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• Web Exclusive: 23 Intriguing iPad Apps for Microsoft Partners
• In Depth: Oracle Releases Cloud File System
• Redmond Channel Partner Update by Scott Bekker
  • IDC: Server Market Rocked in 2010, Especially Q4
  • HTG's Sorensen: Consider MultiPoint Server for SMBs
  • HP Launches SMB Central for Partners
  • More Blogs
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  • Microsoft Launches CRM Connector for Dynamics AX
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WEB EXCLUSIVE: 23 Intriguing iPad Apps for Microsoft Partners
By Scott Bekker

Steve Jobs on Wednesday unveiled Apple's second-generation tablet, the iPad 2, with a next-generation processor, thinner design and two video cameras. When the device ships March 11, it will enter a market that Apple has made, with 15 million first-generation iPads sold in nine months.

Whether you think iPads and tablets are business-class devices or not, the consumerization of IT is real and people are voting for iPad with their pocketbooks right now. Is there money in it for Microsoft partners? Short answer: There's incremental business in almost everything.

A lot of developers and vendors have been putting together iPad apps that have fairly useful applications for the types of heterogeneous solutions Microsoft partners typically deliver. If you haven't run across the customer yet who wants to know how you can make the solution you're implementing at his or her company work on the boss' iPad, you probably will soon.

Finding those apps on the Apple iTunes App Store isn't that easy, though. The site is designed to highlight the new and to reinforce the success of the top sellers. For obvious reasons, game and entertainment apps rise to the top in a system like that. Low-volume, long-tail business apps, of value to a niche population like Microsoft-focused solution providers, will naturally drift down to the depths of the system.

At RCPmag.com, we slogged through the App Store directory of business apps (1,153, to be exact) to bring the most interesting iPad apps to the surface. We separated out the MBA primers, the business books, the apps with titles written in Chinese characters and other chaff, to highlight only the relevant apps. And don't worry: This isn't a slideshow.

• Read "23 Intriguing iPad Apps for Microsoft Partners."

In Depth: Oracle Releases Cloud File System
By Jeffrey Schwartz

Oracle has released software aimed at letting organizations build private clouds by adding elasticity to their applications via a clustered file system.

The company's Cloud File System lets organizations deploy their applications, databases and storage in private clouds. The software provides network access, elasticity and allows organizations to provision pooled storage resources, according to Oracle. Customers can use Oracle database capabilities to manage data stored outside of the database.

"Oracle Cloud File System delivers all the components and characteristics necessary for customers to deploy a storage cloud," said Angelo Pruscino, Oracle's senior vice president of product development, in a statement... Read the rest.

Redmond Channel Partner Update
By Scott Bekker
sbekker@rcpmag.com

IDC: Server Market Rocked in 2010, Especially Q4
Market researchers at IDC released their 2010 year-end version of the Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker on Tuesday and the scorecard showed a monstrously good year for servers, especially in the fourth quarter.

For the full year, revenues were up 11.4 percent to $48.1 billion and unit shipments rose 15.3 percent to 7.6 million units compared to 2009... Read the rest.

HTG's Sorensen: Consider MultiPoint Server for SMBs
Windows MultiPoint Server 2011, which Microsoft is in the final stages of making available through its many delivery channels, is intended as a shared computing solution for libraries, labs and classrooms. But Heartland Technology Groups founder Arlin Sorensen argued in a post on his Peer Power blog Tuesday morning that MultiPoint deserves serious consideration from VARs as an SMB solution... Read the rest.

HP Launches SMB Central for Partners
HP is trying to boil its massive portfolio of products and partner programs down to just the elements SMB-focused solution providers need to make money. The effort launched March 1 as a portal called HP SMB Central.

"This is a new program and a new philosophy in HP. How can we bring new partners to HP and get them to understand HP and get their feet wet?" said Meaghan Kelly, HP vice president of Channel Strategy and SMB, Solution Partners Organization-Americas, in a phone interview Tuesday... Read the rest.

Tech Data Launches StreamOne Software License Selector
Tech Data Corp. this week went live with a software license tool designed to simplify and speed up ordering for resellers and to reduce the errors and subsequent delays inherent in the formerly manual processes for vendors.

"I've talked to so many owners who say their sales reps don't even handle software licensing anymore because it's gotten too complex," said Joe Quaglia, senior vice president of U.S. Marketing at the Clearwater, Fla.-based distribution giant, in a phone interview... Read the rest.

Microsoft's Case for Windows Intune with SMB VARs
Monday, I blogged at length whether Windows Intune, which is supposed to be generally available on March 23, will have legs as a product for managed services providers. I came down on the side that Microsoft's direct-billing approach will be even more of an issue for MSPs looking at Windows Intune than it is for VARs looking at the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite.

Woody Walton, of Microsoft, had another perspective Monday night on the U.S. SMB&D TS2 Team Blog. In a post titled "So what is the value proposition for Windows Intune to an SMB VAR?" Walton argues that Windows Intune is more than an MSP tool... Read the rest.

FalconStor Adds Tiers, Portal to Partner Program
FalconStor Software revamped its partner program this week with new partner tiers, a portal and new benefits for resellers of its disk-based data protection solutions. The new program is called PartnerChoice and the launch also includes a new portal called PartnerPlace, which includes opportunity and order trackingl... Read the rest.

News From RCPmag.com

• Microsoft Launches CRM Connector for Dynamics AX
• Cisco Launches Multi-Platform UC Tool with Jabber
• Amazon Reaches Out to Japan Partners, Customers with Datacenter

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