Can Google face up to Microsoft In The Channel?

Google executives say the new reseller program for Google Apps Premier Edition will put the search giant on equal footing with Microsoft, one of the most highly regarded channel vendors in the industry. But some way out providers say there's little in Google's channel track record that suggests it'll be able to back up that claim anytime soon.
Google's channel consists of partners that came over in its July 2007 acquisition of safety services provider Postini, and VARs in the Enterprise Partner Program, which launched in September 2005 with a goal of recruiting solution providers to help swell the search capabilities of the Google Search Appliance to commercial data behind the firewall.

Postini developed a name as a accomplished SMB channel player, but that reputation has been tarnished somewhat since the acquisition, and some VARs aren't sure if Google has its best wellbeing at heart.

In February 2008, Google angered VARs by dramatically cutting the prices of Postini security services from a range of between $30 and $100 per seat/per year to just $3 to $25 per seat/per year. Google also named two authorized distributors for Postini security services -- TestudoData and Excel Micro -- that act as liaisons between Google and channel partners.

Michael Cocanower, president of solution provider ITSynergy, said this arrangement makes it difficult and time consuming to resolve issues with Postini services when they arise. "Google won't engage with us directly, and that makes it tough to handle things like incidents and troubleshooting," he said.

The fact that one of Google's first steps after buying Postini was to distance itself from channel partners shows how hard it is for VARs to make money from the partnership, said Les Kent, principal at solution provider Progent. The Google Apps program's lack of deal registration adds to this difficulty, he added.

"I don't think Google really understands that in order to have successful channel partnerships, their partners need to be able to make money," Kent said. "Between the lower prices, modest margins and lack of channel protection, it's very difficult for partners to justify the transaction costs of servicing small numbers of clients."

Even if Google isn't starting its channel from rub, it still has a long way to go to catch up with Microsoft in terms of building a partner program that drives sales and builds loyalty among partners, said Mark Crall, president of Charlotte Tech Care Team, a Microsoft partner.

Microsoft's considered advantage in the battle to establish services 'sockets' has been its partners, and in the past year, Microsoft has launched the SBSC Partner program and the Local appointment Team, both of which leverage partners as strategic advisers to SMB clients, according to Crall, who cites these as leads Google would be prudent to follow.

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Google reseller plan may punch Microsoft where it hurts
Google Apps has been far from a raging success, and has yet to make any serious inroads against Microsoft Office. But a new Google partnership with resellers may change all that. Don't expect immediate results, but in several years, Google Apps may start to see some success.

Reuters reports that starting at the end of March, authorized resellers "will be able to sell, customize and support premium versions of Google Apps."

Up until now, Google has sold directly to businesses itself, and not using a sales force, but instead over the Web. The results have been less than stellar --- Gartner Research estimates Google only has approximately 200,000 Google Apps Premier customers.

Under the new Google plan, resellers can buy the Premier edition at a 20 percent discount, and can "keep the recurring revenue for the lifetime of their customer relationship." That's a significant incentive.

Still, Google has a long way to go, because of Microsoft's relationship with resellers Reuters reports:

Microsoft, which is the world's largest software company, sells more than 95 percent of its software through more than 440,000 third party resellers, according to Gartner Research, and intends to spend around $3 billion on managing those sales channels in 2009.

Computer Engineering Associate developed a flexible light-sensitive material that could revolutionize photography and imaging technologies.

This example of a curved photodetector array was developed by University of Wisconsin-Madison Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Zhenqiang (Jack) Ma and colleagues. Inspired by the human eye, Ma's curved photodetector made of flexible germanium could eliminate the photo distortion that occurs in conventional photo lenses
Can You See Me Now? Flexible Photodetectors Could Help Sharpen Photos
Distorted cell-phone photos and big, clunky telephoto lenses could be things of the past.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Zhenqiang (Jack) Ma and colleagues have developed a flexible light-sensitive material that could revolutionize photography and other imaging technologies.

Their technology is featured on the cover of the January 5 issue of Applied Physics Letters.
When a device records an image, light passes through a lens and lands on a photodetector—a light-sensitive material like the sensor in a digital camera. However, a lens bends the light and curves the focusing plane. In a digital camera, the point where the focusing plane meets the flat sensor will be in focus, but the image becomes more distorted the farther it is from that focus point.

"If I take a picture with a cell phone camera, for example, there is distortion," says Ma. "The closer the subject is to the lens, the more distortion there is."

That's why some photos can turn out looking like images in a funhouse mirror, with an enlarged nose or a hand as big as a head.

High-end digital cameras correct this problem by incorporating multiple panes of glass to refract light and flatten the focusing plane. However, such lens systems—like the mammoth telephoto lenses sports photographers use—are large, bulky and expensive. Even high-quality lenses stretch the edges of an image somewhat.

Inspired by the human eye, Ma's curved photodetector could eliminate that distortion. In the eye, light enters though a single lens, but at the back of the eye, the image falls upon the curved retina, eliminating distortion. "If you can make a curved imaging plane, you just need one lens," says Ma. "That's why this development is extremely important."

Ma and his group can create curved photodetectors with specially fabricated nanomembranes—extremely thin, flexible sheets of germanium, a very light-sensitive material often used in high-end imaging sensors. Researchers then can apply the nanomembranes to any polymer substrate, such as a thin, flexible piece of plastic. Currently, the group has demonstrated photodetectors curved in one direction, but Ma hopes next to develop hemispherical sensors.
"We can easily realize very high-density flexible and sensitive imaging arrays, because the photodetector material germanium itself is extremely bendable and extremely efficient in absorbing light," Ma adds.

Ma's co-authors include UW-Madison Materials Science and Engineering Professor Max Lagally and University of Michigan Professor Pallab Bhattacharya.