5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: 15 February 2017

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, February 15, 2017. Actually, there are 19 timely updates for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look… 19. Samsung Arrest: Samsung Electronics shares fell for a fourth consecutive session on Wednesday, after South Korean special prosecutors said they would seek a warrant to arrest Samsung Group chief Jay Y. Lee as part of a corruption probe, according to Reuters. 18. Apple vs. President Trump Border Tax: Apple CFO Luca Maestri said a U.S. border tax would harm the world’s largest economy by raising costs for consumers and making it harder for companies to compete overseas, according to Bloomberg. Also, a border tax would increase the value of the U.S. dollar, which is already too strong, and reduce the competitiveness of the country’s economy, the CFO said at a financial conference yesterday, Bloomberg reported. IT service providers and outsourcers are closely tracking President Trump's international trade and taxation strategy, which could have implications for how and where IT support jobs are outsourced. 17. Small Business Administration: The Senate on Tuesday approved Linda McMahon to lead the Small Business Administration (SBA). McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, was approved by an 81-19 vote. 16. Avnet and Amazon: Avnet Technology Solutions (ATS) can now offer AWS Cloud solutions to state and local government organizations and education institutions (SLED) through the AWS Authorized Government Reseller Program. Tech Data is in the process of acquiring ATS from Avnet. 15. M&A - Help Desk Contracts: NeoNova has acquired the service contracts for Nex-Tech's enterprise help desk customers. Financial terms were not disclosed. Effective immediately, NeoNova will assume responsibility for providing Nex-Tech customers with help desk services as well as additional services depending on individual agreements.  NeoNova has served the rural telecommunications industry since the 1990s. The company now provides help desk, networking, and revenue-building services to 230 companies. 14. M&A - Telecom Services: ITC Service Group, a provider of broadband installation, planning, design and staffing solutions to the telecommunications and IT industries, has acquired Clear Cell Management (CCM). The acquisition of CCM allows ITC to become a turnkey provider of services to the wireless telecommunications industry, the companies said. 13. M&A - Apple Resellers: Two of the United Kingdom's top media and entertainment technology solution providers have merged. Jigsaw24, a major Apple reseller, has acquired root6. We'll share more details soon. 12. IBM and ServiceNow Partnership: IBM and ServiceNow have inked a multi-year strategic partnership. IBM will offer ServiceNow's cloud-based service automation platform and IBM products and services to customers across all verticals. Among IBM's potential rivals: IT service providers that keep buying up ServiceNow-focused consulting firms. 11. IBM and VMware Channel Partners: IBM is providing its channel partners an "easy way" to sell VMware Cloud Foundation and other VMware-based cloud services. The move, which surfaced at IBM PartnerWorld 2017, reinforces VMware's commitment to work with multiple cloud services providers. Meanwhile, VMware Cloud for AWS is currently in technical preview. But wait. More content awaits you on page 2. Proceed to page two now and sip up the remaining items... Welcome to page two. Enjoy a second serving of channel content -- items 10 to 1 -- here. 10. Oracle Lawsuit: Oracle faces a class action lawsuit alleging the company "stiffed its sales employees of millions in earned commission wages by retroactively changing commission contracts." ChannelE2E could not reach Oracle for comment on the suit. 9. Avaya Repositions for IoT: Avaya has launched Avaya Surge, which helps partners to mitigate cyberattacks that can occur through IoT connected devices. Surge -- formerly SDN Fx Healthcare -- runs on any vendor's network to enable companies in any vertical industry to protect data from unauthorized access through IoT devices, the company claims. The launch surfaced at Avaya Engage 2017, the company's core customer and partner conference. 8. Veeam's Free Cloud Promotion: Every customer using Veeam for on-premises backup and recovery is now eligible for up to $1,000 in free cloud backup and Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) from Veeam and its partners, the company said yesterday. 7. Vembu's Free BDR Promotion: Vembu BDR Suite v3.7 has a free edition for data centers that deploy both virtual and physical environments. The free edition is designed for partners and customers that wish to try Vembu BDR Suite in their production and testing environments without any costs, the company said. 6. Healthcare IT Services: Keep a close eye on Konica Minolta, which is making some key moves in the healthcare sector... Additional details should surface at next week's HIMSS 2017 conference in Orlando, Fla. The company also owns All Covered, a major IT services business unit. 5. SMB Managed Services: Northwest IT Services and Technoideas have joined Uplevel Systems' Partner Program. The Uplevel appliance equips MSPs with a turnkey platform for managing SMB customer networks. Uplevel, a startup, raised $1.2 million to develop the appliance last year. 4. SolarWinds & IT Security: Multiple SolarWinds products are now certified under the Common Criteria with the Spanish Common Criteria Scheme (SCCS), an international standard for computer security. 3. Managed Security Services: EY has launched a Cybersecurity as a Service (CaaS) atop Microsoft Azure. The move reinforces an EY-Microsoft alliance inked in 2015. It's also part of the major Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) trend at this week's RSA Conference 2017 in San Francisco. 2. ConnectWise Sell: ConnectWise this morning unveiled some updates to Sell, the company's quoting and sales proposal software for IT services providers and technology companies. We'll take a closer look at the ConnectWise Sell (formerly Quosal) updates sometime later today. 1. RSA Conference 2017 Live Blogs: Our live coverage of RSA Conference continues today. Check ChannelE2E for live updates from our exclusive meetings throughout the day... 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.