Sage North America is out to get more customers to its Summit 2014 conference in late July in Las Vegas. The early bird price announced this month was $99 per for the upcoming event on July 28 through 31 at the Mandalay Bay, compared to $995 a year ago. That's right and buy now and we'll send you a set of steak knives. But wait there's more.

Renovo, which markets financial reporting applications, has released Renovofyi integration for Sage X3. The latest version of the application, which is touted as an FRx replacement, adds to a string of recently announced integrations with mid-market accounting software. In November, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based software vendor release integrations for Epicor, Sage 300, Platinum for Windows, Dynamics GP and SL, Acumatica and Elucian.

The purchase of the former Hightower by was paid for in the first 12 months by maintenance revenue from Hightower's applications, according to Mark Meller, CEO of SilverSun Technologies. Meller told listeners to the RetailInvestorConferences.com, conference earlier this month that Hightower, which was also a Sage reseller, had 13 applications with four of those that had "real traction in the market place."

For those waiting with bated breath - and even for those waiting with unbated breath - the 2013 edition of Bob Scott's VAR Stars will be published on Friday, December 20. We're not superstitious, but why take chances with Friday the 13th? It's always an interesting issue regarding the mid-market VAR community and people will be surprised at its contents. So will I. This year, the always delicate matter of making estimates of revenue for companies that do not disclose it got more difficult with the spread of cloud products having an impact on average revenue.