5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: 31 August 2016

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, August 31, 2016.

Actually, there are 17 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) and telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…

17. Hello Again: To Luke Walling, formerly of AVG Technologies. I get the sense that he's about to make a key move... Stay tuned.

16. Continuum Expands International Footprint: Continuum has opened a data center in London, United Kingdom. The move gives Continuum’s MSP partners in the region the ability to use Continuity247 to ensure client data is securely backed up, protected and accessible to its clients.

15. Continuum's Next Move?: Mike Buratowski, senior VP of cybersecurity services at Fidelis Cybersecurity, is now a confirmed keynote speaker for Navigate 2016 -- Continuum's customer conference. Read the tea leaves and perhaps that's an indication of Continuum's next business move...

14. Samsung Smartphone Bugs: Samsung has delayed Galaxy Note 7 smartphone shipments amid additional "quality control testing." Sounds like they're trying to pinpoint and correct a hardware bug or defect. The delay is especially embarrassing amid Apple's rumored iPhone 7 unveiling, which appears set for Sept. 7.

13. Major Financial Services Hack: SWIFT, the global financial messaging system, has disclosed new hacking attacks on its member banks as it pressured them to comply with security procedures instituted after February's high-profile $81 million heist at Bangladesh Bank, Reuters reported. The SWIFT system interconnects many financial institutions, which means security holes can have widespread impact across the financial ecosystem.

12. Mixed Palo Alto Networks News: The security company continues to grow rapidly -- with revenues jumping 41 percent to $400.8 million in Palo Alto Networks' most recent quarter. However, a weak forecast for the current quarter is pressuring Palo Alto Networks shares today.

11. Google, Okta Identity Partnership: Google is partnering with Okta to promote cloud-based identity and access management (IAM) services to large enterprises. Ironically, Okta's partner summit -- Oktane 2016 -- is two floors down from a Dell conference that includes the company's One Identity team members. Dell is selling off the One Identity business. That deal is expected to close around November, and a One Identity channel partner program is expected to launch shortly thereafter.

10. Amazon IoT Security: Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microchip Technology partnered up to develop a provisioning platform and supported secure chip, reports EE Times and Business Insider. The new hardware, designed by Microchip, will help the platform provide end-to-end IoT security procedures and simplify IoT solutions that operate on AWS, the publications said.

9. Cisco Container Management Acquisition: Cisco is buying ContainerX Inc., an early stage, privately held company focused on building technology to help enterprises manage, orchestrate and integrate containers across data centers, the networking giant announced yesterday. Generally speaking, most channel partners and MSPs have been late to the container management opportunity. But here are 10 Docker- and Container-related predictions that partners should be tracking. Also, there are at least 10 Container Monitoring KPIs that service providers should master.

8. Global CSP Database: Looking for a searchable list of cloud services providers, data centers and colocation centers. Well then this Cloudscene database of CSPs pretty darn promising.

7. Data Center Management: Ascent has launched a new Navigator platform -- which essentially is a Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) system. The dashboard gives customers real-time data and performance details. I don't know if the dashboard is available to third-party service providers.

6. Another Tech IPO Delayed: LogRhythm, a security analytics company, has raised another $50 million -- essentially delaying an IPO amid uncertain times on Wall street. Veteran Channel Chief Nancy Reynolds has been building the company's partner program.

5. Vertical Market Managed Services: Caplin & Drysdale -- which provides a full range of tax, tax controversy, litigation and related legal services --  has entered into an eDiscovery managed services relationship with Epiq. The contract includes Arq managed services, which gives the firm their own Relativity environment for a fixed monthly fee. Financial terms were not disclosed.

4. Partner Programs:

  • SessionM, a provider mobile customer loyalty technology, has launched a global channel program.
  • SVA Software, a provider of storage performance management software for virtualized IBM environments, has launched a North America expansion along with a new partner program. SVA's software monitors and analyzes information for IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC) and the IBM Storwize family including V9000, V7000, V5000 and V2700.

3. Small Business Cloud Adoption: Sixty-four percent of small businesses run applications in the cloud; 68 percent use apps and 66 percent use a smartphone, according to an Intuit study of small businesses in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

2. Top 50 VMworld Highlights: Our list of Top 50 VMworld 2016 highlights continues to build out here. Keep checking that blog for more updates through Sept. 1.

1. Thank You: Amid August's conclusion, ChannelE2E remains the fastest-growing IT media platform that we've ever launched. Special thanks to our sponsors and to all the readers who engage with us daily.

More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner UpdatesPlusSubscribe to our daily 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.