Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter and more to start your day for Wednesday, November 11, 2015.
Actually, this blog contains 12 updates for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), and cloud services providers (CSPs) to sip on.
12. Cloud Distribution: The next cloud move for IT distributors sounds something like this... Distributors have spent years building dashboards that allow VARs and MSPs to select, activate, monetize and manage cloud applications for end-customers. Next up: White label services that allow VARs and MSPs to create their own online cloud marketplaces -- essentially permitting customers to visit VAR and MSP sites to select various cloud applications. Avnet just introduced that capability. WestconGroup BlueSky will have it soon. I have to check with Arrow Cloud, Ingram Micro Cloud, Synnex CloudSolv and Tech Data TDcloud to see if they offer that capability. (Did I miss any distributors?)
11. Unified Communications Distribution: Ingram Micro has agreed to distribute Teo's Unified Communications, Call Center, and Contact Center Solutions cater to the SMB, mid-market, and enterprise spaces.
10. Unicorns Collapsing: Daily readers know about my continued warnings -- unicorns (privately held startups valued at $1 billion or more) are heading for the slaughter. The latest big warning: Fidelity Investments is writing down the value of its Snapchat investment by 25 percent. More than 120 private startups are valued at $1 billion or more. By Q2 2016, I bet the figure is closer to 80 or so... And those write downs involve real money, folks. In the end, somebody has to pay for lofty investments that didn't work out...
9. Picture This: We run the same Starbucks coffee picture every Wednesday with our morning blog. It's especially fitting today. ChannelE2E Co-founder Amy Katz and I will be at IT Nation 2015 starting today. We'll arrive fully caffeinated.
8. IT Service Provider Acquisition: Preferred Systems Solutions has acquired GSM Consulting. The government-focused business combination will increasingly focus on software, cyber and mobile solutions, the two companies said.
7. Microsoft Acquires Cloud Security: Watch for the Secure Islands buyout to potentially bolster Microsoft Azure Cloud Security.
6. Cisco's Distribution Guru: Andrew Sage offered some distribution milestones during the WestconGroup Connect 2015 partner conference this week in Orlando. The details are confidential and recap some major milestones from last year. Let's just say distribution remains a healthy pipeline for Cisco's business focus.
5. Really Big Hack: So, who hacked JP Morgan last year and how big was the cyber criminal operation? The details surfaced in a criminal complaint. More than a decade ago, Sun CEO Scott McNealy said their was no privacy on the Web ("Get over it," he added). Fast forward to the present. Is there security on the Web? Really?
4. Saving the Telcos: Versa Networks, backed by Juniper veterans, has emerged from stealth mode with $43 million in funding. The goal: Develop products that revolutionize networking for telcos. The first step involves network and security functions in software, rather than hardware. Telcos seem primed for "the next thing," especially since some recent telco cloud moves haven't worked out.
3. Diving Into Data Lakes: So, you want to help customers manage big data? EMC's answer involves so-called Data Lakes. Toward that end, keep an eye on the new Isilon Scale-out NAS Data Lake -- which allows unstructured data to be available across data centers and remote offices, and archived in the cloud.
2. MSP Tool Kits: TeamLogic IT, a franchising organization for VARs and MSPs, has introduced a mobility toolkit to help its members compete against local and regional rivals. Additional tool kits -- for cloud and security services -- are on the way...
1. IT Nation 2015 News: The conference doesn't officially start until tonight. But ChannelE2E already has broken a boatload of news (and gathered plenty of chatter) ahead of the conference. To track IT Nation 2015 developments and our associated insights, just visit this link: https://www.ChannelE2E.com/category/events
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