Recent Articles
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IBM Acquisition of Sun Appears Off, Reports Say
The marriage of IBM and Sun Microsystems appears dead in the water, as reports in the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets say the two sides have reached an impasse over the purchase price. While neither side has acknowledged or confirmed the acquisition talks, IBM has reportedly been pursuing a purchase of Sun for…
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Sales Training That Sticks for Technology Resellers
How do you sell when your clients are cutting their budgets? How do you build the kinds of relationships that make clients loyal? Larry Hedin, vice president of sales and marketing at Heartland Technology Solutions, believes he knows the answer. He wanted his team to move toward a more “consultative” approach towards selling—establishing relationships with…
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Dell and Distribution: A Good Thing
Just two weeks ago, Dell surprised many with its announcement to sell products through distribution. Immediately, channel message boards were filled with discussions on how this would affect sales or what this would mean for key competitors. While vendors and analysts alike shared their expert opinions on whether or not this was a good thing, I…
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Sun Revamps Sales as IBM Buyout Looms
Sun Microsystems has finalized significant changes to its sales and service structures, resulting in a more centrally structured chain of command—a significant move away from the distributed regional model it has used for years. Employees were informed of the changes through an internal memo issued April 2. Under the new plan, Sun’s top salespeople will…
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Asigra Advises Startups on Storage, Backup Pitfalls
Backup and storage vendor Asigra has been a player in the midmarket and enterprise online backup market for more than 15 years, and it has some advice for neophytes and startup vendors—be flexible, embrace vendor neutrality, avoid proprietary solutions and, above all, don’t underestimate the power of the channel. “We’ve been doing this for quite…