(6 votes, average: 7.33 out of 10)
Loading ...Voodoo PC may have put a curse on HP
I just can’t figure out HP’s decision to fold its Voodoo PC business into its consumer line.
Voodoo laptops and gaming PCs, with all due respect, outclass HP’s Compaq Presario and Pavillion products. Those are for the Wal-Mart crowd. Voodoo built very-high end systems for people who didn’t mind spending $11,000 for a super-powerful laptop painted in Lamborghini yellow or Ferrari red. Voodoo also built incredibly powerful gaming systems.
Gamers are a unique bunch and they often times ridicule brand name PC vendors such as HP and Dell for making inferior systems.
So why would HP, which acquired Voodoo in 2006 and kept it basically independent for two years, want to merge this business unit into there consumer line?
According to a story by Agam Shah of our IDG News Service, it is the next step in integrating Voodoo into HP. The source Shah cited is Ann Finnie, an HP spokesperson.
How could it take two years to integrate a small Calgary-based system builder? It does not take Cisco very long to integrate small companies into its organization.
I don’t buy that answer.
The same story also quoted Voodoo founder Rahul Sood’s blog entry, which read: “Ultimately it means that Voodoo and Voodoo-influenced products will be easier to buy, faster to get, they will feature local service, and they will have the full power of HP’s marketing and sales channel behind them.”
I can see that for sure, but Voodoo was special in my opinion. They’re not a run of the mill PC maker. This company created a niche that many vendors and system builders would’ve loved to have had. Voodoo built a PC made of gold plate and titanium. These folks are innovative and the market loved what they were selling.
HP should be smart enough to realize that and keep it separate, while supporting them with a better supply chain and more marketing resources. Voodoo systems are not mass market products. They are high-end niche systems for a select group of people who do not mind paying premiums for powerful computers.
I have four quick hits before I go. Tom Flink is Citrix’s new channel chief, replacing Al Monserrat.
Juniper Networks named Microsoft veteran Kevin Johnson as its new CEO. Johnson will start in September and will also be on the board of directors. The company also announced that Scott Kriens will continue as chairman of the board and will remain active in the areas of strategy and leadership development.
Selectica has announced the appointment of David Knowlton as vice-resident of global sales.
And Vancouver’s Sierra Systems Group has appointed Joe O’Leary as its COO. He’ll be responsible for leading Sierra’s service lines and industry practices. O’Leary joins Sierra from Alvarez & Marsal, where he was managing director and leader (Midwest Regional Practice).
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(2 votes, average: 9.5 out of 10) Loading ...Two new categories for the Channel Elite Awards
It is that time of the year again. The Channel Elite Awards is open for submissions from the most innovative solution providers in Canada.
The Channel Elite Awards will once again recognize the best the Canadian solution provider channel can create. The Channel Elite Awards Gala on October 28, 2008 at the Paramount Conference and Event Venue in North Toronto will showcase true innovation from some of the best channel players in the business.
Computer Dealer News has added two categories to this year’s awards. The Best Managed Services Solution recognizes the partner that has demonstrated the highest quality of customer service delivery in 2007. Best Collaborative Solution recognizes a partnership of solution providers that, working jointly, created the most innovative and problem-solving solution that would not have been possible for either to accomplish with their own resources.
The submission process has been streamlined for both ease of use and judging efficiency. All the categories will follow an on-line question and answer format. You can go online right now and submit your terrific IT solution, service or best marketing program via the online nomination form.
And you can always email me at pdelnibletto@itworldcanada.com if you’d like more details on the program.
The Channel Elite Awards is a true industry recognition program for the channel and, to a certain extent, for the IT vendors. CDN encourages IT vendors to nominate their top partners so that they too can share in the recognition.
This program is the only win-win situation out there that I can see.
Along with the Top 100 Solution Providers event, the CEA has become THE channel event of the fall. We get more than 200 channel partners attending this show every year, and the reason for this is because the IT industry supports the channel community like no other.
It truly is a beautiful thing to see.
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(3 votes, average: 10 out of 10) Loading ...Microsoft’s management chart is full of surprises
Paul DeGroot is an analyst at Microsoft Directions, which has no affiliation with the software maker. Each year he puts out a detailed Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) organizational chart that lists all the high profile executives and who they report to.
