Here on Channel Marker, we love taking vendors to task for their mumbo-jumbo technobabble. You know, announcements like, “This new suite of solutions will provide a platform for customers to leverage their CRM, ERP, SOA and BPM in the cloud, exponentially increasing their workflow and productivity.”

We do it for fun, mostly. But when a vendor’s product names become confusing to partners, it can create serious problems with customers. One Microsoft partner who forsees such issues is Dave Sobel, CEO of Evolve Technologies, who wrote on his blog today that “Microsoft sucks at branding.” Here’s his description of what happened during a Microsoft training session today:

I’m spending my day with Microsoft around their new products, Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008.   They are part of the “Windows Essential Business Solutions” family.   The presenter, who is quite good (and I’ve seen before), took the time to apologize for the potential confusion, and made a point to tell us to be clear with customers.

Those names are all way too similar, especially when you realize that “Windows Essential Business Server” and “Windows Essentials Business Solutions” have the same acronym: WEBS. And this is quite a tangled one indeed.

But wait, it gets worse. Before I wrote this blog, I wanted to do a little research on these products. So I typed “Windows Essential Business Solutions” into Google, and here’s what I got:

That left me just as confused as Sobel. I poked around the Internets a little further, and I eventually found out that the product line is actually called Windows Essential Server Solutions.

I also discovered that Windows Essential Business Server is comprised of several different technologies, including Microsoft System Center Essentials, and that it comes in two different editions, standard and premium. The only difference between the two editions is that premium comes with SQL Server 2008. But even though it’s the premium edition of Windows Essential Business Server, it only comes with the standard edition of SQL Server 2008.

Got it? Me either. Good luck explaining all that to a customer.

And that’s Sobel’s biggest issue: Microsoft gave confusing names to all these products and acknowledged they are confusing, but the company is leaving it up to partners to sort out said confusion for customers. He asks, “How come this becomes my problem?” It will be interesting to see what Microsoft’s answer is.

Intel’s newly launched Intel Business Exchange (that’s Intel BX to you) hopes to bring ISVs and system builders together in solution sale mode.

“We’re looking to make sure that ISVs who’ve enabled on our infrastructure have a path to market. We want to make sure their software is written for our architecture and match make them with our channel,” said Peter Elmgren, managing director of Intel Business Exchange.

The thrust is to make sure new software takes full advantage of the various threads and cores built into new Intel processors. The real, real thrust, is to help Intel move more silicon, but never mind that.

The exchange includes an online software store for the ISVs to display and sell their goods. The software will be certified by Spikesource to verify that it takes full advantage of the Intel chips and other infrastructure. (Intel announced its Certified Solutions Program in early April.)

Participating ISVs include AMI, Doculex, Everest, Fonality, Microsoft, Open-E, Salesforce.com, Symantec and Tripwire.

System builders and PC makers aboard include MPC Computers, a Nampa, Idaho and Equus Computer Systems, Minneapolis.

The exchange could be a good way for smaller computer makers to differentiate themselves, said Jay Masterson, server product marketing manager for MPC.

“We’re not a Dell and this is a different way for our name to crop up. It allows us to talk about our value proposition. Hardware has become pretty commoditized even in the server realm and storage is going that way. The way to differentiate is if we can offer bundled solutions.”

“Intel’s done a good job building an ecosystem. We take part and will parcel up some of these bundled solutions. We take the Intel motherboard and chassis and add our own goodness,” he said.

It’s unclear how much VARs or solution providers will benefit from this online foray although web surfers clicking on a storage or security solution are directed to a “get a quote” page which in turn funnels them to an approved solution provider.

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

Sun Microsystems says it will help partners build eco-friendly IT solutions.

The company’s Eco Advantage Program offers partners tools to calculate for themselves or for their customers how to deploy the best, most energy efficient information technology.

“Partners can take customer data at the server and app level, profile [that] and develop the best case analysis/scenario. They can provide the carbon emission savings, space savings, cooling savings, ” said Bill Cate, senior director of global channel planning and programs for Palo Alto-based Sun.

