We've discussed the many ways of accessing Channelweb's content, as well as some of the functionality in this new community. A third key Channelweb component consists of our collection of tools aimed at helping solution providers actually conduct business on a day-to-day basis.

Company Research

When looking for channel companies (solution providers or vendors), start with our VAR 500 list; our vendor Partner Program Guide; our Emerging Vendors directory; and our Fast Growth VARs databank. They provide the quickest access to the most dynamic companies in the channel.

Business Tools

Built in cooperation with Channelweb partners, these five tools aim to help you construct quotes, reduce costs, enhance your marketing efforts, and more:

Product Pricing and Availability: Live data from distributors and e-tailers enabling you to locate products at the best price.

Promofinder: Special offers from manufacturers and distrbutors specifically for solution providers.

Solution Provider Locator: Access our database of thousands of solution provider locations and specialties.

Lead Generator: Send your message to a targeted solution provider audience.

PR Toolkit: Craft your company identity and get your message to the widest audience.

Products and Technologies

Research new technologies through documents direct from vendors in our white paper library and vendor content community.

Everything Channel Services

Finally, Everything Channel, our parent company, provides numerous additional services, including Field Sales and Marketing and Partner Marketing Services, and the Partner Education & Development research and channel training organization.

Some tips, updated from the old blog, on ways companies can work with Channelweb to tell their stories:

How Can I Reach Solution Providers and VARs?

You're in the right place. Channelweb is the world's premier solution provider community, and provides a variety of such opportunities. Some suggestions:

• To locate individual solution providers, try our free online databases, including the VARBusiness 500 and CRN Fast Growth.

• Offer your own perspective by participating in the Channelweb Connect community or by posting a white paper in our free White Paper Library, or our sponsored Vendor Content Community.

• Attend one our live events for solution providers, retailers and end users, including our award-winning Virtual Trade Shows.

• Use our Lead Generator to send targeted messages, our our PR Toolkit to polish your identity.

• Finally, the sales folks would probably want me to mention that you can always advertise with us, in many different fashions.

How Do I Get My Company Covered?

There's a single editorial staff for Everything Channel, Channelweb and our print publications, CRN and CRNTech. Each of our editors have specific areas of coverage. Whether you're a solution provider with an interesting case study, or a vendor with a new product, the best way to get on our radar is to find the specific editor covering your type of company. Get to know our site, search out articles about companies like yours, and refer to the editorial beats list. Then, e-mail the appropriate editor directly with your news, and be particularly clear on why that news is significant to our solution provider audience. If we're interested, we'll want to talk to your CEO and channel chief, as well as some of your solution provider partners.

More general advice: For the funniest set of PR Tips I've seen, take a look at this post from Barry Ritholtz's Big Picture blog. (But please note, he's not from here.) In addition Fred Paul at bMighty offers some useful recommendations, as does Information Week's Cory Doctorow, on working with bloggers and editors in general.

What awards do Channelweb and CRN give out? How can I apply?
How do I get my executive, (product, company) included in ChannelWeb's listings?

See our Directories and Awards FAQ posting.

Is there a single contact to send press releases to?

No, see above.

Does ChannelWeb publish bylined submissions from vendor executives?

No. From time to time, we do publish viewpoints from solution provider executives. Again, contact the editor whose beat covers appropriately similar companies.

Can I post my press release on ChannelWeb?

No. We do have a feed of press releases online, but those come via our sister company, PRNewswire.

Earlier this month, a series of underground fiber optic cables were cut in Silicon Valley, causing phone and internet disruption to homes and businesses, and taking a number of systems offline for the better part of a day:

"Joy Alexiou, a public information officer with Santa Clara County... said that about 52,000 households using Verizon's landline service were affected, as were an unknown number of cell phone users. Furthermore, she said ATMs in the area were also shut down... The biggest concern was the 911 emergency service, which was shut down."

Services were restored, and the San Jose Mercury News reports that AT&T has offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of any suspects, though none have yet been identified.

Open Source evangalist Bruce Perens has posted a detailed look at the cyber attack, and what businesses need to learn from it, and it's not good news for cloud computing:

"This should lead managers of critical services to reconsider their dependence on software-as-a-service rather than local servers. Having your email live at Google means you don't have to manage it, but you can count on it being unavailable if your facility loses its internet connection. The same is true for any web service. And that's not acceptable if you work at a hospital or other emergency services provider, and really shouldn't be accepted at any company that expects to provide services during an infrastructure failure."

We don't know who was behind this attack, or what they were trying to accomplish. We also don't know who's behind hacking into the US electrical grid. We do know we need to be doing a much better job protecting our digial infrastructure. Perens concludes:

"Will there be another Morgan Hill? Definitely. And the next time it might happen to a denser community that won't be so astonishingly able to sustain the trouble using its two-way radios and hams. The next time, it might be connected with some other event, be it crime or terrorism. Company and government officers take notice: the only way you'll fare well is if you start planning now."

