SMB Nation Blog

Many of us remember when Intel launched its Intel Hybrid Cloud device and the Intel AppUp Small Business Software Service with much fanfare just about two years ago, with tons of promise. It was ahead of its time pioneering the “devices and services” paradigm so popular today. It was the “third-way” in the polarizing argument(s) asserted by on-premises extremists and Cloudies. Many MSPs that I know had signed up for the service, and had high hopes for what it could do for both themselves and their SMB end users. Intel even went ahead and put together a launch platform held at SMB Nation’s Fall Conference in 2011 to target its sweet spot of SMB MSPs who largely attend our events…from what I understand, they came in droves to check out this new game-changing cloud product.

(Pictured at right): Karl Palachuk, Founder and CEO, Small Biz Thoughts / Great Little Book Publishing Co., Inc., said he doesn't feel there is a correlation between the end of SBS and the end of the Intel server.

The role of IT in setting strategic priorities and achieving business success is growing for companies around the world, according to new research released today by CompTIA. According to the trade organization’s research, more than three-quarters of businesses say technology is important or very important to their success; the majority plan solid increases in IT spending this year; and four in 10 have expectations of hiring new IT staff in 2013.

CompTIA’s International Technology Adoption & Workforce Issues study is the result of a survey of more than 1,250 business and IT executives in countries around the world, some with mature economies and others, maturing.

At the start of its BlackBerry World event this week in Orlando, FL, BlackBerry introduced its new Q5 smartphone that is part of the new BlackBerry 10 family. The BlackBerry Q5 smartphone features a QWERTY keyboard with discrete keys in a new design that aims to provide a fast, effortless experience for users on the go.

Birch Communications alerted us this morning that it has signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire select customer and network assets from Lightyear Network Solutions, Inc.

As a provider of data, voice and Wi-Fi telco services to SMBs, Lightyear is expected to close this, its 18^th acquisition since 2006, during Q3 this year.

As part of my political exploration and participation in the Microsoft “Voices for Innovation” (VFI) political trade association and its closely related PAC, I’m invited to the best free lunches on the block. Seriously – VFI works with the PAC to bring in super speakers to Microsoft Redmond. This is my third such lunch event and the featured speaker this time was Sidney Rittenberg.

Microsoft today released news that they are running a 48-hour “Refer-a-Colleague” program for the upcoming WPC event in Houston, TX. Under this program, current registered attendees are eligible to receive a $100.00 refund for referring a new attendee to the event. In addition, anyone who is referenced will have $100.00 taken off of the final conference price.  

VaultLogix is now offering a free trial of its business-class MobilePlus service, which provides backup, recovery and data protection for mobile workers’ Windows and Mac laptops and desktops.

ManageEngine said today that it has added change auditing and mailbox access monitoring to Exchange Reporter Plus, its Exchange server reporting software. Now, Exchange Reporter Plus can report and alert on critical Exchange events that carry security or compliance implications. In turn, organizations can use Exchange Reporter Plus to implement or enhance an email security and compliance program that easily demonstrates regulatory compliance and prevents data leaks.

Sophos today announced the availability of Sophos UTM Connected, the latest version of its UTM solution. This release introduces expanded UTM managed endpoint protection with unique Web in Endpoint functionality, broader wireless coverage for large scale wireless deployments and higher performance networking.

This past weekend, I tuned into 60 Minutes, as I do most Sunday evenings, to wind down, and I came across an interview that one of their correspondents did with a former U.S. Marine who is now an SMB. The clip, titled, “Succeeding as Civilians,” featured a veteran, who had been injured during combat, and got his start as a small business owner through a program designed to help disabled and wounded veterans literally get back on their feet and get into business.

It made me think, while watching this 60 Minutes clip, on how I have recently spoken to many IT members in our community who are former military. One such conversation I had recently was with Joseph Bettencourt, Founder and CEO of Portland Computerworks. While Bettencourt was thankfully, not wounded during his military tour, he took the experience he picked up during his time at tech school in the U.S. Air Force, for Computer Information Systems. He told me that he was one of four chosen out of more than 300 students for a special assignment working at a Computer Forensics Laboratory near the NSA. By the time Bettencourt finished his military experience, he picked up various Computer Certifications from the Department of Defense Computer Training Institute as well as computer training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA.

