Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, September 1 2016.
Actually, there are 16 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…
16. Salesforce Miss: The CRM cloud giant's Q3 revenue forecast is below Wall Street's estimates, and shares fell nearly 8 percent overnight. COO Keith Block says the company "had some softness" in parts of the U.S. in recent weeks. Still, plenty of companies would love to have Salesforce's problems. In its Q2 results, unveiled yesterday, total revenues were $2.04 billion -- up 25 percent from Q2 last year.
15. Painful Data Center Outage: SSP, which offers a SaaS platform for insurers, has suffered a major data center outage at its Solihull Data Center in the UK. Brokers experienced problems with the system for most (perhaps all) of Aug. 30 and Aug. 31. We're checking on the system's status and recovery.
14. Managed Cloud Partnership: Concerto Cloud Services, a managed cloud provider for mission-critical applications, has agreed to offer ZAP Business Intelligence and ERP solutions to customers.
13. PSA-Security Integration: BlackStratus's SIEM platform -- short for Security Information Event Management -- now integrates with ConnectWise's PSA (professional services automation) platform.
12. Kaseya-Veeam Relationship: Kaseya has announced the immediate availability of Veeam Backup & Replication to Kaseya's MSPs. Under terms of the relationship, Veeam is integrated with Kaseya's VSA platform, and Kaseya also is reselling Veeam to MSPs.
11. Apple Mac Managed Security Services: LogicNow's Dashboard for Mac will now execute MAX Risk Intelligence scans when installed as part of its MAX Remote Management platform. In other words, the release will allow Mac devices to perform the same automated risk assessments as the Windows platform. MSPs, therefore, can use the platform to help prioritize their threat mitigation strategies for Apple Mac customers. LogicNow is part of SolarWinds MSP, which includes a portfolio of managed services products.
10. MSP Acquisitions: Keep an eye on BCE, Canada's largest telecom service provider. The company has made a range of acquisitions -- including a few that involve managed and cloud services.
9. SonicWall Renaissance?: SonicWall's sale by Dell to private equity firms is on track to close by November or so. During a SonicWall partner conference in Las Vegas this week, the overall mood among VARs and MSPs was very upbeat. But there's lots of work to be done -- including a new partner program launch along with a range of cloud-based technology enhancements that are long overdue. We'll offer more analysis soon.
8. New Partner Program: Indix -- which provides structured product data for brands, retailers, and commerce enablers -- has launched the Indix Partner Program. The new global program is designed to help companies integrate structured product data into their services and software, Indix asserts.
7. Cross-Platform Smartwatches: What if Samsung Gear smartwatches worked with Apple iPhones. That's the long-term plan. Beta testing with about 2,000 users has started in Korea, though actual production delivery has not been disclosed. Apple, meanwhile, may unveil its second-generation smartwatch on Sept. 7. We, um, sort of doubt it will work with Samsung smartphones...
6. Bad Timing: Dropbox says 68 million usernames and passwords were stolen in a 2012 hack. The disclosure comes as Dropbox tries to gear up for a 2017 IPO. Plus, rival Box announced very strong earnings yesterday...
5. Good Luck With That: "The New York Times has to think like a tech startup, NYT digital editors say." Um, can't any legacy industry company make the same claim? And how many of them actually execute on that statement? Hint: Just be careful when you hear a legacy business start talking about intrapreneurs.
4. Female Founders & Funders: Roughly 300 female founders and funders are expected to attend Hera Venture Summit 2016 -- set for Sept. 17 at the University of San Diego. Hera Ventura Summit 2015 resulted in angel investing deals amounting to more than $100,000. Organizers hope to increase the amount to $500,000 at this year's event. Among the guest speakers to know: Kimberly Kovacs, an angel investor at Golden Seeds -- which only invests in women-owned businesses. Disclosure: I'm a former Golden Seeds member.
3. Small Business Hiring: Small businesses nudged their hiring pace higher in August, adding 63,000 jobs, according to ADP. That's an increase of 2,000 from July's 61,000 new jobs, Fox News noted, but down substantially from the monthly average of 84,000 during the first half of the year. The report covers small businesses with up to 49 employees.
2. Top 50 VMworld Highlights: The big VMware conference concludes today. For a look at everything you missed, check out ChannelE2E's Top 50 VMworld Highlights -- we'll be rounding out the list the rest of today.
1. Sales Compensation Plans: It's time to start ramping up your 2017 business plans. One smart starting point: Attend our Sept. 22 webcast -- 2017 Sales Plans: Compensation Strategies that Work. Our confirmed guest speakers include Service Leadership Inc. CEO Paul Dippell and Salary.com Veteran Teanna Spence.
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