This chart is totally fascinating. For example, did you know how many former (or current) Microsoft Canada employees are on this chart? The answer is eight, which includes the current Microsoft Canada president, Phil Sorgen. The highest ranking executive of those eight is Simon Witts. The former Microsoft Canada president is corporate vice-president of enterprise and partner group and is responsible for the enterprise business segment across the globe. Witts still has a home in Caledon, Ont.
When you count up the number of employees in Microsoft’s executive branch it’s staggering. There are a whopping 621 executive positions in he Microsoft corporate organization as of April of this year. About 19 of these positions are listed as To-be-determined. Bill Gates, along with his senior vice-president technical strategy, Eric Rudder, is still on the organizational chart as his retirement date was June 30th. Gates is still chairman of the board of directors of Microsoft even though the does not take any position in the company. The top man is still Steve Ballmer. He has eight direct reports, but also has Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie reporting to him. Ozzie is the man who replaced Gates in that role.
The channel team led by Allison Watson has a few layers of management on top of it. Watson reports to Eduardo Rosini, whose title is too confusing to mention. Rosini reports to Alain Crozier, who is the CFO and has sales, marketing and services jobs also. Crozier reports to the COO Kevin Turner. And Turner reports to Ballmer.
It is interesting that a 100 per cent channel company has so many layers of management on top of its channel chief.
What is also interesting is that Watson has four staffers directly report to her, as well as three others that report to her and Rosini. Canadian channel chief Carol Terentiak does not report to Watson. Terentiak reports to George Kyriakis who reports to Lora Gernon.
I think Terentiak should also report to Watson. I am not trying to add to her duties, but it is a good way to get in sync globally from a channel perspective.
I was also surprised by some of the former top channel executives and their place in today’s Microsoft management world.For example, Sanjay Parthasarathy was once an up-and-coming channel star, but for some reason he was not on stage with Watson at this year’s event. Parthasarathy is now in charge of start-up business at the company.
The same can be said for Orlando Ayala. He’s now in charge of something called the “Unlimited Potential Group” and he is partly responsible for expanding of the use of Microsoft technologies in the developing world.
These two executives where once right up with Watson but are now low on the Microsoft totem pole of management. To be fair to Ayala, he does report to Turner along with four others.
There are also a couple of IT executive stars on this org-chart. Derek Burney, for example, was the CEO of Corel and the first ever CDN Newsmaker of the year. Burney is the general manager of SharePoint platform and tools. And, Dan’l Lewin, Microsoft’s vice-president for strategic and emerging business development has a very famous father; professional wrestling’s Masked Executioner.
One quick hit before I go. Webroot, a provider of security software, has named Frederick Ball its new chief financial officer. The 20 year-veteran was the CFO of BigBand Networks, and has held senior leadership roles at Borland and PriceWaterhouseCoopers
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(3 votes, average: 9 out of 10) Loading ...Streamlining of Microsoft licensing programs is overdue
One of the under the radar happenings here at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston is the software giant streamlining its licensing models for several of its products.
Ever since Microsoft adopted licensing people have hated it. Partners, users, distributors, Microsoft employees and, to a certain extent, even competitors have a heavy dislike for Microsoft’s licensing tactics.
Microsoft’s own Web site tells the reader that “with the technical nature of server products, CAL licensing can be a complicated area.” CAL stands for client access license.
Microsoft COO Kevin Turner told a packed audience at the Houston Toyota Center about how complicated Microsoft licensing is. When he came to Microsoft from Wal-Mart, Turner asked his staff for a licensing book and was told they were several books on licensing. A month later, he had all the licensing books. This is one of the reasons why Microsoft under his watch created the Gear Up plan to streamline licensing for partners.
However, even with Gear Up and some other improvements in licensing, Turner said more needs to be done.
When you couple together complex licensing with hundreds of products you have a problem that will cost money. There are also no other real alternatives so basically, people have to suffer through it.
Some have criticized that the complexity of Microsoft’s licensing practices was by design. For example, users that wish to purchase from CDW or Insight can find Small Business Server and its single CAL, as opposed to 37 different CALs for Exchange.
Whether it was a slimy tactic or simple ineptness it is all becoming a moot point, because solution providers are spending less and less time explaining to customers licensing details, scenarios and strategies and more time actually solving customer problems.
With some of the software plus services announcements made at this conference a lot of licensing has been streamlined to a point where it is actually understandable.
