5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: 15 August 2016

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Monday, August 15, 2016.

Actually, there are 12 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…

12. IoT Acquisition: Aclara Technologies, which supplies smart infrastructure technologies to water, gas and electric utilities globally, has acquired the Smart Grid business of Tollgrade Communications Inc. The deal includes LightHouse, a distribution monitoring platform spanning sensors, management software and predictive analytics. Financial terms were not disclosed.

11. New Google IoT Operating System: Google is developing yet another operating system -- known as Fuchsia. It sounds like Fuchsia will have a very small footprint -- positioned for embedded devices, sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT)...

10. Suing Your Angel Investor: Imagine receiving money from an angel investor -- and then suing that investor because of major philosophical differences. San Antonio's Vysk Communications is doing exactly that...

9. Hyperconvergence and Cloud Computing: ZeroStack's Z-Fabric Cloud Platform software will be available on hyperconverged hardware from Dell and HP Enterprise (HPE). The move could allow the Dell and HPE reseller channels to bundle ZeroStack’s software-managed cloud platform, the company claims.

8. Technology Blame Game: Australia is blaming IBM for a recent website application failure. Australia's census website went dark last week amid a DDoS attack. Country leaders say such attacks are predictable, and IBM should have planned accordingly. IBM didn't reply to a CNet request for comment.

7. Ingram Buyout Deadline: Amid heightened compliance scrutiny, the deadline for Tianjin Tianhai's $6 billion buyout of Ingram Micro has been pushed back until November 13. The deadline delay will allow the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) to examine the deal.

6. CenturyLink Software Alliances Leader Moves On: Taos, an IT services firm, has hired Bob Laskey as chief revenue officer. Laskey previously was VP of sales and alliances at CenturyLink's global software industry vertical. Executive search firm ON Partners led Laskey's placement.

5. The Next FinTech Disruption: You already know that Betterment and Wealthfront are disrupting the traditional wealth management industries. So what sector of the financial services market will get disrupted next? Keep an eye on the Private Equity market, where seemingly high fees (the so-called 2 and 20 fee structure) remain the norm. But I wonder: How much longer can that last?

4. Cloud Security, Encryption and the Feds: More than one in three IT professionals believes cloud providers should turn over encrypted data to the government when asked, according to a Bitglass and Cloud Security Alliance survey...

3. Hotel Hack: A data breach at 20 U.S. hotels operated by HEI Hotels & Resorts for Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt and Intercontinental may have divulged payment card data from tens of thousands of food, drink and other transactions, Reuters reported Sunday. Here's the notice letter, an FAQ and list of affected properties.

2. EU-US Privacy Shield: Microsoft and Amazon Web Services have taken different approaches to the new EU-US Privacy Shield agreement, which essentially replaces the old Safe Harbor regulations for transferring data between Europe and the U.S. Microsoft has applied for Privacy Shield certification, while AWS has been slow to do so. Here's why.

1. Earnings Season: Cisco Systems and NetApp each are expected to report quarterly earnings on Wednesday, Aug. 17. We'll be watching to see how Cisco's SaaS efforts are moving along, and whether NetApp's Flash business can truly give the company a boost.

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.