The program includes the afore mentioned Eco Assessment Service, which evaluates actual data center energy use, cooling, air flow etc.; training on data center power and cooling needs; and modeling tools to help simulate energy requirements of alternative datacenter setups.

Helping customers save money is one way to go into accounts in a collaborative way, said Dermot Duggan, senior director for Sun’s eco drive.

“You can go into your installed base or new accounts and have a rare opportunity where you will get no pushback. You can say, ‘I can save you this much money’ and back that up with real data tied to the customer’s actual servers and storage.”

Hardly any customer will say no to paying less, right?

Vince Conroy, CTO of FusionStorm, San Francisco-based Sun partner said the program aligns with what his company is doing.

“We’ve developed a data center practice and energy conservation is an important component of that,” Conroy said.

Technologies like server virtualization, thin clients, virtual desktop computing, all play into that message.

And, since FusionStorm does some of its own hosting as well as managed services, cost savings are important to its bottom line as well.

Customers are starting to ask about energy efficient computing, although it’s not yet a groundswell, he said. ” It starts with some of the more forward thinking customers and they may be forward thinking because it makes business sense and they’re business savvy or this is a cause for them. In either case we’re seeing more activity [in energy efficient computing.”

Server virtualization, as has been reported endlessly, is one way to get bigger workloads out of fewer boxes and that will be key here. Asked whether it’s really in Sun’s best interests to sell fewer rather than more boxes and CPUs

As to whether it’s really in Sun’s best interests to sell fewer servers, Cates and Duggan said the trend is clear. Either Sun will sell more efficient technology or someone else will.
For hosting partners, the attraction of saving on cooling and electricity is obvious, but it’s also away for partners to help customers save money and perhaps divert some of those savings to additional services.

And the company’s quick to say it’s taking its own medicine, that its latest servers, built on the UltraSPARC T2 chips use multithreading technology and cram 5X the compute power into half the space and get 2.5 times better performance per megawatt.
The Sun execs said the company, through its own eco efforts, received $1 million in rebates onfrom PG&E over the last 12 months.

The company is hardly alone many hardware vendors have jumped on the green bandwagon: Hewlett Packard and IBM also have eco initiatives going.

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

There are only three entries in this week’s PR-mageddon! But what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality. And by “quality,” I mean “jargon and run-on sentences.” Enjoy.

SAP
SAP to Release Next-Generation Supply Chain Management Solution to Drive Transformation of Global Business Networks, Feb. 26: “Further delivering on its commitment to provide software solutions enabling companies to increase visibility into essential information and simplify collaboration with their global network of business partners and customers, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today introduced the upcoming new release of its industry-leading supply chain management solution. In today’s global economy with its accelerated speed of change, a company’s business network is becoming its primary source of competitive differentiation. By transforming its network of employees, suppliers, customers, partners and distributors into a collaborative, customer-focused, demand-driven community, a company can intelligently adapt to changing market conditions and gain competitive advantage through accelerated innovation.”

Dell
Windows Server 2008 - Faster and Greener on Dell, Feb. 27: “Dell offers a comprehensive portfolio of services to best meet the unique needs of customers with diverse IT infrastructures and help simplify the adoption of Windows Server 2008.”

Microsoft
Wave of New Microsoft Enterprise Products Bring Big Benefits to IT Professionals and Developers, Feb. 27: “The launch represents a major milestone to help customers on the road to Dynamic IT, Microsoft’s initiative to help customers optimize their people, processes and technology, and in turn position IT as a strategic asset for their business. These new enterprise products help customers more efficiently and securely manage their entire infrastructure and move to a virtualized environment while also delivering business intelligence and next-generation Web experiences to boost business results.”

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.

The  imminent demise of CompUSA sparks a now-familiar debate over the viability of brick-and-mortar retail outlets.

That discussion should be buried: There will always be room for physical stores, although their nature will change over time. As always. (When I joined a channel book more than 15 years ago, one of my IT sources told me that the computer channel was disappearing but fast. “Why don’t you just join Buggy Whip Daily?” he asked. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.)

Naysayers today point to the deaths of retail music outlets as predicting the future of computer retail. A local example, Harvard Square was once home to nearly a half dozen big-time music stores. Now several staples — HMV, Tower Records — are long gone. But Newbury Comics remains.