One partner, Mike Lopatriello, the CEO of Luna Development of Toronto, told me that these single acts of streamlining licensing by placing products in suites and offering more online services have made his life and business a lot easier.
The simple fact that Lopatriello and his team no longer have to sell individual licenses or licenses that must correspond to other similar Microsoft products will end up saving his company time and money in staff training.
Two quick hits before I go. Microsoft Channel Chief Alison Watson made an appearance at the Canadian partner party featuring Burton Cummings.
And lastly Gail Moorehouse has left the company she put together no so long ago, Nexient. Moorehouse, a CDN top 25 newsmaker, has left for other investment opportunities. Replacing her is the CFO of the company, Donna de Winter.
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(5 votes, average: 7.8 out of 10) Loading ...Ross Pellizzari leaves Cisco Canada
Ross Pellizzari’s departure as Cisco Canada’s channel chief is really sad news for me personally, and I believe for the IT industry in Canada.
Pellizzari has the passion you need to be successful in this job. A channel chief has to have passion so they can help channel partners, and the company they work for, achieve success.
He was one of a handful of the channel chiefs I’ve gotten the pleasure to know that could align vendor objectives and priorities with those of the channel, and that’s no easy task.
Indeed, it’s a difficult job because to be a great channel chief you have to, in my view, be a channel advocate first. Sometimes the needs of the channel are not in sync with those of the vendor you work for. Pellizzari managed to maintain that balance, and delivered results for both Cisco Canada and its solution provider community.
Being a channel chief is also a time-consuming job, and it leads to burn out. Not too many channel chiefs keep the same job for a career.
Let’s not forget that Ross took over for Steve Simmons, who was widely considered to be an up and coming channel star. That was a hard act to follow, but Ross made the transition seamless for Cisco and its partner base.
Pellizzari has been a great friend to Computer Dealer News. He was always available for me and the team. He stepped up and gave us the support we needed for the Channel Elite Awards and the Top 100 Solution Provider events.
But the thing that I will miss the most is that Ross made it a fun experience for everyone he dealt with. Business is business, and everyone understands that. However, when someone can turn business tasks into fun it makes that person special. And Ross Pellizzari is special.
I wish him all the best.
Two quick hits before I go. Diane Greene is out as VMWare CEO. One of the founders of a truly revolutionary company in the IT space, Greene was replaced immediately by former Microsoft executive Paul Maritz. While this is a tough way to go for Greene, she did open up the market for the acceptance of virtualization. If you’re wondering why she is gone, well, that is a bit of a head-scratcher, except that sometimes CEOs have a lifecycle and maybe Greene could only bring VMWare to a certain level. VMWare’s board, I guess, believes Maritz can bring VMWare to the next level.
Also, Charles Giancarlo is not wasting any time making Avaya his company. He has hired a new CFO; Canadian Thomas Manley, a former Cognos and IBM executive who cut his teeth in many finance departments in Nortel Networks.
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(4 votes, average: 7.5 out of 10) Loading ...Softchoice has a point to make
Whether or not Softchoice wins this lawsuit against En Pointe Technologies, they will have made a stand.
That stand is that investment in knowledge workers costs money.
Let’s face some facts about today’s marketplace. Despite some softening, the IT industry is still in desperate need of IT talent. According to various sources around Canada, the country has a shortfall of 32,000 skilled IT professionals in technical areas, and in business development and consulting. That’s a lot, considering that CODAPSO had it at around 8,000 just 15 years ago.
All that Softchoice is doing here is protecting its investment. Developing employees in a great business such as Softchoice takes time, effort and money. Many companies don’t want to go through this organic approach, and so they poach. They take the easy way out. I’m not saying this is what En Pointe does; this is just a general statement about the marketplace right now in Canada and the U.S.
I’ve had some of my employees that I have trained and nurtured be poached, and I can say I didn’t like it. So I can see where Softchoice is coming from here. They’ve also made an emotional response with this lawsuit.
No matter how great the technology is, you still need people to operate and administer it. Companies invest money in technology and in infrastructure for a future pay off. They invest in people for the same reason.
This lawsuit, whether Softchoice wins or loses, will not stop poaching. What I hope will happen, though, is that a message will be sent to those good companies that invest in their employees that there is a way to fight back. Bringing companies that poach to court will cost them money and aggravation. Maybe one day they’ll decide it’s not worth it and start developing their own IT talent.
