5 Channel Partner Updates: 12 July 2016

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Tuesday, July 12, 2016. Actually, there are a whopping 23 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on. Take a look… 23. Microsoft WPC16: Our extensive coverage of Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2016 (WPC16) continues right here. Check the link every few hours throughout the week for the latest on Microsoft's partner programs and channel ecosystem. 22. Cloud-to-Cloud Backup: The market for cloud-to-cloud backup services has reached its tipping point. StorageCraft is jumping in today. Players like Datto Backupify and OwnBackup (among others) are already in the market. Stay tuned for more details. 21. Cloud Services Management: Botmetric LLC, a Silicon Valley-based startup, will unveil an ‘Expert Assisted Cloud Management Solution’ during the AWS Summit in Santa Clara today. The cloud management platform will initially focus on three optimization areas: Cost, security and automation. 20. BDR Guide for MSPs: Continuum has launched a 46-page Backup and Disaster Recovery Guide, which is designed for MSPs that want to offer business continuity services to customers.

19. New Channel Chief, Part I: Axcient and FreedomVoice veteran Chris Sterbenc has joined Infrascale as senior VP of sales/channel chief. In  some ways, InfraScale competes with Axcient on the disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) front. Both Axcient and Infrascale were recently mentioned in Gartner's DRaaS Magic Quadrant report for 2016. Game on. 18. Security Partner Program: Omada, which specializes in IT security solutions for identity management and access governance, has launched the global Omada Partner Program.

Jason Cowie

17. New Channel Chief, Part II: Zerto, also mentioned in the DRaaS Magic Quadrant report (see item 19 above), has hired Jason Cowie as senior director of global partner and channel sales. He previously held key alliance, product management and business development positions at Virtual Instruments (acquired by Load Dynamix), Configuresoft (acquired by EMC), Drive Protected (acquired by Allied), Embotics, Microsoft, and Mission Critical Software (merged with NetIQ). 16. OpenStack Upgrade: Mirantis OpenStack 9.0 arrives today. Mirantis says the upgrade simplifies OpenStack lifecycle management -- essentially making it easier for channel partners and/or customers to deploy, monitor and maintain the cloud platform. 15. Networking Partner Program: Extreme Networks today announced enhancements to its Extreme Partner Network (EPN) program. The changes include new rebates, development funds, and self-paced training. The company will share deeper details during the Extreme Networks Global Partner Summit (Oct. 24-27, Orlando, Fla.). 14. State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks: Google says the company notifies customers of 4,000 state-sponsored cyber attacks per month. Four thousand? Hmmm... what about the ones we never hear about? ...

Michael Fey

13. Symantec Takeover?: How's this for ironic: Symantec is buying Blue Coat, but Blue Coat leaders will occupy the top two executive seats at Symantec once the deal is official. You already know Blue Coat's Greg Clark will become Symantec's CEO. Now comes word that Blue Coat COO Michael Fey will take that same position at Symantec when the deal is finalized sometime in Q3. 12. CIOs Back In Control: Just when you thought cloud services and on-demand computing had undermined CIOs, here's the reality check: The majority of CIOs now report directly to CEOs -- an important direct connection as companies seek to become "digital businesses." Indeed, 53 percent of Fortune 500 CIOs report directly to CEOs -- up from 46 percent five years ago, according to Korn/Ferry International.

Alex Thurber

11. BlackBerry BB10: Even as BlackBerry prepares to launch new Android-based smartphones, the company is dismissing rumors that it will stop developing keyboard- and BB10-based devices. BB10 is BlackBerry's proprietary operating system. Some analysts have been calling on BlackBerry to exit the hardware market, but CEO John Chen says the company can achieve break-even results on hardware later this year. Senior VP Alex Thurber, a Cisco veteran, has been working overtime to develop new sales channel pipelines for BlackBerry's devices. 10. PC Market Rebound? Sort of: Worldwide PC shipments fell 4.5 percent in Q2, better than the 7.4 percent decline that IDC originally projected. Gartner says the Q2 shipment decline was actually 5.2 percent. Still, business seems to be picking up in the U.S., where Q2 shipments rose 1.4 percent, Gartner says. Lump in Chromebook shipments, and the U.S. growth figure is actually 4.9 percent, IDC asserts.