(Pictured at right): Joseph Bettencourt, Founder and CEO, Portland Computerworks

You and I have chosen a “geek life,” and we must live with the consequences. That means the SMB landscape changes very fast and can surprise even ardent analysts, much less day-to-day practitioners. Almost in a stealth mode, Dell has acquired several capable SMB players as it works to build a comprehensive solutions portfolio. 

Shortly after returning from the SMB 150 awards and the SMB Nation Spring Conference in Redmond, WA, prominent and long-time SMB community member Alan Shrater passed away quietly at his home on Wednesday afternoon, May 8th.

(At right): Alan Shrater at Microsoft Redmond this past weekend.

By David Hauser, Carbonite

The cloud is growing – and fast! According to technology research firm Gartner, by the end of 2013, the size of the cloud computing marketing will be at $150 billion. That’s why now is the time to make sure your reseller business is set to grow with the cloud.

As the world becomes increasingly more connected through the use of laptops, tablets and smartphones, the desire to back up and access the content of these devices online has skyrocketed. Instead of using unreliable and antiquated backup methods – like CDs, zip drives and external hard drives – people are turning to the cloud for automated and affordable, secure offsite backup. Cloud backup allows users to enhance efficiencies, cut costs and most importantly, free themselves from physical devices.

Lenovo announced this week at its Accelerate Channel Partner Forum its new ThinkPad S431, a premium laptop PC featuring an elegant floating design. Touchscreen display an option in versions coming out this July. Optimized for Windows 8, the ThinkPad S431 offers enhanced performance and 15 percent faster processor speed than previous generations. The laptop is ideal for professionals who want a combination of style and substance. It is also a good fit for small businesses that need a laptop to do it all – great performance for work tasks and an excellent experience for personal computing.

When Mike Foreman was chosen to lead the small business group at AVG Technologies, he was quick to tap into his own experience as a small business owner, having managed and sold two IT businesses before joining AVG. As a former reseller, he was also determined to create products and programs that work for both the partners and SMB customers.

A tip of the hat to our partner ChannelProSMB for its recent SMB Forum in Long Beach, CA. SMB Nation happily supported this second year show. The show presented a balanced attendee/sponsor mix fortified by top speakers. My expectations as a sponsor on the floor were managed and I will repeat. Just my little “Yelp” to get this party started.

GFI Software today announced that it has added patch management capabilities to cloud-based platform for the delivery of services via a newly-enhanced, web-based user interface. By adding patch management to the platform, SMBs will now be able to automate the process of patching all of their machines, thus keeping their systems up-to-date and using the latest versions of the software they work with.

Recently I shared the story that my testing the BlackBerry z10 mobile device had me visit the local AT&T store at the Silverdale Mall to get a new SIMM chip. All good.

At last week’s Channel Pro SMB’s SMB Forum conference, I was again surprised by how attendees visiting my booth are once again, discussing telecom. It seems like just yesteryear we were VoIPing with Microsoft Response Point and the Cisco 3xx line. But this time the conversation is different; it’s more mature. The reality is no one would promote PSTN in a digital world. It’s all sorted out over the years.

In response to yesterday’s report by various analysts that Microsoft Windows 8 has not been able to curb declining PC sales, the tech giant said it will offer SMBs (up to 249 users) a 15% discount on the combined price of Windows 8 Pro and Office 2013 upgrades if they buy before the end of June 2013. 

ABC Services, Inc. (ABC), a cloud-based solutions provider specializing in server and network solutions for IBM Power and other platforms, announced that it has merged with long-time partner, Progressive Technology Group, Inc. (PTG), an IBM Advanced Business Partner offering hardware, software and services. Both companies have been strong IBM Business Partners and working closely together to serve their clients for almost two decades.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Now is the time to download the latest SMB Nation magazine edition. In Issue 7-3, we focus on the following hot topics:

• Why do SBSers have a bad attitude?
• The SMB 150 List revealed – very impressive thought leaders!
• What Happened to Franchising?
• BYOD Debate
• Windows 8 Security
• Cloud Profits!

