Top IT channel news for October 2009 |
 |
By Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director
05 Nov 2009 | SearchITChannel.com |
|
|
October was a big month for all things Oracle, given that Oracle OpenWorld kicked off mid-month. Although more SearchITChannel.com readers flocked to a story about Microsoft selling PCs online than any other item, Oracle news dominated the rest of the list. That's probably not surprising given the company's still pending buyout of Sun Microsystems.
1: Microsoft online store adds PCs to roster
Smarting from the success that Apple has had at retail stores -- both brick-and-mortar and online outlets are doing well -- Microsoft added select desktop, laptop and netbook models to its online store offerings. That's kind of a big deal for Best Buy and the few other remaining electronic superstores and for system builders.
2: Oracle hardware may be a hard sell
With its near-complete buyout of Sun Microsystems, Oracle is a hardware company -- or will be soon. It may find adjusting to the hardware model challenging.
3: Oracle to bestow metals on its partners
The database and enterprise apps giant is scrapping its old channel partner tiers and ramping up Platinum, Gold and Silver designations. Oracle's channel game plan is to stress specialization, but attaining platinum status will cost partners a pretty penny.
4: Ellison: Oracle will buck services-buying trend
Oracle will not follow Hewlett Packard and Dell and purchase IT service providers, Larry Ellison insisted. Remarkably, after buying into the notoriously low-margin hardware business, he insisted that services are not profitable enough for Oracle to buy into.
5: Cisco Developer Network woos third parties
Ripping a page out of Microsoft's playbook, Cisco Systems is formalizing a structured developers program that will open up the company's increasingly diverse tools and APIs to third-party developers.
The Cisco Developer Network is an acknowledgement that Cisco is now more than a networking hardware provider and that when it comes to new technologies, like unified communications, people buy applications, not bits and bytes.
Check out the most-read IT channel news stories for September 2009.
|
|
|
|
