briefed late last week on some research that was conducted by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and sponsored by Blueroads (the company that does one of the partner relationship management portals). The data, which the CMO Council is calling a scorecard, includes responses from pretty much anyone you would consider a reseller or a dealer. It doesn’t just represent the high-tech channel that has been my obsession for the past 18 years, it also covers businesses that represent consumer electronics or audio-visual equipment.

So, ready? Here are some of the high-level findings:

• Fewer than 7 percent of the 500 respondents said vendors are their most valuable source of sales leads
• And, only 19 percent of these folks said those leaders were “highly actionable”
• Approximately 70 percent said vendor marketing campaigns were either “ineffective” or “only somewhat effective” in driving their business
• About half engaged in any kind of cooperative selling

(You can download the full report if you choose to register here.)

“We’ve got this significant issue of lack of trust, lack of valued process between vendors and their channel,” said Dave Murray, executive manager of the CMO Council.

Do you sense a trend here? And, are you really surprised by the results? Honestly, I wasn’t shocked, and neither was Craig Downing, director of product marketing and demand generation for Blueroads. “The punchline here is that overwhelmingly, the partners say that customer referrals are their most valued source of business opportunities,” Downing said.

After all, what most vendors forget over and over again, is that most solutions-focused VARs MUST work with a slate of high-tech suppliers in order to serve their customers best. Even resellers that could be considered “exclusive” need to find great applications and infrastructure products to complement their main offering — whether they are offered in partnership with another reseller or ISV or whether they are part of the first VAR’s product suite.

Do I think vendor marketing teams could do a better job? Sure, but I think the best tools that any channel marketing team could provide are the research and solutions arguments to help their channel partners talk to prospective customers in terms they’re more likely to understand. The days of brochureware are fast fading. What this survey does point up in vivid terms, however, is the vital role that marketing plays in channel relations. So, ask yourself, do your key high-tech suppliers worrying about flashing corporate branding campaigns and the next Super Bowl commercial? Or are they focused on extending your own marketing resources, with the focus on customer-facing conversations?

Heather Clancy is a high-tech business journalist and channel communications strategist with SWOT Management Group. You can reach her at hclancy@swotmg.com.

This morning I spoke with David Lynch, vice president of marketing for Embotics, a VMware partner in Ottawa. I’d been trying to interview him for two recent stories on VMware channel conflict, and although we didn’t connect until now, what he had to say would have fit right into those articles.

Lynch said it’s “challenging” to work with VMware because the company keeps its partners in the dark about its product strategies. Partners don’t know if any of their upcoming releases will conflict with VMware’s, or if VMware’s coming out with something that will impede on their businesses.

“It’s extraordinarily difficult to get any form of access to their long-range plans,” he said. “We want to build products that are complementary, not products that go head-to-head.”

Embotics makes virtualization lifecycle management software that currently runs on the VMware platform. Version 2, due in June, will also work with Citrix and Microsoft virtualized environments.

Lynch doesn’t believe VMware purposely makes things tough for its partners — just that the company’s so focused on the ever-evolving server virtualization market that it can’t always keep partners in the loop.

“The market has changed so dramatically for them,” he said. “They know the value of the hypervisor itself over time is going to move practically to zero, which means that their revenue has to come from their management product.”

Embotics also partners with Citrix and has been invited to join up with Microsoft, too. Microsoft’s upcoming entry into the server virtualization market, Hyper-V, is drawing a lot of interest from customers, Lynch said.

“We haven’t seen anyone who’s said they’re not going to try the Hyper-V,” he said. “Everybody’s trying it.”

VMware channel conflict is also the topic of the inaugural Partner News Podcast, a new feature here at SearchITChannel.com.

Big channel changes atop Oracle.

Doug Kennedy is leaving the database-and-biz-apps giant and Judson Althoff will replace him as Oracle’s global channel chief, several sources confirmed.

Update: Oracle’s Kennedy takes off for Microsoft.

The news went out internally Wednesday in an email from Oracle prez Charles Phillips.

That succession may be settled but it also leaves one key  roll —  North Americas channel chief  — unfilled. Rauline Ochs left that post to join Safeco late last year. Some well-placed Oracle sources expected Althoff to take on Ochs role.

Althoff has been with Oracle for nearly a decade, spearheading its relationship with Dell, HP, CDW, and distributors Ingram Micro and Tech Data. Some partners say that his rapport with Dell and CDW (both viewed as near-demons by VAR partners) may make him an odd backer for value-added partners.

Others say that Althoff’s direct line to Phillips could actually help such partners gain leverage in their dealings with the vendor. Ochs had reported to Keith Block, the head of North American sales. Oracle has a history of tense vendor-partner relationships and now that it has bought tens of billions of dollars worth of business apps expertise, partners want to see further improvement in channel relationships.

“If he’s been working with Ingram and Tech Data, he gets the VAR partner role now,” said one long-time Oracle partner.