During their going out of business sale, the HMV guys attributed their fate to the Internet.  Newbury Comics had the best prices, and maybe the best help. It also didn’t belong to a ginormous chain like the others.

As for CompUSA: It was once the trailblazer. It employed good people, it sold tons of stuff. It expanded. Maybe over expanded. It faded. There were management mistakes. Tougher competition from online and other chains all contributed. But just a year ago, NetSuite, the pioneer in ERP-as-a-service, forged an alliance with CompUSA to move more of its SaaS wares. Why would NetSuite-which ships no physical goods-ally with a retailer? Because CompUSA had local presence: Feet on the street. It also fielded a small cadre of people to support small businesses. Of course once the NetSuite deal was announced, no one heard any more about it, which probably means the results were underwhelming.

But look at the bigger picture. HP has displaced Dell as PC kingpin largely because of  HP’s retail presence and the fact that many people like to try and buy. To borrow Microsoft’s tortured phrase, a catalog is no replacement for the “user experience” of a well-lit, well-stocked, well-staffed retail outlet.

In my -admittedly small — anecdotal world, what happened to the CompUSA was Best Buy. A new store went in less than two miles away from the Brighton, Mass. CompUSA a few years ago. Best Buy hired young kids along with some severely over-qualified veterans to sell and support its goods. One of the help desk guys I dealt with had been a vice president of service at one of the local mini-computer companies. Yikes. The store thrives. In fact, the Gen Yers are so busy, it’s hard to get their attention. So my back up is Micro Center. Also jammed. Also well staffed.

Those Best Buy Gen Yers not only know their stuff, they seem to love it. In the last few years, the folks at the Market Street CompUSA could no longer be bothered with questions about software or even pointing out where a given SKU might be.

Still, within that two mile radius, Best Buy (and Micro Center) outclassed CompUSA. End of story. That store closed last year.

(Hey, Micro Center: What’s with the interrogation at check out? The cashiers won’t let you get out without giving up your first born (at least your phone number and vital stats.) One guy fled store in utter frustration — without his purchase — because the checker wouldn’t let him pay cash for his printer cartridge without getting his full workup. That woman had nothing on Mike Vrabel. Here’s a hint: Ease up or we’ll all go back to the lines at Best Buy.)

Barbara Darrow, a Boston-area reporter, can be reached at badarrow@comcast.net.

Well, credit Dell with putting on a  good show for solution providers with its most recent pledge to embrace the channel. Maybe the company will make good on its promises this time around but here are a few things to remember.

First, this whole Dell-vs.-the-channel thread isn’t as cut-and-dried as it seems. I’ve talked with several resellers over the years who preferred dealing with Dell than with the allegedly more channel-friendly HP or other hardware vendors.  Many said that hardware margins were so thin anyway, they usually skipped that part of the sale unless the customer insisted. And in those cases, Dell was as good a choice as any. At least until Dell service woes surfaced so publicly.

And, many solution providers who had healthy hardware businesses a decade ago are now software-and-services only. That tells you something about the nature of competing not only with Dell but with CDW and other low-cost suppliers.

Let us not forget that Dell built its fortune on being great on logistics. It never led the field in great, creative, fun machines. Nor on service.  (I’m sure Michael would beg to differ–what would you expect?) But there’s nothing wrong with using a supplier who can drop-ship you a server or a PC but fast.

And another thing: Dell has had many enablers in its partner-bashing past.  You know who they are.  Big names. Like Oracle and Microsoft. When it was top dog, Dell got T&Cs from all of these guys–Intel too, I’d wager–that no one else could hope for.

Dell’s sales force types are no angels. Witness the tales of VARs who say the a strategicically gifted flat-panel TV to a customer exec spelled the difference between them and Dell winning a given deal. But is that sales force any worse than Oracle’s  or IBM Global Services in the enterprise arena? All of these vendors–including Microsoft– want account control for themselves. No partner can ever forget that.

So, let’s wait and see what happens with Dell’s new programs. But how hard is it going to be for any VAR battered by Dell in the past to start registering leads with the vendor now?

