After spending recent years opening up its software and embracing x86 hardware, Sun executives say the company is back. The VAR Guy remains skeptical, but here are five reasons why the company could attract stronger interest from partners and customers.

After several flight delays, The VAR Guy has finally arrived in Colorado Springs for a conference hosted by Avnet. Key companies here include Sun Microsystems, Symantec and Avaya. But before we get to the work at hand, check out the view from The VAR Guy’s room at the Broadmoor. Sweet. Too bad The VAR Guy doesn’t golf. Lots of event coverage to follow later today.

The SugarCRM summit in Manhattan continues to deliver surprises. The latest example: A major integrator and distributor from Moscow is attending, seeking potential solutions in the CRM space.

The VAR Guy is heading to Colorado later today, attending an Avnet conference for Sun Microsystems partners. It should be a lively event. Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz has stabilized the company. And his focus on open source applications for Solaris has impressed The VAR Guy.

The VAR Guy hit the road early today and headed to a SugarCRM conference in Manhattan. He expected the open source event to attract only local IT managers. Boy was he wrong.

Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas, says its one-year-old HealthPath practice has helped VARs increase their health care-related IT sales by 40 percent.

Even as Dell and HP compete for the top spot in the PC market, Panasonic’s rugged Toughbook laptops continue to gain more momentum in the mobile government market.

This may be the most shameless blog post The VAR Guy has ever submitted. In fact, he didn’t even write it. He lifted the words directly from someone who’s attending Cisco’s Global Sales Meeting in Las Vegas.