5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: 13 October 2016

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Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, October 13, 2016.

Actually, there are 16 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…

16. Hardware as a Rental ROI: Keep an eye on an emerging relationship between GreatAmerica and MSPCFO. Among the focus areas: MSPCFO has been studying the Hardware as a Rental (HaaR) business model, and outcomes for GreatAmerica's channel partners. The results appear promising.

15. Cloud Distribution: D&H Distributing has launched a Cloud Marketplace portal. The platform allows small business resellers to select cloud-based solutions for resale on a monthly annuity basis. I don't know how it compares to established cloud distribution marketplaces like Ingram Micro Cloud, Tech Data StreamOne, Synnex CloudSolv and Avnet Cloud Marketplace, or disrupters like Pax8.

14. AT&T Partner Program: AT&T Partner Exchange, the company's solution provider program, now supports AT&T NetBond -- which offers a secure, high-speed network connection to numerous cloud service providers.  can now help their business customers confidently move to the cloud. 

13. SharePoint Data Protection: Barracuda's Cloud-to-Cloud Backup platform now supports Microsoft SharePoint Online. The offering is part of Barracuda Essentials for Office 365 Complete Protection and Compliance edition.

Matt Medeiros
Matt Medeiros

12. Data Protection & Distribution: StorageCraft backup and data protection solutions are now available for sale with Exablox appliances. Under new ownership and new CEO Matt Medeiros, StorageCraft has been accelerating its distribution and channel programs since about January.

11. Bad Connection: Ericsson shares fell about 20 percent yesterday. The company warned that Q3 revenue will fall far below Wall Street's expectations. Telecom sales in emerging markets were particularly weak. The big question: Will suppliers like Cisco Systems also feel the intensifying telco pinch?

10. Internet of Things Monitoring: Hartford Steam Boiler, which specializes in equipment insurance, has acquired Meshify, according to multiple reports. It's a rather intriguing buyout. Meshify built an industrial IoT platform that allows customers to track, monitor, control and analyze device performance. Now, link that platform to an insurance provider and the potential synergies become pretty darn dramatic...

9. Multi-Cloud Management Part I: CloudCoreo, which specializes in multi-cloud management for DevOps, has raised $2.9 million in seed-stage funding.

8. Multi-Cloud Management Part II: DoubleHorn has launched BetterClouds, a multi-cloud management platform.

Matthew Albritton

7. Multi-Cloud Management Part III: Unigma has hired Matthew Albritton as VP of sales. Albritton is perhaps best known for his sales experience at CA Technologies and Kaseya. Unigma develops a unified cloud management platform.

6. Multiple-Cloud Management Part IV: RightScale's universal cloud management platform now supports Microsoft Azure Resource Manager. RightScale claims its platform allows customers to manage any cloud or server from a single console...

5. Multi-Cloud Management Part V: Ahem... memo to VARs and MSPs looking for the next market opportunity... Are you starting to see a certain pattern? If not, perhaps the Amazon Web Services-VMware partnership coming later today will be your wakeup call...

4. Data Center Acquisition: Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT has acquired a data center based in Hawthorne, Kansas for $79.5 million. The seller, Red Sea Group, had acquired the data center in 2002 for $43 million, according to The Real Deal.

3. HIPAA Compliance and Cloud Services: The federal government has issued HIPAA guidance on cloud computing services. We'll share more thoughts on this soon.

2. MSP FAQ: Check the overhauled ChannelE2E FAQ section for answers to your most pressing managed services questions. And stay tuned. More FAQ entries -- pushing beyond the MSP sector -- will surface later today.

1. Meet ChannelE2E On the Road: Want to potentially meet ChannelE2E at Dell EMC World, Cisco Partner Summit, Synnex Varnex, ConnectWise IT Nation, New Relic FutureStack or Ingram Micro ONE? Then just email me: [email protected].

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.