By Regina Ciardiello, Editor, SMB Nation

During the last week of September, at SMB Nation’s Fall Conference, former Autotask executives Bob Godgart and Jay McBain first announced the concept of their new start-up, ChannelEyes. The social media platform, which was founded by Autotask founder and industry visionary Bob Godgart, was launched as the first free and secure social network to aggregate channel program information. Launched in Pilot yesterday, ChannelEyes is set to transform communication between suppliers and channel partners, integrators, dealers and agents.

Godgart, who with his former Autotask colleague McBain (who currently serves as Advisor to ChannelEyes) built ChannelEyes with the intent to focus on how channel partners communicate. Per a press release distributed on Sept. 30, Godgart said his vision for ChannelEyes was to create a “ridiculously simple and secure way to engage all channel partners.”

Earlier this week, we had the chance to catch up with Godgart and McBain, who offered an update on how the platform is progressing, as well as what to expect from the Pilot.
McBain said that the difference between ChannelEyes and other social media platforms that claim to have the best interests of the channel is that ChannelEyes automatically removes all of the noise and clutter. “ChannelEyes is a platform that allows channel partners to filter through all of the information they specifically want to know about in one single portal,” he said. “It’s not a place where users will be posting what they had for breakfast that morning.”

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By Regina Ciardiello, Editor, SMB Nation

Yesterday, we reported on SMBNation.com that LPI Level Platforms appointed Dave Sobel as its new Director of Partner Community. It was a surprise, but not too much of an unrealistic move for Sobel, who announced on New Years’ Day that he sold his Virginia-based MSP, Evolve Technologies, to Network Depot.

(At right): Dave Sobel beings his tenure on Jan. 23 as LPI's Director of Partner Community.

Sobel, who according to LPI, begins his tenure on Jan. 23, spoke with me this morning from his hotel room in London, where he is currently wrapping up some ongoing Evolve Technologies business, as well as spending time with UK-based LPI partners. A self-proclaimed lover of all kinds of travel, Sobel has undoubtedly landed in a fitting spot, since he will have a formidable presence at LPI’s national and international road shows, kicking off next month.

Of course, Dave, whom I have known from when I previously worked as editor of a competing channel publication, was excited and thrilled to share with me his thoughts on his new journey with LPI. Before we launched into specifics, I wanted to know why he decided to make the move to LPI, after just having sold his MSP business. He assured me that “his decision to sell Evolve was separate from joining LPI,” and “he was ready for something different,” he just wasn’t sure what.

“I ran my MSP for 10 years, I enjoyed it, and we have great customers, and I looked at it from the point of where I felt that I wanted more for myself personally. I reached that point, and I know I am not exactly an ‘old’ guy,” he joked.” “When you think about it, I am actually on the younger side of the spectrum (although he didn’t reveal his actual age)  and I asked myself, ‘Is this (running an MSP) what I want to continue to do for the next 5 to 10 years’,” he said.

(At right): Dan Wensley, LPI’s VP Partner Development and Marketing.

Sobel continued to discuss his reasoning behind the sale of Evolve to Network Depot, saying that he had a moment (or even a revelation) one day: “I had this profound moment where the right plans for the company and the staff and customers were in alignment, and the only thing that wasn’t in alignment was me,” he said. “That was the point of me realizing: ‘I think I am ready for something different’.”

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By Regina Ciardiello, Editor, SMB Nation

Some of you might remember that back in September, our own Harrybbb, was a recipient of a Small Business Influencers Award. I was able to attend the event held in NYC, and Harry and I met with Lauren Simonds, Managing Editor of Small Business Computing.com. Simonds, who was also receiving an award, is tasked with managing content and chasing down stories that include many of the same topics that are of interest to our SMB Nation community members.

For the most part, Simonds focuses on trends and topics that affect the daily business models of anyone who is a small business owner. Since both of our media outlets have a strong online presence, we surmised that it would be beneficial to bring our audiences together by way of content sharing via our respective web sites. That said, Lauren and I met last month for lunch in NJ to discuss this venture, as well as talk fine details of a strategic partnership between our publications, which officially began on January 1, 2012.

This strategic partnership, which was ironed out by Simonds and I last month will include content sharing via our respective web sites: www.smallbusinesscomputing.com (part of the IT Business Edge Network for Technology Professionals) and www.smbnation.com. We have already begun the sharing process with Simonds sharing one of our blogs posts on her web site earlier this week. Click here to read the full story.

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By Regina Ciardiello, Editor, SMB Nation

Earlier this week, we heard from Vlad Mazek, CEO of Own Web Now, that he and his team released V 2.0 of his Shockey Monkey-branded IT business management platform. Known as Shockey Monkey Reloaded, the V 2.0 product, according to the company, is the first major upgrade with a new user interface designed from the ground up. According, to Mazek, with whom I spoke with yesterday, the new version is designed to always be “Free, Friendly and Flexible.”

Mazek, who is an MSP by trade, launched Shockey Monkey in August 2010 with the intention of providing  an easy and efficient tool to help solution providers and MSPs manage their business operations and customer service.  The solution initially included a brandable web portal, support board, customer relationship management, project management, billing and accounting, service scheduling, inventory and service provisioning management.

When it was launched in 2010, the majority of Shockey Monkey was initially free, with some of the more advanced features requiring a Pro subscription; something that Shockey Monkey Reloaded has eliminated entirely. According to Mazek, all clients have now been upgraded to Reloaded portals and can begin taking advantage of the full feature set at no cost.

