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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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.

As the MSPAlliance kicked off its fall managed services conference in San Jose, Calif., the organization announced the launch of its vendor accreditation program (VAP) for the managed services industry.

Designed by MSPs as a benchmark for vendors who sell to the MSP community, vendors that earn the VAP seal will have shown that they have positive channel practices, product research and development, financial stability and MSP customer satisfaction.   

“It is a benchmark system for MSPs to evaluate vendors,” said Charles Weaver, president of the MSPAlliance. “Vendors entering the program must have at least three MSP specific references and it’s basically a seal of approval for those vendors who have a specific interest in selling to the managed services global community,” Weaver added.   

Among those that have received accreditation under the new program are: Intel, SilverBack/Dell, Asigra, Untangle, XRoads Networks, LiveCargo and N-able. 

Citrix Systems, Inc. today announced that it will acquire XenSource, Inc., for $500 million – a move that will catapult the company into the server and desktop virtualization market.

The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., company said the purchase will be a combination of cash and stock, which includes the assumption of $107 million in unvested stock options. The deal should be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2007.

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Red Hat announced today that it will be releasing a desktop Linux distribution, named Global Desktop that is designed for small businesses and local governments in developing nations.

The announcement was one of several it made at the Red Hat Summit conference, which started today in San Diego, including a partnership with IBM under which Red Hat Linux will run on System Z mainframes.

Red Hat also announced a partnership with Intel Corp. under which Red Hat would develop systems-management software that would allow customers to create “virtual appliances” to add security or manageability to networks with systems running Intel vPro processors – which are designed to provide security functions such as remote systems monitoring and reboot that are built into the chips on a PC rather than in software that runs on top of the OS.

The more egalitarian Global Desktop will be distributed exclusively through whitebox OEM systems builders using Intel chips. It is essentially a slightly stripped-down variant of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Desktop with most applications, such as developer tools, removed, said Scott Crenshaw, vice president of Red Hat’s enterprise Linux platform business.

The operating system would also have a shorter support life span — two years, as opposed to the seven years for RHEL Desktop. Primary support for systems sold with Global Desktop would go to the system builders, which would then be able to escalate to Intel and Red Hat as needed. Red Hat declined to say how much Global Desktop would cost to systems builders.

Global Desktop will not be available in the U.S. when it rolls out in June, but Crenshaw said it is “very likely” to be expanded later.

Windows Vista vulnerable to long-time attack method A researcher explains that a well-known attack carried out though StickyKeys, can be exploited in Windows Vista.  [SearchSecurity.com]

Cisco, IBM to merge maintenance services abroad Cisco Systems Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. said on Monday they will combine technical support services for mutual customers, highlighting increasingly close ties between the network equipment maker and computer services company. [Reuters]

Apple slip exposes eight-core Mac Pro Quad-core Xeon machine imminent? [TheReg]

Few woes mark computers’ daylight shift This weekend’s early switch to daylight-saving time was billed as a little re-enactment of the Y2K computer problem at the turn of the millennium. And as it happened, the daylight bug appeared to have equally minor results. [AP]

Time change brings ‘nightmare’ issues with Outlook, calendars Microsoft officials say the worst of the problems regarding the daylight-saving time change have passed, but some customers are still complaining of “nightmare” issues. [eWEEK]

DST switch offers lessons learned Those who survived the daylight-saving time deadline offer some words of wisdom in case the laws change yet again. [SearchWinIT.com]

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Technology companies face sweeping changes in IT delivery models Technology companies will need to change the way they operate over the next five years to accommodate a major shift in the delivery of IT services. Instead of buyers integrating technology themselves, it will be assembled and managed by outside providers, according to a new Forrester study. [Tekrati]

Intel prices up updated Core 2 Duos, Quads Steering into the mainstream [TheRegister]

AMD’s well may be running dry The high-flying Advanced Micro Devices Inc. of 2006 has given way to a company in financial peril, saddled with debt and bleeding from a brutal price battle with its larger and suddenly resurgent
Silicon Valley archrival, Intel Corp. [AP]

HP crosses blades with IBM Not so much a Cold War, more a Cooling War. [TheRegister]

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New Jersey man cuffed over $10m Cisco scam A public sector computer technician from
New Jersey has been arrested over allegations he took Cisco for $10m through a fraud that exploited the networking giant’s programme for replacing broken or defective kit. Arrest is second for Cisco scams in less than a week. [TheReg]

Intel has a month to search for lost e-mails  Blog: The judge overseeing the Advanced Micro Devices-Intel antitrust case has given Intel 30 days to figure out which e-mails it failed to preserve as part of a lapse in document retention, and to submit a report to the court. [CNET]

Savvy hackers take the hardware approach  Sophisticated hackers are finding ways to break into systems by exploiting security flaws in a computer’s device drivers, physical memory and PCI cards. As SearchSecurity.com Executive Editor Dennis Fisher explains, while enterprise software vendors are good at plugging holes in their applications, the same security prowess is lacking for hardware.
[SearchSecurity.com]

Report: Some companies lose data six times a year Sixty-eight percent of companies are losing sensitive data or having it stolen out from under them six times a year, according to new research from the IT Policy Compliance Group. [eWEEK]

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Men arrested in Stop & Shop data thefts Four California men were arrested in what police said was a scheme to switch checkout-lane credit card readers at Stop & Shop supermarkets as a way to steal customers’ numbers and passwords. [Redmond]

PCI DSS auditors see lessons in TJX data breach Following the recent TJX data breach, several PCI Data Security Standard auditors say the retailer violated basic requirements of the PCI DSS. But they say there are lessons to be learned from TJX’s mistakes. [SearchSecurity.com]

Multiple Vulnerabilities in 802.1X Supplicant The Cisco Secure Services Client (CSSC) is a software client that enables customers to deploy a single authentication framework using the 802.1X authentication standard across multiple device types to access both wired and wireless networks. A lightweight version of the CSSC client is also a component of the Cisco Trust Agent (CTA) within the Cisco Network Admission Control (NAC) Framework solution. [Cisco]

Warezov worm fiends target Skype Dial M for Malware. [TheReg]

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Twelve Microsoft patches to include fixes for OneCare, ForeFront
Patches are being readied to plug security holes in Windows, Office, Visual Studio, Windows Live OneCare, Defender and ForeFront. Per usual, Microsoft will release the mega-fix Tuesday. [SearchSecurity.com]

Sun x86 servers turn heads: Too bad you can’t get one
Users are impressed with Sun’s foray into low-end hardware. But analysts and bloggers say the engineering-centric firm needs to improve logistics. [SearchDataCenter.com]
IBM aims to lower cost of using Linux, Apple PCs
IBM said on Sunday it will offer an open desktop software system for businesses that puts the cost of managing Apple or Linux computers on a more equal footing with Microsoft’s Windows software, improving the economics of Windows alternatives. [Reuters]

The countdown clock is officially ticking: Windows 7 due in 2009
The countdown clock officially is ticking. The goal is Windows 7 in 2009. [All About Microsoft]

NetApp CEO to vars: Sell more software or risk ‘being left behind’
Network Appliance opened its kimono a bit to solution partners at its annual partner summit, held this week in San Francisco, to talk about some upcoming product and program changes. Dan Warmenhoven, CEO of NetApp, used his keynote address to push solution providers to look beyond NetApp hardware sales to make storage and services a bigger part of their sales. [ChannelWeb]