Click here to download the 7-3 issue!

In case you’ve actually been on an extended Spring break and perhaps missed our recent communication, the Spring Conference is May 3-5 at Microsoft Redmond!

Late last month, Microsoft OEM executive Peter Han (Vice President, US OEM) provided a sneak preview of the April 1 “Touch Win” campaign. Ironically, it’s not an April Fool’s joke. Rather, the “Touch Win” campaign is being adopted by distributors such as D&H Distributing, and DMRs such as CDW.

Date: Thursday, April 4, 2013

Time: 10:00 am - 11:00 am PDT

Presenters: Fmr. Senator John E.  Sununu, Co-Chair, inSPIRE STEM USA Coalition and Harry Brelsford, Founder and Chairman, SMB Nation, Inc.

We heard this morning from Intronis that the company has completed its search for a new CEO, and has formally announced that it has hired Rick Faulk as CEO and board member, effective immediately.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PDT

Presented by: Mark Winter, VP of Sales, RapidFire Tools

Everyone seems to be jumping on the network assessment bandwagon… and it’s no wonder why. If you are in the business of providing IT services of almost any kind, it goes without saying that you need to have your finger on the pulse of your clients’ networks and IT infrastructure.

Judging by the headline, you are probably wondering: “What’s a NUC?”  A NUC is Intel’s “Next Unit of Computing.” At this year’s ISS (Intel Solutions Summit) I fell in love with the NUC. NUCs are the "Ewok" of desktops.

Watch this YouTube video interview at http://youtu.be/qH5N0SgkjBc and look for the hot air balloon video in the background. It is so beautiful. I love hot air ballooning. I’ve made many hot air balloon skydives. I can tell you jumping out of a hot air balloon is freaky; just ask my wife and son who went for a hot air balloon experience with me, except, I left them hanging, and jumped out.

The one constant in SMB technology is change. That’s what attracted us to this field in the first place!
So when Fine Solutions announced last week it was spinning off a division, FineMSP.com, it made perfect sense. The idea was that, after months of organizing, building and transforming, FineMSP.com is a stand-alone full independent IT services provider (services including full IT support, one-click contact options, portal access).

Various news outlets reported late yesterday that Kevin Lynch, Adobe’s System’s CTO jumped ship to Cupertino, CA, for Apple. 

New research, including a survey of 1,300 companies commissioned by Rackspace, has found that more than half of organizations’ cloud deployments are being hampered by a shortage of cloud computing skills.

It’s HERE! My BlackBerry Z10 arrived late last week, and I’m up for the 30-day challenge that awaits me.  Like a kid at Christmas, I couldn’t wait to open the box and assemble the mobile phone. It feels good to have that giddy feeling again! (View my video at right for more info!)

It is with great sadness to report that John Harris, vice president for Seattle-based Network Support for Small Business, has passed. John drove success in the Small Business Server community for over 13 years in this role, serving numerous Seattle-based businesses with his expertise. Many readers will recall John’s active community participation in the Puget Sound Small Business Server (PSSBS) user group. He was a young 66-years old, and just a few days shy of turning 67. 

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior. We have been pretty busy around here at SMB Nation in gearing up for our SMB 150 Awards Gala Dinner (sponsored by BlackBerry), and our Spring Conference, which will be held May 3-5, 2013, at the Microsoft Redmond Campus. For more information, and to register, go to: http://spring.smbnation.com/.

Last year we declared “Geek Week” in Seattle to be the convergence of the long-time MVP Summit, our own conference and the MacTech Boot Camp that all occurred in a seven-day period. This year, the situation was slightly different with Microsoft Research’s TechFest and the MacTech Boot Camp II occurring last week in Seattle. I’ll report on both here.

This is a tale of a “forced” 24-hours offline that I recently enjoyed as part of the National Day of Unplugging, which occurred March 1-2, 2013. It was sponsored by a Jewish technology community called Reboot, which asked you to pledge to go off the grid from sunset Friday until sunset Saturday. Here is my story.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior. We have been pretty busy around here at SMB Nation in gearing up for our SMB 150 Awards, and our Spring Conference, which will be held May 3-5, 2013, at the Microsoft Redmond Campus. For more information, and to register, go to: http://spring.smbnation.com/.

