At the top of the market, the larger firms seem more likely to become at least quasi-system integrators. This fracturing of what was once a common model with organizations that all did essentially the same thing for decades—sell accounting software, make modifications and provides services—is proceeding rapidly. The lines blur in many areas, but we as humans derive much of our ability to deal with the world by attaching names to categories. And the term "VAR" is rapidly proving inadequate. Many years ago, Microsoft played with the term Value-added Provider and I think it was a great one—but apparently not many people did not agree with that and it disappeared and had an even shorter life than the brief flurry of focus on the word "mash up". So do we want to keep utilizing terms that no longer address our business arena or try something knew? Generally, I dislike the term "partner" almost as much as I detest the word "solutions"—the latter gets used to describe everything from members of a vendor's distribution channel to packaged breakfasts at supermarkets to companies managing solid waste. It is imprecise. Partner probably started heading into the fog of promotional activity even before the "Howdy pardner" of the classic view of the west. However, Value-added Partner, VAP, strikes me as flexible a term in covering the many facets of channel organizations as anything I've seen.