I have become so hopelessly addicted to my Apple iPhone for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that it has saved my butt on more than one occasion when I have been unable to get to my notebook to update this and my other way-to-many blogs. Indeed, when my laptop crashed a few weeks back on a trip for TechTarget to Chicago, I even submitted the repair request using the built-in Safari Web browser.

Needless to say, I am HUNGRY for the July 11 update iPhone software, which will mean that I can download e-mail from my work accounts transparently. But I am dreading the onslaught which MUST becoming of security threats released by both the nefarious and naughty. Data from the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) suggests that my feeling of dread is not unfounded. Here’s the blog entry that I wrote last month.

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WiMax is having a rough life — and this week epitomizes that.

The wireless protocol for broadband access — known in long form as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access — started off the week on a high note. On Monday, six tech heavy hitters, including Cisco Systems, Samsung Electronics, Alcatel-Lucent, Intel, Sprint and Clearwire formed the Open Patent Alliance.

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Chances are at least SOME portion of your business comes from wireless networking at this point, but I’d bet most of it is of the indoor variety. Well, Tech Data is throwing down the gauntlet to some of the specialized wireless distributors through its new relationship with BIG Wireless, which sells various outdoor wireless technology and services.

The deal, which points back to Tech Data’s Wireless Specialized Business Unit, will let Tech Data VARs “purchase, brand and resell” BIG Wireless’s services. The company’s specialty is outdoor wireless for municipalities, corporate campuses or universities. These include wireless site surveys, point-to-point path studies, voice/video over wireless, GPS location, Federal Communications Commission licensing compliance and so on. Many of the more obscure requirements for outdoor wireless that a traditional solution provider might not have been able to invest in. If the reseller chooses, they can brand BIG Wireless’ services as their own.

How much business is in outdoor wireless? My gut is that it’s going to be sort of like Wi-Fi adoption: It will creep up in adoption for the right reason, it helps people do their jobs better. There will be some debates over format of course (ala the WiMax specification I wrote about in January), which is all the more reason why you might choose to team up with a company like BIG rather than investing in your technical skills right now.

Heather Clancy is a widely published business journalist and strategic channel communications consultant with SWOT Management Group. You can reach her at hclancy@swotmg.com.

Breaking news this afternoon has cast Microsoft’s acquisition of Danger in a whole new light. Microsoft spent $500 million on the pickup, according to GigaOM — a figure sure to raise more questions among Microsoft channel partners about the company’s long-term focus.

GigaOM’s Om Malik thinks there’s only one reason Microsoft would pay such a high price: Google. Microsoft could use Danger’s Software as a Service (SaaS) platform to deliver its Search, Windows Live Mail and Messenger services to mobile devices, creating new competition for Google Android. 

Of course, Google is also the reason Microsoft is pursuing a Yahoo takeover. And even though the reported Danger price is just 1% of Microsoft’s $44.6 billion Yahoo bid, it’s still one of the biggest deals in Microsoft history, according to Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog. Microsoft partners were already worrying about the company’s seeming preoccupation with Google — at the expense of the products and services they’re supposed to be selling — and this news sure won’t help ease those fears.

Microsoft announced the Danger acquisition yesterday. Both Om and Venture Beat’s Matt Marshall believe Microsoft should make the Danger platform open to attract developers. But others like tech exec Ian Bell say an open Danger platform would cut profitability, which is always a concern when you’re talking about a $500 million investment.

Microsoft critics are also jumping all over the acquisition, much as they are with the Yahoo takeover attempt. One GigaOM reader identified as “Brian” commented, “Microsoft seems to enjoy spending money on bad investments.” And another, “Bill,” wrote, “Just another property for MS to run into the ground. When are they going to fire Ballmer?”

With the Yahoo situation quickly becoming a fiasco, the Danger acquisition, ongoing Windows Vista problems and several major new product launches, Microsoft will have a lot on its proverbial plate this year. It will remain to be seen whether the company keeps its focus on the issues that matter most to its partners.

CompTIA (the Computing Technology Industry Association) has released some data that finds that IT departments are spending more money and resources supporting various mobile communications and computing devices, especially the BlackBerry.

To start, close to two-thirds of the 816 people who participated in the survey late last year reported that their IT departments were consumed with mobile issues surrounding the BlackBerry. Believe it or not, pagers were the second most common device they needed to support. But they were a very distant second, mentioned by only 10.9 percent of the survey respondents. Other mobile devices that are perplexing IT staffs and demanding more resources than in the past include digital music players (mentioned by 4.5 percent), handheld computers (4 percent), personal digital assistants (2.9 percent), cell phones (2.6 percent), iPhones (2.3 percent) (already!), laptop computers (2 percent), smart phones (0.5 percent) and tablet PCs (0.5 percent).

I believe these statistics indicative of several trends. First and foremost, mobility is here to stay. Second, consumer electronics devices that are bought personally and that are unsanctioned by IT departments will continue to proliferate.

People are foisting these things onto their corporate tech departments, and IT will need to support them — both to improve productivity and as sort of a corporate morale boosters. If someone’s on a plane two weeks out of every three on behalf of their company, why shouldn’t they be able to take their music library with them or watch movies and podcasts on their notebook?