Earlier this week, we reported that CompTIA’s annual Breakaway conference will now be known as CompTIA ChannelCon--the new name and identity of the trade association’s annual event. Scheduled to occur July 29-31 at the Peabody Orlando Hotel in Florida, ChannelCon, according to Kelly Ricker, CompTIA’s senior vice president, events and education, is a result of an evolutionary change in our industry. “This is not a new event,” she stated. “We are certain that our loyalists will continue to feel comfortable and receive the same benefits” (as they did when the event was known as Breakaway).

Over the past two days, the MacTech Boot Camp in Seattle has brought together a robust audience of Apple aficionados. So intrigued was I that I attended part of both days. The first day (Tuesday) focused on an Office for Mac accreditation. Yesterday was the full-on robust workshop featuring a variety of Macintosh-centric topics including mobility, storage and Office as seen here: http://www.mactech.com/bootcamp/sessions.

We have exclusively learned that within the next few hours, Microsoft intends to launch a site that is designed to attract professionals to become teachers. This information was revealed to SMB Nation today by internal Microsoft sources at a private summit, which Harrybbb is attending in the Executive Briefing Center at Microsoft Redmond.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior. We have been pretty busy around here at SMB Nation in gearing up for our SMB 150 Awards, and our Spring Conference, which will be held May 3-5, 2013, at the Microsoft Redmond Campus. For more information, and to register, go to: http://spring.smbnation.com/.

A trending topic yesterday in the SMB ether was the update/release of the new Office 365. The abbreviated online launch party and initial message was covered by us (http://smbnation.com/content/news/entry/microsoft-releases-next-gen-version-of-office-365-for-biz) and nearly every major site covered off on this release (see my summary below), and click the image above for a quick intro video.

Verizon announced today at the Channel Partners event in Las Vegas that it is simplifying its relationship with indirect sales channels and the companies that form its extensive technology ecosystem. Therefore, as a result, it is consolidating several existing business channel programs under a new “best-in-class” Verizon Partner Program to make it easier for its members to expand distribution and create new business opportunities for their customers.

IDC today released the results from its Worldwide Enterprise Videoconferencing and Telepresence Qview, which showed 4Q12 videoconferencing equipment revenue declined 8.6% year over year, but increased 14.9% quarter over quarter. Total worldwide enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence equipment revenue was $739.8 million in 4Q12, with revenue for the full year 2012 reaching $2.64 billion. The $2.64 billion total in 2012 was down 2.6% from full-year 2011 total revenue ($2.71 billion), according to IDC.

One thing clients like is managed expectations. In that category, I’d give the 2013 ASCII Success Summit a big thumbs up. You can count on a quality venue, great catering, approximately 100 engaged attendees, and a wide range of industry solution sponsors. You will also find the event is lacking the hyperbole or ethical conflicts plaguing other IT tours resembling aggressive time-share seminars. All in all, ASCII remains relevant and energetic “after all these years” with Jerry K at the day-to-day helm.

Right now in Las Vegas at the annual VMware partner conference, there are pockets of “SMBisms”. On the surface, VMware plays best in the enterprise (picture windowless datacenters). However, the white elephant in the lecture hall has been: What’s the role of virtualization in SMB? It’s a fair question. 

(Pictured at right): Chris Waldo, Director of Channel Promotions and Launches, VMware

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior. We have been pretty busy around here at SMB Nation in gearing up for our SMB 150 Awards, and our Spring Conference.

Also note that this year’s Spring Conference will be held May 3-5, 2013, at the Microsoft Redmond Campus. For more information, and to register, go to: http://spring.smbnation.com/.

Sadly, our SMB Nation family and the SMB IT community lost a friend and colleague who was both central and dedicated to the industry he loved so much. Jeremiah Ilges, SMB Nation’s Director of Business Development & Strategic Relationships, quietly passed away at home yesterday afternoon, with his adoring wife, Brook, by his side. Jeremiah, who is also survived by his three daughters, succumbed to Telomere Disease, which unfortunately caused many of his organs to give out.

