Sara Driscoll

The British government has lost confidential details of 25 million child benefit recipients that had been stored on two computer disks, according to officials. HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, only admitted the loss Nov. 20, despite the breach occurring Oct. 18, leading to the resignation of HMRC Chairman Paul Gray. The disks were lost […]

Only a handful of people bothered to sleep outside Apples flagship UK store on Londons Regent Street last night, awaiting the moment when at 6.02 p.m. (GMT) today the long-awaited iPhone would go on sale. Apple has struck a similar deal to the AT&T deal in the United States with UK operator 02 (hence the […]

Just days after the global launch of Googles mobile strategy, not wanting to feel left out, the worlds biggest handset maker, Nokia, and the worlds biggest mobile provider, Vodafone announced a content and services deal. Centered around Nokias Ovi platform and on Nokia handsets, the two firms have agreed to jointly offer mobile services including […]

Microsoft has launched a stampede against solution providers who deal in counterfeit or infringing software by filing 20 lawsuits in 13 states. As part of its Genuine Software Initiative, the software giant said the lawsuits are part of its three-pronged approach to help protect legitimate channel businesses. Software piracy in the United States accounted for […]

Oracle is bringing its Competency Center training strategy to the United States, following roll out across Europe earlier this year. The vendor, which has admitted recently that shipments through the channel are down, said VARs were finding it challenging to locate all the Oracle training available, and the Competency Center brings its educational and training […]

The software-as-a-service model is likely to be tough terrain for solution providers to navigate, according to Gartner. At the market research companys IT ChannelVision event in Palm Springs, Calif., Oct. 20-24, Ben Pring, research vice president of IT services, said, “The underlying principals of what is going on in the software market are not favorable […]

Crystal balls aside, a serious business question was posed at the kick off panel debate at Gartner Channel Vision 2007 in Palm Springs yesterday: What will the channel look like in 2010? The panel of experts including executives from Oracle, Microsoft, Ingram and a range of solution providers lead by Gartner research director Tiffani Bova, […]

Buying new technology is fraught with risk, and resellers need to ensure they have firsthand experience with the wares they are purveying so their customers are satisfied. When you think about it, buying a laptop should be as simple as buying a beer: You decide on the product you want, you find a place that […]

SAP intends to acquire business rules management vendor Yasu Technologies, as it continues its acquisition stampede. The deal, announced Oct. 17 at the SAP TechEd conference in Munich, was coupled with news that the vendor is attempting to get closer to the open-source community and also push further into the enterprise SOA (service-orientated architecture) market. […]

Business Objects VARs could lose deals or be swallowed up by larger SAP VARs, channel sources said following the merger of the two software vendors. After the announcement Oct. 8 of SAPs $6.78 billion acquisition of Business Objects, the two vendors said they would combine their channels to leverage the cross-selling opportunity. “We intend to […]