In some cases (ala the BlackBerry), the adoption of these things is a huge win-win for both sides. The user wins because they don’t have to plow through 50 to 100 “urgent” e-mails if they’re out of the office for a few hours. The company wins because when an employee has a BlackBerry, he or she is more likely to think and breathe about work on their “personal” time. Other devices are a bit more troublesome. What value could a digital music player have in a work context, you might ask? Well, when you consider that an iPod or an iPhone is a great digital storage device, it’s possible for some of these things to moonlight as alternative file archives. One executive that I spoke with recently from Hollywood, an agent, carries all of his clients’ demo videos around on his iPhone. That way, he can represent them, anytime, anywhere.

Regardless of WHY these things are popping up, in almost all cases, these things are appearing ahead of some bonafide corporate IT policy. And that’s where the VAR or managed service provider comes in. Helping your customers get a handle on how to set a mobile device policy BEFORE it becomes more of a time suck on the technical support department will make you look good. What’s more, it’s a way for you to recommend security and application options that weren’t previously available in a more tethered world. If you haven’t considered how to speak mobile, you’re missing out on the next wave of computing.

Here’s one story you could see coming down the pike: PC World names Vista the biggest tech disappointment of the year.

The subhead: “No Wow, No How.”

It’s not that the new Windows client is so bad, it’s just that it’s not good, opines PC World writer Dan Tynan.

Money quote:

“No wonder so many users are clinging to XP like shipwrecked sailors to a life raft, while others who made the upgrade are switching back. And when the fastest Vista notebook PC World has ever tested is an Apple MacBook Pro, there’s something deeply wrong with the universe.”

The full PC World  story is here.

Other technologies making this dubious achievement list: Municipal Wimax; social networking (hear, hear!); Microsoft Zune; Microsoft Office 2007. Is there a trend here? Oops! Apple Leopard is there too.

Here’s a prediction for 2008: There will be a raft of stories about how Vista, post SP1, really isn’t so bad. And maybe it is worth a look-see. After all, do we really have a choice? 

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

A recent press release from California-based Meru Networks announced the mobile and wireless networking vendor’s newly enhanced partner program. According to the release, the new partner program “is designed to enabled and reward partners for the value they add in helping customers address business critical wireless challenges.” To catch the value-added reseller’s (VAR’s) attention, though, they promise “financial incentives and simplified program requirements”.

Apparently, Meru is attempting to make their partners’ jobs of selling their products easier. One of the larger changes to the vendor’s partner program is the offering of free software downloads and discounts on products so that VARs will have the latest releases and versions of Meru’s products to demonstrate to potential customers.

With these changes and fortifications to their partner program, Meru is joining a growing number of networking vendors who are recognizing the importance of their resellers and partners, and doing their best to meet those partners’ needs. For more information on their partner program, contact Meru.

~Eric Pierce

Network consultant firm Evolve Technologies is swinging for the fences with a creative and original sales event. Teaming up with Microsoft, Global Wireless Data and Palm, the networking reseller is taking small business owners to the ballpark.

Sitting in the stands at RFK Stadium on May 17, watching the Nationals-Braves game, participants will reportedly use provided mobile networking tools to play “General Manager for a day”. Evolve’s event organizers hope that this firsthand experience will succeed in proving to their customers’ the usefulness and viability of mobile technology.

Consultants, value-added resellers and sales engineers who are struggling to drive interest in their respective technologies, and even those who aren’t, should take a page from Evolve’s book. Getting up and selling to the customer’s CFO with charts, graphs and a practiced sales pitch is all well and good. But, as Bruce Campbell will tell you in his Old Spice commercial, nothing beats experience where the customer feels the need and then sees how your technology or strategy fills that need.

~Eric Pierce

For our British readers, the UKPRwire is reporting that AppGate recently signed on a trio of new VARs to help it resell its network access control and mobile access products. No need for jealousy, however, as the network security vendor is looking to take on more. All in all, AppGate is hoping to double its reseller network in 2007.

According to the release, AppGate’s renewed interest in its partner initiatives is a response to increased demand and anticipated growth. Jamie Bodley-Scott, AppGate’s UK and Ireland operations manager said, “[Partners] are key in helping us to increase awareness and highlight how a new approach to working practices requires a new approach to network design.”

Unfortunately, while this news may be exciting for our audience in Great Britain, our other readers are left cooling their heels, at least until AppGate gets itchy to expand outside of Britannia. While they wait, however, they might be well-served to check out our networking vendor topic center to learn more about other vendors’ partner program offerings.

~Eric Pierce

Remember SneakerNet? Think it’s gone? Except for that once-in-a-while you have to use it because the bandwidth is too small or two machines won’t talk to each other?

Nope.

According to a Wired story, Google has decided it’s faster to drive data from one place to another if the volume of data is high enough.

In this case it’s 120TB – nearly all the astronomical data collected by the Hubble Space Telescope. A Google program manager named Chris DiBona (whose pic makes him look like Penn Jillette in pirate drag) is overseeing an informal arrangement in which Google acts as data repository and distributor for scientists with really large chunks of data to move.

Rather than spend a month loading data into packets and sending it over the network, the Google crew is loading the data onto cheap-PC hard drives and FedExing them between the Hubble Telescope crew and its own facilities. It only takes about a day to load up the data, and FedEx delivers overnight.

It will use the same procedure to send copies of the data to other scientists, or to collect and distribute data from other scientists.

That’s a long way from sending an intern across the office with a floppy disk. But every technology has to be updated to accommodate modern requirements. Even SneakerNet.