Gartner's Inaugural IT ChannelVision Highlights New Opportunities For VARs

(Hollywood, FL) - This year, Gartner combined three of its channel events into one. System Builder Summit, VARVision, and EnterpriseVision have become IT ChannelVision. As usual, Gartner chose a great venue for the May 22-25 event, the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa. However, not everyone was as thrilled about the combined event. Some exhibitors were concerned that their messages were being diluted because the audience was a mix of VARs and system builders.

The exhibitor floor was filled with vendors representing a wide range of technologies. Familiar companies, such as SonicWALL, Ingram Micro, and AMCC, were there, but so were newer companies Klir Technologies and Kaspersky Lab. ATEN made a big splash this year as an event sponsor, and system builders and integrators were thrilled to see and hear from Intel.

I noticed two distinct themes at the event: managed services and digital home. Managed services was a big topic among exhibitors and VARs. Many of the VARs attending the show were looking for ways to build tighter relationships with their customers and generate a consistent revenue stream. According to several vendors, managed services are a big part of serving the SMB market.

Everyone was talking about digital home. From ATI's attention-grabbing booth to the digital home opportunity session given by Shari Marion-Holl, CEO of Hawkeye | Cohesion, you couldn't miss this trend. The two questions people were discussing were whether this is an opportunity for VARs and integrators in the next 12 months, and if it's not, when it would be, if ever. I left the event thinking smaller networking integrators could expand into offering digital home services in the next 18 to 24 months - not today.

Of course, the best part of the event for me was the awards dinner Tuesday night when I could chat with the VARs and systems builders and get their opinions. Many of you told me how much you enjoyed being able to talk with each other to learn new strategies. The president of a VAR from Nebraska told me his goal at the show was to get one new idea he could use to grow his business over the next year. The other thing you told me - and vendors/presenters take note - the executive boardroom sessions were a bit overwhelming. The executives who presented had so much information to share with the attendees that they just flew through their PowerPoint presentations.

Finally, for those at my dinner table who were taking bets on who would win more awards, Intel or AMD, the final tally was Intel 4 and AMD 2. See you at the fall IT ChannelVision event Oct. 9-12 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego.