Just minutes before the SMB 150 awards event commenced at the LA Westin Benoventure this past Wednesday night (May 16th), I spent a few minutes with Bryan Lee, Senior Director for B2B and the IT Channel at Research In Motion/RIM/BlackBerry. He shared that BlackBerry has a huge commitment to the IT channel with its robust and broad partner program. I would add that being the platinum sponsor for the SMB 150 awards demonstrates a certain out-of-the- box thinking that displays BlackBerry’s creative prowess. So how can MSPs, channel partners and resellers work with BlackBerry?

The SBS Group, a leading technology consulting firm, yesterday announced the addition of In Balance, Inc. to their Partner Network. With this addition, In Balance, Inc. will become SBS Group Central California. SBS Group Central California brings 25 years of ERP business expertise to the Partner Network. They will be able to collaborate with fellow partners to provide financial, manufacturing, not-for-profit and professional services consulting.

By Ian Moyse, Sales Director www.workbooks.com , Eurocloud UK Board Member and Cloud Industry Forum Governance Board Member The most common objections for holding back SaaS (Software as a Service) adoption as reported from end users are named as “security” and “reliability.” This is interesting when you consider that SaaS Security is consistently reported as the fastest growth area of SaaS. This ‘security’ objection usually stems from the customers’ perspective; they are concerned about the security of their data held outside their perimeter by the cloud provider.

Symantec Corp. released the findings this week of its 2012 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey, which discovered that disaster preparedness is closely connected with SMBs’ adoption of technologies such as virtualization, cloud computing and mobility. The survey also revealed how willing SMBs are in adopting these technologies, often with improved disaster preparedness as a goal, and how the move is paying off for them.

Life is full of both seminal moments and missed opportunities. Seared into our minds are memories such as the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks and happy moments like your wedding day or the birth of a child. Last fall there was a Lexus ad about missed opportunities such as the book you didn’t write, the old flame you didn’t marry. Today is one of those days. You will want to turn on CNBC now (Directv 355) and soak up the Facebook IPO day. I can’t remember where I was when Microsoft “IPOed” in the ‘90s and I’ve regretted that since. So while I’m not a buyer today of Facebook shares, I’m closely monitoring the situation and blogging it! Whatever your investor status, take a moment out of your busy work day to find a “where were you” moment that your carry forward and create part of your professional/career memory. 

In the last year, OiDViEW, a startup company, has been best-known for its network monitoring toolset: OiDViEW Console. During this time, OiDViEW has taken its flagship product to the cloud, giving IT Managers and Network Administrators instant access to their growing MIB database and real-time MIB poller in a SaaS version. Now, the young tech startup is taking steps to improve their product line further, by offering Trap Manager - a complete Fault Management Solution - to all of their customers.

This week's power list features Lenovo's move to shower cash on SMB channel partners, security channel updates from Kaspersky and McAfee, fresh competition for Cisco, and a new cloud-based phone and unified communications opportunity from ShoreTel.

Earlier today, Netsuite, a leading provider of cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and financial services suites, announced that Blytheco, LLC, a provider of consulting and business management software solutions to mid-sized businesses, will join Netsuite’s Solution Provider Program.  This collaboration will bring Netsuite visibility to Blytheco’s 5,000+ SMB and enterprise customers who are interested in cloud services.

Today, Iomega, a subsidiary of EMC, released their new Iomega StorCenter px12-450r Network Storage Array, which is designed to provide multi-protocol networked data storage for SMBs and remote offices. This solution is capable of running virtual desktop infrastructure, storage-based applications and deduplication functions. The new Iomega StorCenter is the first EMC network storage array powered by Intel’s Xeon Processor E3-1200 v2, which allows the solution to better perform with lower energy requirements. Other features of this solution include:

IBM announced today that it has made advancements to its SmartCloud Services and announced new customers and partners that demonstrate IBM SmartCloud’s platform for business.