Most resellers say that things got better starting after Labor Day. But the accounts vary widely. One report had attendees at the Information Technology Alliance conference in December who were talking about 50 percent drops in revenue. Then there's Andy Vabulas, whose Atlanta-based Ibis had a year in which the company had "substantial growth and profits were stellar." I think I can state confidently that is not the norm. Vabulas said Ibis purchased a Dynamics AX dealer in April to add to the Dynamics GP business. He described AX as a growth driver and also said Dynamics CRM has been booming. Jeff Rosengarden, CEO of Hightower, a Chicago-area Sage reseller, said things were going well in October then sales tanked in November. He shook up the sales force and ended with one of the best December's the company has had. Hightower also ramped up marketing and Rosengarden said the message for sales people and resellers has been "They realize they can’t sit around and wait for apples to fall out of trees.” Another Sage reseller, Simi Valley, Calif.-based Arxis Technology has had good business recently, according to partner David Cieslak. “We’re going through what everybody else is going through, figuring out what the optimal mix. We’ve made some nice sales that were not necessary year-end driven,” he said. One productive move has been turning more to specialized markets that include shopping and logistics food and beverage and light manufacturing. “The day of the GL sale are non-existent,” he commented. Meanwhile, Cieslak was proud of one Arxis accomplishment-no one was laid off during the year.