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Earlier this week, leading unified communications company, Polycom, Inc, and Digium, a global leader in open-source telephony software announced that they would be continuing their strategic partnership to allow customers to benefit from the harmony of Polycom phones with support for Digium’s Asterisk features.

Ron Myers, Senior VP of Global Channels for Polycom, is excited by the extension, saying: “Digium is an important partner to Polycom, and this agreement is a natural evolution of our long standing business partnership – one that reflects the evolving and dynamic UC market. Both companies have a commitment to offering best-in-class, open standards-based UC solutions that work seamlessly across any application, protocol or endpoint. By partnering together, Digium and Polycom will continue to drive global adoption of standards-based UC.”

Under this agreement, developers will be able to

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ScanSource, Inc. announced today that it has promoted two long-time executives to president-level positions within its POS/Barcoding and Security divisions. The Greenville, SC.-based distributor has named Paul Constantine president of ScanSource POS/Barcoding North America, and Tony Sorrentino will assume the role as president of ScanSource Security North America.  Both executives joined ScanSource in 1999. 

(At right): Paul Constantine has been named President, ScanSource POS & Barcoding.

Constantine assumes the role previously held by Jeff Yelton, who, according to a company spokesperson, resigned from his position shortly before Christmas. Sorrentino, takes over for Scott Benbenek, who was recently promoted as the distributor’s president of worldwide operations.

Constantine most recently served as vice president of merchandising for ScanSource Security and has more than 17 years of technology distribution experience, including six years in the POS/Barcoding business unit.  Prior to joining the Security business unit, Constantine served as vice president of solutions and services at ScanSource, Inc., where he managed the evolution of the company’s value-added services offerings for VARs

Sorrentino, who is also a seasoned ScanSource executive, most recently served as vice president of sales for the distributor’s Security division and has been with the division inception in 2004.  He has more than 12 years of technology distribution experience and previously served as vice president of merchandising for ScanSource Security and Director of Merchandising for ScanSource POS/Barcoding. 

(At right): Tony Sorrentino assumes the position of President, ScanSource Security.

“Both Paul and Tony have significant executive experience in a variety of leadership positions at ScanSource and have performed at a very high level in effectively leading our Security business to outstanding results,” Scott Benbenek, president of worldwide operations, ScanSource, Inc. , said in a media statement. “We have great confidence in them and are excited about the prospects for our businesses under their leadership.”

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Yesterday, noted research organization Gartner presented the preliminary results of the Q4 2011 PC sales worldwide.  They reported a 1.4% decline in PC sales when compared to the numbers in 2010, which is just shy of Gartner’s prediction of a 1% decline in Q4 2011. Among the Top 5 PC Vendors, HP remained in the number 1 slot, while Lenovo reported the highest growth rate, coming in second according to Gartner, Inc.

According to Gartner, PC sales were driven down by a few factors worldwide. “Continuously low consumer PC demand resulted in weak holiday PC shipments. While economic uncertainty in Western Europe had an effect on consumer PC shipments, expectations of a healthier economic outlook in North America could not stimulate consumer PC demand in that region. The healthy professional PC market as well as growth in emerging markets could not compensate for the weaknesses in mature markets, with overall growth still negative,” explained Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

In the US, PC sales dropped at a 5.9% rate (17.9 million units) for the Q4 of 2011. Gartner reports that the reason behind this drop is that

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By Regina Ciardiello, Editor, SMB Nation

It’s only the second week of 2012 but so far, it has been a busy year professionally for Dave Sobel, former CEO and Founder of Evolve Technologies. Sobel, announced on New Years’ Day that he had sold his company, Virginia-based Evolve Technologies, to Network Depot, as previously reported by SMB Nation. Following the news, many wondered what the next steps were for the Microsoft MVP.

The rumors and chatter surrounding this were confirmed this morning, when LPI Level Platforms Inc., announced via press release, that it appointed Sobel as Director of Partner Community. 

(At right): Dave Sobel, Director of Partner Community, LPI Level Platforms, Inc.

In his new role at LPI, Sobel will be tasked with fostering the growth and success of the company’s partners, helping them learn and share information to leverage the unmatched opportunities created by Managed Workplace for IT service providers.  

Sobel, who is known in channel circles as both an MSP and community leader, will undoubtedly take his experience and success as public speaker, moderator and leader, to his new position at LPI—especially as the company kicks off its 2012 Managed Services Education and Collaboration Road Shows on Feb. 6.

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It wasn’t just superstar celebrity couple Beyonce and Jay-Z who became proud new parents in the last week; SMB Nation’s Senior Manager Jenny Hallmark gave birth to a baby girl last night, January 11, at 11:55 pm PST!

(At right): Jenny and Craig Hallmark became the proud parents of Baby Payton Olivia last night.

Jenny, and her husband, Craig, became the proud new parents of Baby Payton Olivia Hallmark, and word is that she might even make a celebrity appearance at this year’s MVP Nation event March 2-3 at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond.

Stay tuned for more details (and maybe even Baby Payton’s first official headshot) coming soon!

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Axis Communications unveiled the latest version of their in-camera chip, the ARTPEC-4, which has increased image quality and performance for Axis’ line of video encoders and network surveillance cameras. Axis Communications is currently one of the leading network surveillance providers, offering solutions for companies looking to move from analog to IP cameras.

“The development of ARTPEC-4 underlines the importance of our in-house development in cementing our leadership in the technology field. With our newest chip we see improved image quality leading to more usable video surveillance systems, broadening the usage of Axis cameras in more applications and extending the scope of where they can be used,” Johan Paulsson, CTO at Axis Communications said in a press release earlier today.

One of the most notable new features of the ARTPEC-4 chip is

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