Most solution providers will tell you they see lead registration as a vendor tool for collecting customer info it later uses for its own (often direct) benefit. And Dell certainly didn’t patent that idea.

Barbara Darrow, a Boston-area reporter, can be reached at badarrow@comcast.net.

Are VMware partners making money? Company execs at VMworld in San Francisco, Calif. last week said yes,  but not always in the ways you’d expect. 

“There are areas of our partner ecosystem where we can quantify that they actually make a lot more money than we do,” according to Brian Byun, VMware’s vice president of global partners and solutions. “Every time we sell a dollar of VMware license revenue you will see some of our partners making several times that because again there is a drag and a refresh effect.”

Read more »

Hewlett Packard Corp. has delivered another strong quarterly earnings performance with revenues growing at its best rate since the year 2000, Mark Hurd, HP’s CEO said during the company’s Q3 conference call.

During the third quarter, which is typically a slow quarter for the company, HP’s revenues grew 16% to $25.4 billion from $21.9 billion a year earlier.   In the year’s first nine months, revenue was up $8.9 billion to $76 billion and the company anticipates full year revenue of roughly $103 billion, representing more than $11 billion of new revenue this year.   

With regard to the company’s business units, HP’s personal systems group (PSG) which includes PCs, rose 29% to $8.9 billion. Notebook revenue grew 54%, desktop revenue grew 12% and workstations were up 30%.  PSG’s operating profit rose 89% to $519 million, or 5.8% compared to 4.0% a year earlier.

Results for HP’s imaging and printing business segment also increased with revenues up 8% to $6.8 billion. The unit’s operating profit was up 11% to $981 million, and operating margin improved to 14.5% from 14.2% a year ago. HP’s printer unit shipment grew 10% with over 13 million printer hardware units shipped in the third quarter.

In the enterprise storage and servers segment revenue grew 10% to $4.5 billion. Operating profit rose 57% to $464 million and profit margins improved to 10.2 % from 7.2% a year earlier.  Industry standard server revenue grew 16% and server blades grew 81% compared to the same quarter last year. 

In software HP’s revenue grew 74% compared to the same quarter last year to $554 million.

While Hurd said the company has a strong lineup of products and services and is competing in markets where there is growth, he also said there is substantial room for improvement.

“By the time you get to 2009 the IT market that HP competes for is greater than $1.1 trillion.  Today, as big as we are, we actually don’t compete for all of that market.  We still are under distributed and so we need more work with our partners.  We have about 140,000 partners in the world and we have a sales force that compliments and supports it.  We’ve got a lot more market to [go] after,” Hurd said. 

Sun Microsystems Inc. intends to introduce new products for the low end storage market including a new Linear Tape Open (LTO) offering in its fiscal year 2008.  The move is in reaction to poor sales of products that Sun sells to the low end storage market which contributed to the company’s dismal storage revenue performance in its fourth quarter.   

Bret Schaefer, Sun’s vice president, investor relations, outlined Sun’s storage plans during a call on Wednesday as he tried to put the best face forward on Sun’s surprisingly positive overall fourth-quarter results and dismal performance in its storage division.   

Sun’s storage products revenue for Q407 was $639 million  – a decrease of 10.4% compared to the same period last year.   Schaefer said the decline was the result of weakness in low end tape and disk sales and that Sun will have to turn its storage business into a more profitable position moving forward.  Schaefer touted to storage analysts the success of the Sun Fire X4500, otherwise known as the Thumper. Sun shipped nearly 20 Petabytes of Sun Fire X4500 in Q4 and is now on an annual billing run rate of $100 million.  Sun executives view the Sun Fire X4500 as the foundation for a new line of data warehousing appliance based on general purpose computing and open source operating systems.   

During Monday’s Q4 earnings call Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz said Sun is also hanging its hat on its virtualization strategy, saying in Q4 the company began to see the impact of Sun’s virtualization investments with support for Solaris 10 containers and as of last month support for bundled virtualization giving customers the ability to buy fewer but more richly configured systems and storage on both Sparc and x64 platforms.

“We clearly see Solaris and its core virtualization properties as opening a world of new opportunity beyond computing,” Schwartz said on Monday.