5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: 11 April 2017

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, April 11, 2017.

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

16. Small Business Cybersecurity: Keep a close eye on the Main Street Cybersecurity Act, which would require NIST to provide a voluntary set of security guidelines for small businesses.

15. Unified Security Management: RapidScale, which specializes in managed cloud services, has launched Unified Security Management to address customers' compliance and security requirements.

14. Backup: Altaro has launched VM Backup version 7, a backup solution for Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware environments.  It's designed and priced for small to midsize businesses, Altaro claims.

13. Konica Minolta Services: Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA has formed a new integrated Global Client Services organization, which consolidates all aspects of services and support into one entity. The organization aligns with Konica Minolta's MSP services (All Covered) and Workplace Hub -- which will help customers to build and support the workplace of the future.

12. Cloud Partnership: Unitas Global, a cloud solutions provider, is partnering with Equinix and Microsoft Azure to "deliver an end-to-end hybrid cloud solution that enables enterprises to consume public and private cloud services with full transparency and ease."

11. Cloud Financial Administrator?: Do you really need a cloud financial administrator to oversee and manage cloud costs? ParkMyCloud offers this view. We'll share more thoughts later today.

Gary Hayslip
Gary Hayslip

10. Talent - Security: Webroot has hired Gary Hayslip as chief information security officer (CISO). Hayslip will guide the company’s information security program and contribute to product strategy. Hayslip has served in several major IT security organizations -- including the National InfraGard Program.

9. MSP Contract Win: CenturyLink has won a contract to provide a hosted contact center and VoIP service to the General Services Administration's (GSA) Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). The contract, which was awarded via GSA's IT Schedule 70, is valued at $1.3 million for the first year with four one-year options, for a total value of more than $6 million, CenturyLink said. The deal comes at a key time for CenturyLink, which recently sold off its data centers to focus on network-centric managed services.

8. Talent - Channel Chief: Diamanti, creators of a hyper-converged appliance for containerized applications, has named Shawn Kinnear as its VP of worldwide sales. Kinnear is a veteran of Micron and EMC.

Tom Doerner
Dave Lacey

7. Talent - MSP Leadership: WatServ (Waterloo Managed Software Services Ltd.) has named Dave Lacey as its president and CEO. Lacey previously led Brookfield RPS, and he has extensive M&A and joint-venture experience. Outgoing CEO Tom Doerner is retiring from the MSP but will remain an advisory board member. WatServ provides hosting and managed services for enterprise business systems on either Microsoft Azure or WatServ’s private cloud infrastructure. The company's specialty is Microsoft Dynamics.

6. M&A - 5G Wireless: - AT&T is acquiring Straight Path Communications to accelerate the company's 5G wireless strategy. The $1.6 billion deal complements AT&T's January acquisition of FiberTower and augments the company's holdings of mmWave spectrum, AT&T asserts.

5. M&A - IoT: Airgain, a maker of antennas for set-top boxes, WiFi routers, digital TVs and other devices, is acquiring Antenna Plus for $6.4 million in cash. Atenna Plus could boost Airgain's technology for such wireless IoT applications as trucking, public safety and more.

4. How to Manage M&A?: Corporate Mergerware Solutions, a startup that provides software for post-merger and acquisition integration, has raised $100,000 (about Rs 65 lakh) from existing investor Philippe Bouchet, who is a former vice president at French energy management firm Schneider Electric, according to VC Circle.

3. M&A - Microsoft Cloud Services: Microsoft has acquired Deis, which specializes in Kubernetes container technology.

2. Top 25 Help Desk Platforms?: Here are the Top 25 Help Desks and Ticketing Solutions, as ranked by GetApp.

1. Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2017: Yes, we're covering the conference. Stay tuned for several partner program updates -- many of which involve SD-WAN technologies -- sometime this morning...

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.