Pictured: Jeremiah Ilges (second from right) receiving his SMB 150 award in May 2012.

A few weeks ago, I advised SMB partners to liquidate their stock equity portfolios as major indexes are approaching recent highs. I still stand by and defend this “buy low and sell high” strategy. It’s now time to buy again – but this time I’m talking real estate--and this is your Pocket MBA moment.

Verizon recently reached out to me and asked that I test its new Verizon 4G Jetpack device and share my findings with you. Little did they know that I’m especially well-equipped for this assignment for two reasons. First, I’ve used successive generations of Verizon WiFi and MiFi service, starting with the external PC Card proving a legacy laptop with on-the-fly WiFi capabilities outside the office. That was followed by an internal Verizon air card inside my old HP Mini netbook. Next up was my most recent experience using the Verizon 4G LTE external mobile hotspot for the past year.

SMB Nation received news that we have been nominated for the ChannelPro SMB 2013 Reader’s Choice Awards in the area of “Best IT Community,” and we’d love your support!

The ChannelPro SMB Reader’s Choice Awards event is now in its second year. In this event, SMB Community members turn out to vote for their favorites in a variety of categories, such as Best Distributor Offerings: Cloud/MSP, Best IT Community, Best RMM Vendor, and more.

In a blog post forwarded to SMB Nation, Cisco’s Richard McLeod, senior director of Cisco’s Worldwide Collaboration Channel Sales, discusses how the company is furthering its push to support partners (and the customers they serve) in the midmarket space. Interestingly enough, the news came to us on a day when Cisco reported a small gain in earnings for its fiscal second quarter, helped by growing sales of its networking and corporate IT gear. (Pictured at right): Cisco's Business Edition 6000

I’ve just learned that over 1,500 Microsoft MVPs will be massing on the “Eastside” of Seattle in Bellevue and Redmond early next week for the annual MVP Summit. This private event, not open to the public, allows MVP technical award-winners to work with their product teams from February 18-21 in general and break-out sessions.

Despite the gonzo journalism antics of Hunter S. Thompson in the classic “Fear and Loathing,” I really did work last week at the Parallels Summit at Caesars Las Vegas! In fact, I found three worthy mentions I wanted to share with you.

I always enjoy having the opportunity to engage in a one-to-one conversation with members of our community--VARs, MSPs and vendors alike. This week, my discussion was with Chris Frey, Lenovo’s VP North American Channels. During our 30-minute chat, Frey and I talked about everything from the top verticals Lenovo is targeting, the predictions related to the PC market, the company’s K-12 initiative and also the swirling rumors regarding the company’s takeover of BlackBerry, (which Frey said he could not discuss).

By Jay McBain, Co-Founder, ChannelEyes

I was thinking this morning about the evolution of mobile technology.  What if we compared it to the evolution of the PC?  

Is it safe to say that we are now in about 1985?

I think so, and here is my case...

At the Parallels Summit at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, CEO Birger Steen deftly borrowed an Obama-like phrase to excite and motivate more than 1,100 attendees about the SMB cloud. Aside from the standard product news and upgrades, Parallels displayed its solid community leadership by sharing its latest research findings. “Parallels SMB Cloud Insights research is core to our commitment to help service providers make both strategic and tactical decisions about the rapidly growing market for SMB cloud services,” said Steen. “We are pleased with the responses we are receiving from our service provider partners and will continue making a substantial investment in our expertise and knowledge initiatives.”

We recently had the opportunity to chat with Peter Sandiford, CEO, Level Platforms, regarding the many accomplishments the company has achieved in the last year, as well as Sandiford’s outlook for 2013. With the year now in full swing, Sandiford offered how far LPI has come in the last year, and where the company is headed in the next year.

“BlackBerry has lost its momentum over the last 10 quarters - today it turned things around…” Strategy Analytics.