Nancy Reynolds

9. LogRhythm IPO?: LogRhythm, which specializes in data-driven security, has hired JPMorgan to explore a potential 2017 IPO, Bloomberg asserts. Among those who are driving LogRhythm's apparent growth: Nancy Reynolds, VP of Americas Channel Sales. The well-known channel chief previously held similar roles at Kaspersky Lab, Dell, Palo Alto Networks, Trend Micro and Novell. Continue to Page 2 to read items 8 through 1. We promise: It ain't fluff. And a slide show doesn't await you. Welcome to page two of our super-sized morning update. Here are items 8 through 1 for today... 8. Open Source Hardware?: SiFive, a San Francisco-based startup, is building chips based on RISC-V -- which essentially leverages open source instructions. SiFive plans to develop chips for wearable devices, the Internet of Things (IoT) and data center hardware. 7. RMM Cloud Hack: DataDog, which makes a cloud-based RMM (remote monitoring and management) service, was hacked on July 8. The service is particularly popular with customers that want to monitor Amazon Web Services (AWS) workloads. DataDog has sent password reset notices and other updates to customers. Known vulnerabilities have been mitigated, and a post-mortem statement is expected after the company has completed deeper forensics on the hack, according to Chief Security Officer Andrew Becherer. 6. Distribution & Hyperconvered Hardware: Avnet has agreed to distribute SimpliVity, which offers hyperconverged infrastructure. SimpliVity’s OmniStack Integrated Solutions with Cisco UCS will be available through Avnet in the United States and both OmniStack Integrated Solutions with Lenovo System x and OmniStack for Cisco UCS will be available in Latin America.

Victor Paradell

5. Distribution and IoT: Tech Data has unveiled an Internet of Things (IoT) business practice, called Smart IoT Solutions by Tech Data. The new practice, designed to aggregate IoT solutions and provide a simplified route to the rapidly expanding IoT market for solution providers, is company veteran Victor Paradell, vice president, IoT Solutions, Europe. Most of the major IT distributors are building or acquiring IoT capabilities. Just yesterday, rival Synnex announced an IoT-related acquisition. 4. Ingram Micro Odin Upgrade: Ingram Micro unveiled the latest upgrade to Odin, the distributor's service automation platform. The result: Service providers can now take advantage of a "more intuitive, brand-new customer control panel, enhanced performance and scalability, and new SDKs (software development kits) for payment plugins and domains." Ingram's own cloud services are built atop Odin, which the distributor acquired from Parallels in 2015. Thousands of service providers worldwide have built cloud marketplaces and other offerings atop Odin. 3. Cloud Services Brokerages Market Forecast: The cloud services brokerage and enablement market will reach $26.71 billion in 2016, up from $7.44 billion in 2016, a 29.1 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), according to MarketsAndMarkets. The only problem? Quite a few CSBs have abandoned the "brokerage" term because of potentially negative connotations. Here's a list of Cloud Services Brokerages, and how they've evolved over the years.

Seth Collins

2. Merger, Acquisition Advisor: martinwolf, a well-known M&A advisory firm, has opened a New York office and promoted Seth Collins to managing director. Collins joined the company in 2013. Previously, he was president of Manchester Technologies, a $320 million systems integrator and distributor. 1. Channel Events and Summits: If your company is hosting a channel event or partner summit in 2016 or 2017, make sure it's listed on ChannelE2E's Technology Event Calendar -- the most comprehensive conference calendar of its kind for VARs, MSPs, CSPs and emerging channel partners. More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner Updates. Plus: Subscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.