Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter and so much more to start your day for Wednesday, November 18, 2015.
Actually, today's update involves 17 items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs) and cloud services providers (CSPs) to sip on. And based on user feedback... It's all on one page. And in color.
17. SEC Investigates Startup Valuations: The SEC isn't exactly known for being ahead of the curve... so this "reactive" move could be a sign that the tech startup bubble may deflate soon. The SEC is checking in with mutual funds to examine startup valuations in their portfolios. Startup valuations were still rising in Q3 but signs of a pullback are nearing. There's concern that the funds may have too much exposure to startups with inflated valuations. More on this later today. Source: The Wall Street Journal.
16. Tomorrow's RMM: ChannelE2E keeps telling readers that they need to focus on customer application monitoring in a post-server world. Now, New Relic is saying the exact same thing. We'll share more in the days ahead...
15. Are "Intrapraneurs" Real?: Kudos to IBM for supporting millennials as they aggressively network within the IT giant. Some of those millennials are now called "intrapraneurs" because they inject a startup mentality into a big company, while also helping to drive innovation. I've heard lots of companies claim that they support intrapreneurs -- or "startups" within the larger business. But in many cases, I'm not sure the movement is real. I'll explain why in a separate blog really soon.
14. SaaS Security Broker: Avanan emerged from stealth mode today with a cloud security platform that protects Office 365, Box, Google and additional enterprise SaaS applications. I could be wrong , but the company sounds like a cloud security aggregator or broker of sorts, offering best-of-breed technology from more than 60 vendors like Check Point, Symantec and Palo Alto Networks. "With a click of a button, you can now deploy Malware Scanning, Advanced Threat Protection, Data Leakage Prevention, Anomaly Detection, Encryption, Cloud Access Control, File Sanitization, Shadow IT Detection, Shadow SaaS Protection and more," the company claims. We're checking the claims...
13. Cisco's Next MSP Move: Cisco’s Cloud and Virtualization Group will offer Moogsoft's Incident.MOOG service quality and productivity improvement software to MSPs, telco service providers, and cloud-driven enterprises. As part of the move, watch for Cisco and Moogsoft to promote so-called Virtual Managed Services (VMS). We'll share more details soon.
12. Microsoft's New Security Focus: Yes indeed, CEO Satya Nadella is rallying Microsoft to focus far more aggressively on cloud and mobile security. Among the names to know: Bret Arsenault, chief information security officer, Microsoft. For channel partners, I think Microsoft's security push is about peace of mind. Make customers confident that your solutions are secure, then they'll give you more share of wallet...
11. Fresh Funding: Salesfusion, a marketing automation provider to SMB customers, has now raised $13.5 million in Series B funding. The big question: Is there a channel partner strategy here?
10. What is A Great Desktop Experience?: As we all spend more time on smartphones and tablets, the IT world and many channel partners have forgotten to deliver one of the most basic services to customers -- a great desktop experience. So what makes a great desktop experience? According to a survey by Dimensional Research and AppSense, users and IT managers think a great desktop experience requires:
- Faster logon times (63%)
- Preventing corruption and bloating of user profiles (52%)
- Tightly controlling application access (45%)
- Simplified image management (43%)
- Secure enterprise file sync and share (39%)
- Least privilege enforcement through granular admin rights (33%)
9. IBM, Distributors and Federal Clouds: IBM is working more closely with Arrow, Avnet Government Solutions, Ingram Micro, Tech Data Corp. and ViON to promote IBM Cloud solutions into the federal government. Meanwhile, we have a boatload of new information about Ingram Micro Cloud to share with readers... stay tuned.
8. Will They Ever Learn?: Nokia has launched a $16.6 billion offer to buy Alcatel-Lucent. Hmmmm... Didn't HP just break into two companies to become more nimble? Didn't Symantec sell off Veritas after that M&A deal never lived up to its promise? Does M&A between two underperforming companies ever create one high-performance company?
7. Distribution and Security: Westcon has agreed to distribute ForeScout Technologies Inc.'s automated security control platform to solution providers in North America.
6. Welcome Letter: Barracuda Networks CEO BJ Jenkins has emailed an open letter to Intronis channel partners, assuring them that the security company will properly manage the recently acquired cloud backup company. We'll share more thoughts soon.
5. Ingram Micro Cloud Summit: It's set for April 11-13, 2016, in Phoenix, according to VP Renee Bergeron. The event will surface on ChannelE2E's Technology Event Calendar later today. Is your partner summit or conference listed?
4. Google Plus, Plus?: On the one hand, Alphabet has scaled back its ambitions for Google+, the social network that lacks one important ingredient -- a crowd. But on the other hand, a redesigned version of Google+ has emerged. I love Google+ for SEO purposes. Now, I hope to find other reasons to love it. If only I had the time to immerse myself in that social network...
3. Dress Down Day for My Feet: It's Day 3 here at the Ingram Micro ONE conference in Nashville, Tenn. Navigating the world's largest hotel (other than a Casino, of course) requires a new strategy today. It's called Sneakers.
2. Big Move: Salesforce has hired former Microsoft Dynamics leader Bob Stutz to lead the cloud company's analytics business. It's rather incredible to see data at the center of so many conversations -- except in the channel... But that will change. It has to.
1. Machine Learning vs. Machine Discovery: If you're still trying to wrap your arms around big data and machine learning... don't forget to study up a bit on machine discovery. This article on machine learning vs. machine discovery is one great place to get a feel for the discussion today... and how those topics may impact your business (and your customer base) in the next few years.
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