(6 votes, average: 8.83 out of 10)
Loading ...I Technology shows that Long View is on the ball
I have been tracking Long View Systems from Calgary since 2001.
Dave Walsh, then of Ingram Micro Canada, told me to keep an eye on Long View. Walsh said that this 30 person solution provider was doing things right during a period of time that was simply awful for the channel and the whole industry for that matter because of the tech bubble.
Doing things right is exactly what Long View has done for the past seven years. The company now has 575 employees in seven locations in Canada and the U.S. and with its first-ever I Technology event held in Calgary this past Monday they have set a new standard for channel partners.
I have attended many conferences and events in my time and I Technology for a first-ever show was a home run.
Putting on an event of any kind is a nerve racking experience. People’s anxiety levels are at an all time high. And, show organizers and staff are always fearful of holding an event that no one is interested in.
Trust me on this. I know. CDN puts on two events every year and each time the team here goes through these sets of emotions plus others. The biggest compliment I can give Long View and its show organizer Souzan Basmahjian is that they were able to floor a show. That is the toughest thing to do.
The I Technology event had great vendor booths from Net App, Google, Axia, Akorri and others. The conference keynote speakers NetApp vice-chairman Tom Mendozza, Gartner Fellow Ken McGee, and former NHL goalie Kelly Hrudey were superb.
But what must not be overlooked is the attendance. In a city the size of Calgary attracting 100 people for this event would have been great. Long View managed an attendance of more than 1,100 people. That is simply off-the-charts fantastic.
To give you some perspective, the one-day VM World conference that I attended in Toronto last month had 1,500 attendees, which was also very good. But Toronto is three times the size of Calgary.
I was asked during the event by many Long View executives to compare I Technology with other events in the IT industry and I am simply unable to do it. I Technology is a special case because it comes from a channel partner. I have attended other reseller events and those have all been great, but they are almost always small gatherings and they are not that strategic in nature. They are more like seminars than conferences.
Channel partners as a whole do not put on events. In Canada I only know of two who do. The distributors do a great job of putting on strategic events. And, not that I want to blow my own horn, but CDN’s Top 100 Solution Providers and Channel Elite Awards events are on everyone’s calendar.
For a one day event, I Technology delivered a lot of value for attendees. Most of the booths had local executives that could give attendees real world examples of their technology.
Mendozza’s keynote was nothing short of spectacular.
McGee gave great insight and market analysis from a Canadian perspective. Hrudey told great stories even though he was feeling under the weather.
The VIP reception afterwards was again, top notch.
It takes dedicated, hard working people to put on a show like I Technology and it also takes the same kind of people to make a show successful. If there is anything I’ve learned from attending this event, it’s that Long View has great people who are committed to their customers, the industry, and the city of Calgary.
One of the reasons why Long View put on this show was that they wanted to get their name out in the public. I think they did this and more. Congratulations.
One quick hit before I go. I want to wish Charlie Spano all the best at CanWest Global. Spano was terrific to deal with and he will be missed by many in the Canadian IT channel.
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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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(7 votes, average: 6.43 out of 10) Loading ...Apple iPhone finally coming to Canada
One source from the financial services industry has informed me that Rogers has finally worked out a deal with Apple Canada and yes the much heralded iPhone will be made available to Canadians later on this year.
In typical Rogers and Apple Canada fashion there is no timeline announced and there are no more details about the launch.
The source added that Apple Canada believes this will have Research in Motion shaking in its boots. I found that comment to be ludicrous because, while I can accept that Apple Canada and its customers are excited about the iPhone coming to Canada, the braintrust at RIM are not the sort of people to panic.
Lets not forget that they dominate the market here in Canada and in the U.S. The iPhone has been in the U.S. over two calendar years and it has not be able to displace or come near the Blackberry’s sales performance. According to Gartner Research, the iPhone is at 19 per cent of the market in the U.S., while RIM is at 34 plus per cent. Even the “Other” category beats iPhone by two per cent. Read the rest of this entry »
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(3 votes, average: 6.33 out of 10) Loading ...Cisco’s Partner Exchange program needs trust
Networking giant Cisco Systems wants partners to come together.
They’re hoping to encourage collaboration by reseller partners with Cisco, with customers and with other partners. Collaborating with Cisco and with customers seems straightforward enough. But partner-to-partner collaboration is tricky.
Cisco last week announced the creation a portal site and program called the Partner Exchange, designed to help partners learn the fine art of partner-to-partner collaboration.
The partners with whom I spoke – both Canadian and U.S.-based – say they believe it will be difficult to collaborate with competing partners, especially in local markets or smaller geographies.
Read the rest of this entry »
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Can you run a business on Facebook?
Alan Lepofsky, a Canadian from Toronto, has the task of developing a money making strategy for social networking.
As a senior strategist for IBM Lotus, Lepofsky needs to figure out how IBM and the Lotus Software division, plus the company’s community of channel partners, can achieve a sustainable revenue stream through the use of Web 2.0 technologies and social networks.
It’s all in a day’s work for Lepofsky, whose job is to consider way-cool trends and figure out a practical business vision for these.
Lepofsky typically does not work on any specific products. He does not have a sales quota and, from what I can determine, he does not report directly to any one individual at the company. Unlike most of us, perhaps, he is absolutely free from the pressure of achieving immediate success. Read the rest of this entry »
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