Typically VARs are treated as an extension of the vendor's sales, marketing and support organization. Thus they have a commitment to meet a certain revenue number to maintain their margin status. This makes the VAR beholden to the vendor first and foremost, with the needs of the end-user a distant second.

If the vendor cuts this margin, the VAR needs to make up the shortfall somewhere. What Mitchell proposes is that the VAR provide greater advisory capacity to the end-user by getting the best deal for their client to rectify the shortfall.

In some instances they may look at a competing vendor to provide a solution that may or may not be more expensive. He labels these new VARs as "Super Resellers" and expects to see more and more of these types of deals being negotiated in Asia over the coming months and years ahead.

This of course is not a bad thing. It's merely a change in the channel ecosystem, and like ripples in a pond it will cause tremors.

But this will, in the end, achieve a balanced state. In this channel ecosystem "Super Resellers" are first and foremost advocates for their clients. The ultimate goal: the redefinition of the point where value enters into the equation, perhaps a place where it should always have existed: in the hands of the client.