Let’s hope.
One quick hit before I go. Long time friend of CDN Shawn Snobelen of LG Electronics Canada has been promoted to director of sales.
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(4 votes, average: 7 out of 10) Loading ...Local reseller event hits a high note
The other day I attended the KLM Solutions open house in Toronto and I am glad I did. I always enjoy being with channel partners. I know I sound like a broken record, but I believe these people provide amazing value to the computer industry and the Canadian economy.
KLM is celebrating its 20th anniversary and has moved into a bigger facility in the southern part of Toronto.
This company listed as the No. 96 solution provider in the CDN Top 100 list is doing everything right in my opinion.
Just one look at its client base and it tells the whole story. KLM has developed business solving solutions for the Barrie Police Force, Harequin Enterprises, Hydro One Brampton, Legal Aid Ontario, Nike Canada, North Bay Police, the Ontario Bar Association, Rogers Communications, Suzuki Canada and World Vision Canada.
This is the third time KLM has upgraded its facilities and the new office will have a green touch to it. It will also have virtualization, a testing lab, and a lock down room for customer computing care and monitoring. It is all part of an investment phase for the solution provider.
KLM has also been smart to realize they need to specialize. The company has focused its vendor partnerships on just a few: Microsoft, Cisco, HP, IBM and Panasonic.
It is this hyper-focus that has enabled the company to win awards such as the Microsoft Impact and the Ingram Micro VTN Top Sales award.
CDN wants to congratulate KLM on 20 great years in the channel.
One quick hit before I go. AMD today promoted AMD senior vice president Gustavo Arenas to AMD chief sales officier. Arenas reports now to the office of the CEO.
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(3 votes, average: 7 out of 10) Loading ...Charlie Giancarlo becomes Avaya boss
Lets face it Avaya has not set the world on fire, but I think it has a chance now more than ever.
With Charlie Giancarlo being named its new CEO, even if it is on an interim basis, it will bring some much needed vision to the organization. Also Avaya is going to name a worldwide channel chief tomorrow and it will not be Nick Tidd, formerly of 3Com, which was rumoured.
You can argue that Cisco had its greatest era of technology advancement while Giancarlo was chief technology officer. Many of Cisco advanced technology offerings came under his watch.
Giancarlo will bring some more credibility to Avaya. His high profile name will give Avaya clout in the market-place. Many, many times when big deals were hanging in the balance a call was made by either John Chambers (Cisco CEO) or Giancarlo which pushed it through in favour of Cisco.
It is that kind of presence that was lacking at Avaya. A similar situation occured with Apple a decade ago. After Gilbert Amelio left the company, Steve Jobs took over as an interim CEO. Say what you want about Jobs, but he has presence and the market place looks up to him. Giancarlo is in my mind slightly below that level of a Jobs, a Chambers or a Bill Gates. But, he is miles ahead of what Avaya had before in terms of a chief executive.
One quick hit before I go and it just so happens it is on Avaya. The company has appointed Christopher Formant as president of Avaya Global Services. Formant was formerly with BearingPoint.
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(5 votes, average: 8 out of 10) Loading ...The price is not right for Apple iPhone
The news out of San Francisco that Apple and Rogers will release the iPhone 3G in Canada on July 11th will be welcomed by the many Mac faithful who have been waiting for a long time to get their hands on this device.
The other bit of news from Apple is that they are slashing prices on the iPhone. While this is good news for consumers who always want to save a buck, I am puzzled why Apple is doing this. The iPhone was an expensive device, but people were willing to pay for it. Some people lined up for hours to drop hundreds on the product. Others drove for hours to the U.S. to purchase an iPhone and then unlock it.
I was in Taiwan recently and I heard similar stories from many Europeans who traveled to the U.S. and purchased an iPhone no matter what the cost. Read the rest of this entry »
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(4 votes, average: 10 out of 10) Loading ...Top 100: Watch the video, see the pictures
Couldn’t make it to last month’s CDN Top 100 Solution Providers awards gala in Toronto, or want to relive the experience?
Now you can now go behind the list with full event photos and video coverage of the gala, including video interviews with Softchoice, the top solution provider for 2007 and with EPIC Information Solutions, the fastest riser.
It’s the next best thing to having been there.
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