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5 Channel Partner Updates: 27 Oct 2015

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, gossip and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Actually, today's update involves 17 (yowzers) items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs) and cloud services providers to sip on. 17. Tech Unicorn Warnings Grow Louder: Daily readers know that I've been skeptical of billion-dollar-startup valuations (i.e., Unicorns) for more than a year. And I've been hammering away at the point at least weekly. The latest warning comes from The Wall Street Journal, which again warms that a unicorn correction (or outright unicorn goring) will undermine peer companies and many of their service providers -- as in cloud service providers. 16. Economic Slowdown?: Ummm... Sorry to start today's blog off with two consecutive negative entries. But there are signs that major businesses across multiple vertical markets are preparing for an economic slowdown. Hmmm... That's usually the perfect time to watch your rivals spend less -- while you double down on new services developments. 15. OpenStack Certification: So, you want to build or manage OpenStack clouds? Perhaps it's time to check out the new OpenStack certification for cloud administrators.
Ginni Rometty
Ginni Rometty
14. Same Vision, Better Execution?: IBM CEO Ginny Rometty says the company will eventually thrive based on its big data, cloud and mobility strategies. Hmmm... Hasn't that been every major IT company's strategic focus for the past five years? What she should really say is IBM's success will depend on execution. 13. CompTIA Security Research: So, what's the state of employee cybersecurity in 2015? Hmmm... Some of the stats from CompTIA's new research are alarming. 12. Come Together: Continuum's IT management platform for MSPs now includes integrated Webroot security right in the dashboard. This was a long-expected move, as Continuum and Webroot have been close working partners for quite some time now. 11. In-Depth Dell-EMC-VMware Analysis: Andreessen Horowitz, the major venture capital firm, has posted one of the most comprehensive looks at Dell's $67 buyout of EMC and VMware. Somebody forgot to tell Andreessen Horowitz that long-form journalism and analysis are dead... Frankly, many media companies could learn a lot from the report.
Usula Burns Usula Burns
10. Xerox Healthcare Isn't Healthy: Something is wrong with Xerox's healthcare business, amid government healthcare projects in California and Montana that apparently won't be completed. Plus, the printer company's services business saw revenues drop 8 percent, and overall quarterly revenue fell 10 percent. Now, CEO Ursula Burns says Xerox is undergoing a "strategic review" -- though a sale of the company apparently isn't being considered... 9. Security Startup: Keep a close eye on Cytegic, a security startup that seems to be leveraging data analysis as the foundation for its platform. The company is attracting funding... and customers, too. More: See Items 8 through 1 — including Cisco's IoT acquisition, another IT service provider acquired and more. Page 2 of 2: Today's top channel partner updates, continued: 8. Converged Infrastructure: SolidFire, which develops solid state arrays, has launched a new Agile Infrastructure for Virtual Infrastructure offering. Basically, this is a converged infrastructure platform that leverages Dell and VMware components. What's the channel hook? By providing channel partners with documented and repeatable deployment process covering setup, configuration and workload optimization, VARs can create a complete infrastructure capable of going from bare metal to workload in 90 minutes, a SolidFire spokesperson told ChannelE2E. Mike Elgan7. Join Me Today: I'll join Mike Elgan's Tech News Today at 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT today. It's one of the web's most popular daily netcasts. Tune in live or catch the recording. 6. Private Equity Buys IT Service Provider: Clearlake Capital Group has acquired Pomeroy and merged it with Tolt Solutions. The resulting business is dubbed Pomeroy Group of Companies (“Pomeroy Group”). The Pomeroy Group has more than 4,000 employees and nearly $1 billion in annual revenue. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. 5. What's Next In Big Data: The answer involves Spark -- an open source platform that shifts big data applications into real-time mode. It's like a close cousin of Hadoop, though some folks think Spark and Hadoop will wind up competing. IBM is betting heavily on Spark, introducing a Spark as a Service cloud platform earlier this week...
Julie Larson-Green Julie Larson-Green
4. New Microsoft Office Leader: It sounds like Julie Larson-Green will soon take over the Microsoft Office business -- which has gradually shifted to an annual subscription model while also branching out into Apple iOS and Google Android support. 3. Top 100 IoT Startups: So, you're trying to understand the Internet of Things (IoT) market opportunity. Maybe it would help to understand a few -- or all -- of the major IoT startups. With that thought in mind, here's a look at the the Top 100 Internet of Things Startups. 2. Cisco Buys IoT Startup: In a related development, Cisco has acquired ParStream, a big data analytics platform that apparently analyzes IoT data streams... Michael George1. Did You Hear?: In ChannelE2E Podcast 049, you'll hear Continuum CEO Michael George describe his views on overall cloud security -- and the debate between public and private cloud platforms for data protection. Read Them All: Did you miss one of our 5 Channel Partner Observations? Find the archive here hereSubscribe: Receive ChannelE2E’s blog headlines, insights and updates in your inbox daily. Subscribe to our enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have. 
Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.