5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: 19 May 2016

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Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Thursday, May 19, 2016.

Actually, there are 18 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on. Take a look…

Mike Byrne
Mike Byrne

18. Career Move: MSP software veteran Mike Byrne recently joined Live Virtual Help Desk as VP of sales and marketing. What triggered the career move? We've got the details. And we'll share them later today.

17. Azure Cloud Management: ServiceNow says its Cloud Management solution now supports Microsoft Azure. The result? Actually, this could be quite an important development. We'll share more details today.

16. Here Comes DTV: Well, it's not exactly Datto TV. But the data protection specialist is set to launch a television advertising campaign. The goal: Build Datto's brand among SMB customers. In theory, that means MSPs will have an easier time promoting and selling Datto-oriented solutions into the SMB sector.

15. Salesforce Earnings: The SaaS giant says Q1 2017 revenue surged 27 percent to $1.92 billion. Impressive. Then, Salesforce raised its overall revenue expectations for the year. Even more impressive.

14. Big Data Channel Strategy?: MemSQL has hired Cloudera veteran Patrick Ball as VP of worldwide sales.  MemSQL's database platform is designed for real-time analytics. Amid Ball's arrival, we wonder if MemSQL is prepping a more formalized channel partner program. (We're checking.) For more on MemSQL, check out our podcast with CEO Eric Frenkiel.

13. Cisco Systems Earnings: Despite falling sales in its router and switch business, Cisco's Q3 earnings beat Wall Street's expectations and the company's long-term outlook also was better than expected. During an earnings call, CEO Chuck Robbins pointed to especially strong security sales.

12. Google I/O 2016 Coverage: The search giant showed off numerous AI (artificial intelligence) innovations at the Google I/O 2016 conference yesterday. Re/code is offering minute by minute show coverage here. We're still waiting to see if/when Google Cloud Platform announcements surface at the show...

11. ARM Grabs IoT Opportunity: ARM Holdings, the smartphone chip maker, has acquired Apical for $350 million. The deal empowers ARM with camera technology for Internet of Things (IoT) devices...

10. IoT Partnership: EY and GE Digital are partnering to "develop and provide Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) services to help industrial companies achieve increased productivity from capital assets and processes linked in the cloud."

9. Inside Sales Compensation Templates: How can you build a more effective inside sales team? Perhaps a few templates and the right KPIs (key performance indicators) can get you started. You can find quite a few inside sales compensation templates here.

8. Regional M&A: A&A Office Systems has acquired RECOL, a data center provider in Connecticut. A&A is New England's largest family-owned independent office technology dealer, he company claims. RECOL is a data center that specializes in providing Internet services to businesses, municipalities and other organizations. A&A Office Systems will be announcing a variety of new cloud services including hosting, co-location disaster recovery, software as a service (SaaS) and remote enterprise content management, The Hartford Business Journal reported.

7. Cloud Managed Services Market Forecast: The global cloud managed services market will be worth $76.73 billion by 2020, growing 16.6 percent annually from 2016 to 2021, according to Research and Markets. Frankly, I'm skeptical when research firms through around really big numbers. But here's an interesting twist: Much of the market growth will involve small and midsize enterprises adopting managed services, Research and Markets claims.

6. Office 365 Security: More than 70 percent of Microsoft Office 365 enterprise customers suffer at least one compromised account each month, according to Skyhigh Networks -- which specializes in cloud security.

5. Banking Security: The Bank of England ordered UK banks to detail steps taken to secure computers connected to the SWIFT bank messaging network about two months after a still-unidentified group used the system to steal $81 million from Bank Bangladesh, according to Reuters. SWIFT is a messaging network that financial institutions use to securely transmit information and instructions through a standardized system of codes, Investopia says. Apparently, hackers have gained access to that secure highway...

4. New PSA Community: FinancialForce, which claims to be the fastest-growing cloud PSA platform, has unveiled FinancialForce Professional Services Communities. The community platform allows IT service providers, customers and partners to interact in a secure way, checking the status of projects and various engagements. We'll share more details later today.

3. Major Merger or Acquisition Coming?: My spider senses are tingling...

Ross Brown
Todd Thibodeaux, CEO, CompTIA

2. ChannelE2E Podcasts: CompTIA CEO Todd Thibodeaux and I grabbed some time with VMware Channel Chief Ross Brown this week to discuss the shift to software-defined everything. We'll share the conversation as ChannelE2E Podcast 069 on Tuesday, May 24, at 9:01 p.m. ET. In the meantime, check out recent podcast conversations with SAP VP Meaghan Sullivan (068: SME subscription business models); SolarWinds N-able Senior VP Mike Cullen (067: navigating MSP business stages); and TSG COO Steve Cox (066: scaling an MSP).

1. Join Us: We'll unveil a list of the world's Top Vertical Market MSPs and associated research during our June 16 webcast. Register now and join us.

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.