Financial Crisis Cuts Both Ways
[September 25, 2008] Despite the current widespread economic uncertainty for channel partners, Managing Editor Al Senia notes they could stand to benefit in the long term as outsourcing grows.

Time to Reinvent the Channel Business Model?
[August 16, 2008] The existing channel sales model is constantly evolving, but a new report warns that market changes are accelerating the trend and all sides must adapt. Is a new era of collaboration at hand?

Channel's Head Stuck in The Cloud
[July 10, 2008] On its face, cloud computing seems like one of those can't-miss opportunities for the channel. Despite the growing opportunity for profit, channel partners should recognize the misgivings some customers have.

Channel Has A Lot Riding on Netbook-Smartphone Battle
[June 19, 2008] The real issue for VARs in this battle isn't which smartphone will win. Rather, it's whether subnotebooks can beat the smartphone at its own game. Major channel vendors such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer are preparing products for use by road warriors.

Channel Should Prepare for A Wireless Broadband Boom
[May 30, 2008] Wireless broadband is jockeying to become a potential big moneymaker for the channel and for the U.S. economy as a whole. However, channel players still have to sort through a variety of wireless technologies. And the Federal Communications Commission may make the situation even more uncertain by considering a plan that would provide free high-speed Internet access to a large area of the U.S. within a few years.

Channel Has Huge Stake in Looming WiMAX Battle
[May 7, 2008] The ambitious plan by Sprint, Clearwire, Google and several others to build a fast WiMAX network in the United States could end up having a tremendous impact on the channel, as well as being the last-gasp opportunity for WiMAX itself.

The Channel's Stake in Social Networking
[April 28, 2008] Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are often viewed as online playgrounds for students. However, they are being increasingly used as important business tools by channel players.

Era of Collaboration Looms Over Channel
[April 16, 2008] Cisco brings its channel partners together and makes the pitch for them to cooperate with each other in landing and supporting new business. Is this a new trend?

Report: Vendors Squandering Channel Relationships
[April 6, 2008] The Chief Marketing Officer Council has released a Channel Performance Outlook Study that chastises the vendor community for not taking the channel as seriously as it should and for wasting millions of dollars on inadequate lead generation programs and branding campaigns.

Should Channel Partners Embrace or Flee SaaS?
[March 27, 2008] Software-as-a-Service is generating lots of buzz and shows promise as a developing business model. However, it poses several serious challenges for resellers.

Virtualization and datacenter transformation are key technologies VARs can use to help make their customers' businesses more efficient, says Al Senia, ITChannelPlanet managing editor.

Samuel Tam, CEO of Vicom Systems, explains how VARs can capitalize on the growing revenue opportunity in helping businesses migrate their data.