Desktone, Inc. said today that its virtual desktop platform is now interoperable with the Cisco Integrated Services Router Generation 2(ISR G2) and UCS-E series server, delivering simple, cost-effective Windows desktops and applications as a cloud service to help SMBs, branch and remote offices meet demand for mobility aDend remote workforce support. As a registered developer in the Desktop Virtualization category of the Cisco Developer Network, Desktone has completed interoperability verification testing required by Cisco.

I’ve always felt that there is seasonality in the SMB channel. The “end-of-year” blues has been a common refrain amongst the media integration companies as SMB partners and sponsors are typically holiday budget lean because most of these unsophisticated entities operate on a simple calendar year. They are either out of do-re-me as year-end approaches and/or are marshaling up financial resources for the coming year. It’s something of a cash flow purgatory where more than one snappy salesman has questioned his or her intelligence quotient.

AppSense today released MobileNow, which according to the company is the only 100% SaaS- based mobile device, application and data management solution designed for Enterprise and Mid-Market organizations that bridges application/data access, corporate compliance and strong security to personal devices in work environments. MobileNow provides a full set of product features that move beyond simple mobile device management capabilities to provide IT with the strongest, deepest policy controls possible across mobile devices, applications and data.

The New York Times (my fave) recently ran a fantastical article on small investor’s new faith in stock marketing investing. I quote an interesting passage: “In good times and bad, many individual investors tend to buy and sell at precisely the wrong moments. They dump stocks after the market falls and buy stocks after the market rises--the opposite of what investors aim to do.”

Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to chat with Jim Coriddi, who is the VP of Ricoh Americas dealer division. Ricoh, which is based not far from my home office in NJ, is in fact just minutes away from the last place I lived (West Caldwell, N.J.), before I got married a little over one year ago.

Verio Inc. said that it has today released its new mobile Web site creation tool known as goMobi, which is designed to guide users through the creation of their mobile presence with a simple interface that ensures an effortless user experience. While certain information from the existing website can be pre-populated automatically, it can be edited any time. Users can leverage their existing site while having the flexibility to make changes.

By Matt Pahnke, Senior Marketing Manager of Storage Products, NETGEAR

Storage and backup solutions are just as vital for SMBs as they are for larger organizations, but because of finite IT resources the acquisition and ongoing management of cutting-edge solutions can be difficult. To address the issue, an entire industry has emerged wholly focused on helping SMBs outsource their storage and backup needs so they can concentrate on the business of doing business – not the IT that supports it.

D&H Distributing said today that because 2013 marks the company’s 95^th year in business, the distributor will commemorate the occasion and thank resellers for their patronage with a special Anniversary Promotion during each quarter of 2013. VARs and dealers are automatically entered to win one of the 95 Anniversary prizes by purchasing $1,000 worth of merchandise from D&H Distributing between now and March 31, 2013. The distributor will also continue to offer additional promotions and enhanced rewards in Q1 2013 through existing offerings such as its Incentives Rewards program.

Artisan Infrastructure yesterday said that it has appointed Mark Spowart as Vice President and General Manager of its newly formed OEM and ISV business unit. This business unit will leverage the success of Artisan Infrastructure’s wholesale only IaaS model by focusing on expanding existing and new relationships with leading equipment and top cloud ISVs.

snom technology AG today announced that their snom 7xx phone series are now interoperable with Epygi Technologies’ full Quadro IP PBX line.

“Epygi’s interoperability with the snom 7xx series reinforces Epygi and snom’s long-standing interoperability partnership,” explained Mario Cuello, CEO, Epygi, in a press release today. “The pairing of our IP PBX systems with snom’s new series of business phones provides resellers and end customers alike with an affordable and feature-rich telephony solution.”

Even though we heard about this late last year, Datto this morning formally announced that it has hired Dana Prestigiacomo as its new Vice President of Marketing. The new hire was in part due to the result of Datto’s 5,554% revenue growth that occurred from 2009-2011.  

Today, the SBS Group welcomed a new addition to their extensive Partner Network. Indianapolis-based Total Accounting Solutions (TAS) has joined the SBS Group as the SBS Group Indy, a part of the organization’s SBS Midwest Region.

