Joel Shore's blog

As HP snaps up LeftHand, DataCore extends its right

Joel Shore — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:43:13 -0400

Earlier this week, HP announced that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire LeftHand Networks, a provider of storage virtualization and iSCSI storage area network (SAN) solutions. This is a big deal, because LeftHand Networks has more than 11,000 installations across 3,000 different customers. Another iSCSI vendor, DataCore is looking to capitalize on uncertainty among resellers.

Resell branded Exchange and SharePoint services

Joel Shore — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:28:14 -0400

Tech Data has jumped into a distribution agreement with USA.NET that looks pretty good. It gives integrators access to several hosted services, including Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Microsoft SharePoint 3.0.

RitzCamera.com Explains it All

Joel Shore — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:31:22 -0400

The people at RitzCamera.com did their homework and finally got back to me. Their order-processing system workflow screwed up, but we can blame the government, too.

Location, Location, Location

Joel Shore — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:42:53 -0400

A systems integrator friend of mine has done very well over the years by being a specialist. Of course, we all know that a specialist is someone who knows more and more about less and less until he knows everything about nothing.

Something's Coming, Something Good, If I Can Wait

Joel Shore — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:43:30 -0400

The Internet is a wonderful thing. Within an hour after posting my blog entry lambasting RitzCamera.com for its online order-processing system, we heard from the company. They promised to investigate.

If You Are This Stupid, You Don’t Deserve To Be In Business

Joel Shore — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:44:13 -0400

In my personal opinion, which is mine alone and in no way reflects the opinions of the Web site on which you’re reading this or its parent company, my online shopping experience with RitzCamera.com makes them the stupidest, most incompetent, inept, bungling, unskilled, worthless company I’ve ever written about in 20 years of technology journalism.

Blogs useful for integrators

Joel Shore — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:22:59 -0400

Normally, I don’t spend time reading blogs. If I read all those that I’d find useful, I’d never get anything done. Nevertheless, there’s some good stuff out there.

Virtualization, Real or Not?

Joel Shore — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:53:16 -0400

There's a renewed push toward virtualization. And with good reason. IT departments can cut server headcount dramatically, reduce electrical consumption and air conditioning loads, simplify administration, deploy new services quickly, and greatly improve reliability. It's for real.

Tech Data adds TomTom GPS product line to portfolio

Joel Shore — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:54:24 -0400

Not every integrator sells or develops applications that call for GPS enablement. But if your customers have a fleet of vehicles -- appliance repairmen in their vans, school buses, and municipal buses for starters – there's a good opportunity just waiting.

You say there's nothing new to sell?

Joel Shore — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:39:25 -0400

Lenovo this week showed some imagination. Something actually new and different. Something we haven't seen before. Something with real margin opportunities. Something that's not a commodity product.