One contendor to replace Ochs as senior vice president of North America  alliances and channels, is Tyler Prince, who is now vice president of that same group, said an Oracle source.

One longtime Oracle partner, apprised of Kennedy’s departure, was bemused. “I find it curious that within such a short time span both the worldwide and the North American channel execs have left,” he noted.

More background on Ochs and Kennedy here.

Barbara Darrow can be reached at bdarrow@techtarget.com.

HP brought in NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young to speak to the partner faithful bright-and-early Wednesday morning. And he did not disappoint. Some 1,000 or more partners were in Las Vegas for the annual partner conference and a pretty good number showed up for Young.

Peering out at the darkened hall, Young noted the obvious: “A 9 a.m. talk at Caesar’s Palace and there are people here? Was attendance mandatory?”

Young said his speaking gigs are relatively easy given the prevalent jock stereotypes, and the low expectations they engender.  ”If I can string two sentences together, people think, ‘Hey! Not bad.”

Who knew that aside from his Super Bowl MVP and top quarterback rankings Young is also a lawyer? And a big philanthropist? Not me, but then again, baseball’s my game.

Young followed printer kingpin Vyomesh Joshi who issued a call to arms to a pretty fair subset of the 1,100 partners in attendance for his 8 a.m. keynote.

“If you’re in hardware, get into supplies. If you’re in hardware and supplies, get into services,” Joshi said

Joshi, often known as VJ, painted a picture of a whopping $280 billion market for printing and imaging from the home devices to huge commercial printers that use ink by the liter.

The Scitex wide-format machines that print signs for Times Square and similar venues soak up liters of ink. “Not ccs, liters. I love liters,” Joshi joked to the early morning crowd.

Conversely , he also touted HP’s recycling and green printing efforts.

He estimated the worldwide enterprise printing and image market to be about $53 billion. In that segment, HP reserves 900 named accounts for its direct focus. He cordoned off about 4,000 accounts in “named territory” accounts and the additional 8 million SMB accounts which the company hopes to attack with partners.

“We will be consistent and clear. We will not go after those 4,000 accounts, we’ll provide the names and help plan for them but for those 4,000 accounts we need your help.”

The vast majority of printing remains analog. Translating all of that to digital “where HP can play” is a huge opportunity. And for that to happen, partners need to help HP persuade IT departments to network all their printers and copiers, he said. That infrastructure work is another opportunity for VARs.

Joshi then gave way to the former San Francisco 49er great .

Ensuring attendees left on a high note, Sheryl Crow played Wednesday night. Some of us couldn’t be there — flying out of lovely 70-degree-and-sunshine-Vegas weather back to the frozen Northeast tundra. But according to second-hand accounts, Crow was stellar.

Barbara Darrow can be reached at bdarrow@techtarget.com

Hewlett-Packard has logged robust growth but could do better, especially in the U.S. and in SMBs, HP CEO Mark Hurd said Monday.

Kicking off HP’s annual Americas Partner Conference (APC) in Las Vegas, Hurd (hoarse with a cold) also disputed the notion of some partners that the company wants them to be exclusive to HP while HP continues to play the partner field.  

It was clear (as if there could be any doubt) that Hurd has heard the partner complaints: a balky rebate program; lagging storage lineup; channel conflict.

Bottom line, he reiterated, is that HP partners need to sell more HP gear into their accounts. That means an HP partner who sells servers should try to sell servers plus (HP) storage plus (HP) switches. You get the idea.

HP is working to resolve these issues he said, acknowledging that the company can be challenging to work with.

“I’m not going to tell you to be exclusive [but] I also don’t want to be a loss leader [in cases] where our brand goes out in a  Proliant with someone else’s memory. We don’t make much margin on low, stripped units…frankly we created some of this problem ourselves” when HP stressed unit sales in figuring out partner remuneration.

The goal is fatter, more margin-rich solution sales. And thus HP echoes similar themes from IBM, from Microsoft, from Oracle.

All of these companies want to widen their footprint in existing accounts while adding net-new customers.

Some partners see these tactics as one-sided in the vendor’s favor, if not a one-way street

HP has grown from $80 billion in sales in 2004 to $105 billion in three years. Hurd said outside analysts expect the company to hit the $111 to $112  billion mark this year.

Sixty-nine percent of HP’s business comes from overseas, and Hurd wants to see the company increase strength in the U.S.

And the bulk of its sales has been and will remain through the channel.

But HP faces its own risks. Partners frustrated with what they see as non-competitive storage offerings signed on with EqualLogic for its iSCSI storage expertise only to see Dell buy that company and are now faced with the prospect of Dell as a vendor partner. Still, with Dell making channel friendly noise, some are disposed to give it a try.

A few partners said they had hoped HP would buy EqualLogic and are now hoping it’ll make another move on Lefthand Networks or another iSCSI player to bolster its storage.

Barbara Darrow can be reached at bdarrow@techtarget.com.