Yesterday, Ovum, an award-winning global analyst firm, released the list of three keywords for IT buyers in 2013. These keywords came from a report conducted in October 2012 that assessed the current IT bundling trend.

By Brian Sherman, Founder, Tech Success Communications

The following blog post previously appeared on CompTIA’s TechVoice Blog. Click here for more information.

While many may not have switched their calendars yet, 2013 is officially here. Before all the New Year’s resolutions have either been forgotten or broken, make sure to take time to review what went well in 2012 and what needs to change to make the next year more successful. What challenges and opportunities do you foresee?

Yesterday, Jay Paulus, Microsoft’s Director of Windows Small Business Marketing, posted a blog covering the new Windows 8 Pro PCs featured at this year’s CES 2013 event. These devices include both tablet and laptop options.

Panasonic today expanded its Toughpad line of enterprise-grade tablets with the introduction of the Toughpad FZ-G1, a 10-inch tablet featuring Windows 8 Pro, and the availability of the Toughpad JT-B1, a 7-inch Android-powered unit. Both devices follow the original 10-inch Android-powered Toughpad FZ-A1 which became broadly available late last year. With the Toughpad family of ruggedized tablets, businesses and government institutions have a single partner delivering a selection of highly reliable and purpose-built devices ideal for numerous operational needs.

Yesterday at CES 2013 in Las Vegas, AVG announced that they have signed more than 1000 partners to their AVG CloudCare small business IT management platform. The first version of CloudCare was launched in October 2012 at the SMB Nation Fall Conference, and the latest version, 2.1, was unveiled at CES yesterday.

Cloud Nation today announced the launch of its Cloud Solutions Portal designed to allow MSPs (VARs) to deliver enterprise quality cloud solutions to small and medium size businesses.

Over the holidays, I enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with the Infrascale team to discuss its FileLocker cloud service. This team has been a “true” member of the SMB community having grown up with the rest of us and earning a positive reputation. The company has its SOS Online Backup solution for SOHOs and FileLocker, the public and private cloud collaboration for small business and enterprise (which is the focus of this article).

Earlier this week, Strategy Analytics released the results of a study conducted in October 2012 concerning the technology device market in the US. The study found that the Apple iPhone is well-seated to remain in first place for 2013.

Lenovo yesterday announced the release of a new series of Windows 8 touch devices at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV. This new line, designed for consumer and business use, includes both laptop and desktop options.

The devices announced today include:

Dell SecureWorks is now offering a new Vulnerability Management Service (VMS) and a new Web Application Scanning (WAS) Service for the Cloud. These add-on Cloud security solutions are currently available for purchase by customers of Dell Public Cloud, Dell Cloud Dedicated Service and customers of VMware vCenter 5.0 environments.

This morning, Level Platforms announced that they have been named the 2013 Best Channel Vendor in the RMM category by Business Solutions Magazine. Over 3000 MSPs and VARs were surveyed for this year’s list.

Earlier this week, Citrix announced that they have closed the acquisition of leading Mobile Device Management organization, Zenprise. Citrix plans to integrate the Zenprise MDM solution into their Me@Work and Citrix CloudGateway solutions. In addition, Citrix will continue to support all global Zenprise customers.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior. Note that this week’s “5 we missed” is coming to you a couple of days later than usual due to the New Year holiday. SMB Nation’s offices were closed this past Monday and Tuesday, and yours truly has been (for the most part) off the grid since the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 21.

This morning, IceWEB, Inc. announced the release of their new line of all Solid State Unified Storage Products. The new line, IceWEB ERX (Environmentally Responsible Acceleration), is more energy-efficient than previous spindle-style storage devices.

Gaurang Mehta, CTO, IceWEB, outlined the device line’s improved features in a press release today:

I remember last year, around the same time, there were a whole lotta mergers and acquisitions going down the first week of November—namely when Dave Sobel sold his MSP practice, Evolve Technologies to Network Depot. This year apparently is no different with major announcements being made during the first week of business in 2013: Arlin Sorensen’s Heartland Technology Solutions (HTS) announced this morning that its IT practice has been sold to WesTel Systems, an Iowa-based telecom and computer services company supporting communities in Iowa and Nebraska.