“Exactly who is the VAR of the new millennium? We sought the
answer with our 12th annual State of the VAR Market (SOVM)
research. As in previous years, VARBusiness surveyed a
representative sample of the VAR population on a broad range of
issues. The results, however, are far more robust this year. For
the first time, statistics from the survey are projectable to the
overall North American reseller universe….”
“In networking, all 13 technologies registered increases in VAR
involvement, including Gigabit Ethernet, named by 31 percent of
respondents-a massive jump from 12 percent in 1998. Among operating
systems sold or supported, most Unix flavors showed small
changes-up or down-and the same was true for NetWare. On desktops,
Windows 3.x and 95 slid some 10 points each, while Windows 98, CE,
NT Server and NT Workstation all posted higher numbers, with Win 98
on top at 85 percent, up 20 points from last year. IBM Corp.’s
midrange OS/400 grew by more than half to 12 percent, and upstart
Linux came from nowhere to a 33 percent mention. But NT Server is
untouchable as the primary server OS: No one climbed out of
the single digits to challenge its 72 percent….”
“E-mail integration and LAN/ Internet connectivity were
mentioned by more than half; technical support and security
followed at roughly 40 percent. The most strategic, however, was
business-to-business e-business solutions, named by 14 percent.
Given that only 4 percent of respondents consider themselves
primarily Web integrators, a significant share of other VARs appear
to be heavily committed to the B2B biz. And when they develop Web
sites for customers, it’s no surprise that Windows NT is the OS of
choice, said 85 percent, though Linux made a strong showing at 27
percent. It’s also a Microsoft game with the choice of Web servers:
Internet Information Server is the favorite of nearly
three-quarters of those engaged in Web development, while No. 2
Netscape Enterprise Server was more than 40 points behind.”