Coming up this Wednesday, we're opening up the doors on our next Virtual Trade Show: Selling into the SMB Market.

If you haven't stopped in at one of our Virtual Trade Shows before, you really owe it to yourself to give it a try. Like a physical trade show, you'll find strategic keynotes on where the marketplace is headed; panels on the best technologies to take to your customers; and opportunities to network with vendor representatives, our editors, and solution provider colleagues. Unlike physical trade shows, it's free and convenient.

Check out the schedule for Wednesday's event -- programming begins at 11:00 Eastern. Register Here, and I hope to see you!

The web has been buzzing regarding a new report that "Most Firms Will Wait On Windows 7":

"Dimensional Research... recently conducted an online survey of 1,100 IT professionals worldwide and found that 83 percent have no plans to upgrade their Windows PCs to Windows 7 in the next year...

Forty-three percent of respondents said the economic malaise will cause them to hold off on Windows 7... Sixty-seven percent cited concerns over Windows 7, and 88 percent of this group said the prospect of application incompatibility issues would cause them to delay moving to Windows 7. "

Fortune read the report and finds opportunities for Apple

"Half [of the IT professionals surveyed] are thinking about switching to a non-Windows system, such as Apple’s Mac OS X".

This dovetails nicely with a second report seeing significant growth for Linux in the coming year.

But down under, Australia's iTWire says, (after testing the Windows 7 betas) that Microsoft shouldn't worry:

"The chasm between evaluation and adoption is enormous. Those who seriously believe that moving an enterprise from Windows to Linux on the desktop is going to be a cheaper exercise than upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 are kidding themselves."

While at Computerword, they're looking at the report and finding the glass half-full for Microsoft:

"An analysis of the report shows that enterprises may adopt the new operating system more quickly than people expect... 42% of respondents expect to adopt Windows 7 within 12 to 24 months... Combine that number with the 17% who expect to adopt it by March 2010, and you have 59% of enterprises adopting Windows 7 by early 2011."

But ultimately, the channel knows. What will it take to spur Windows 7 adoption? What are you advising customers? Our Kevin McLaughlin wants to hear from you:

"Solution providers have been saying for the past several months that many of their customers were waiting for Windows 7's release in order to skip Vista entirely...

Windows 7 has been widely hailed as a vast improvement over Vista. So what gives? Is this just another Microsoft-bashing survey, or are people really going to avoid Windows 7 in the same way they've avoided Vista?"

I was struck by the juxtaposition of these two items this morning:

Cyberspies Launch Malware On U.S. Electrical Grid:

"Cyberspies from China, Russia and other countries have hacked into the U.S. electrical grid and installed malicious software that could be used to stop power or disrupt the system, according to The Wall Street Journal."

FCC: Broadband From Sea To Shining Sea:

"By next February, the Federal Communications Commission will have created a nationwide plan to provide broadband access to every American. [The federal stimulus act] allocates $7.2 billion in taxpayer funding to promote expansion."

A national broadband rollout will almost certainly include significant elements of braodband via power-line. Are we doubling up the value of the grid as a target?

There is some benefit in keeping communications and power separate. My father, who's now retired from what was once called 'the phone company,' was always proud of the fact that, "even if the power's out, the phones will still work." Sure enough, in the 2003 Northeast blackout, they did.

That's not to say that in many instances, broadband-over-power-lines won't be right move. Let's be sure we build a system with more resiliency than we think we'll need. Because we'll need it.

Keep an eye here for opportunities to be included in Channelweb's 2009 directories, rankings and awards programs. Specific details on deadlines and entry requirements will be available as each project opens for nominations. Check back regularly for updates and additional opportunities.

UPDATE: See our 2010 List now!

These reports are closed for 2009 but will be coming back again before you know it!

Tech Innovators : The best new products providing opportunities for solution providers.

Executive of the Year : Everything Channel's highest award for vendor executives.

Women In The Channel : Our annual guide to top women channel executives at solution providers, distributors and vendor companies.

Fast Growth 100 : Our directory of solution providers building fast-growing businesses.

Government Integrator Awards: Honoring excellence among vendors and solution providers serving the federal, state and local government, healthcare and education markets.

Emerging Tech Vendors : A directory for hardware and software vendors providing new opportunities for channel partners.

Partner Programs Guide : Our annual directory of hardware and software vendor programs, used by solution providers throughout the year to research potential partners.

Channel Chiefs : Our guide to the executives managing vendor programs.

VARBusiness 500 : The definitive list of the largest solution providers in North America, ranked by revenue.