Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Tuesday, February 2, 2016.
Actually, there are 15 items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on…
15. AppSense Channel Momentum: AppSense, which specializes in virtual desktops and secure end user experiences, says new customer orders surged 20 percent from August through December 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Also, 84 percent of new AppSense sales were executed via the channel...
14. Video as a Service: Westcon-Comstor has launched a video-as-a-service (VaaS) offering that brings a set of “always-on” video conference rooms to customers through a cloud-based model. The new GoldSeal VaaS solution, available through solution providers, is based on the Polycom RealPresence platform,
13. Safe Harbor 2.0 Negotiations: The U.S. and European Union failed to negotiate a new data transfer deal (so-called Safe Harbor 2.0) ahead of the February 1 deadline. But negotiators apparently remain at the bargaining table. The result could be clearer guidelines and data protection strategies for IT service providers that manage customer information across the U.S. and Europe.
12. Oracle Cloud Partner Program Updates: Don't forget... Oracle in late 2015 promised to deliver cloud partner program updates by February 2016. Fast forward to the present and I suspect you'll see something later today...
11. Flash Storage & Service Providers: More than 7,500 customers have deployed the Nimble Storage Adaptive Flash platform -- a 50 percent jump -- in the past 12 months. I don't know what percentage of those deployments involved channel partners. Nor do I know revenue per deployment. But... service providers like NTT SmartConnect Corporation, phoenixNAP, Clearview International, Virtacore, iland, ServerCentral, LivePerson and Zanox appear to be eager adopters.
10. SAP Pays Bribery Fine: Without admitting any wrongdoing, SAP paid about $3.7 million to settle an SEC bribery investigation. The alleged scandal involved a former SAP employee who bribed Panamanian officials, the SEC disclosed on Monday. That employee, by the way, is now in jail.
9. Google's Missing Cloud Revenues: Google parent Alphabet announced strong Q4 earnings and revenues yesterday, but the company failed to disclosed its specific cloud revenue numbers. Alas, Google is the only company among the big four public cloud providers (Microsoft, IBM, Amazon) that doesn't share cloud revenue figures...
8. Google Apps for Work Partners: Meanwhile, Google is doing a better job profiling channel partners that assist major Google Apps for Work deployments. The latest example: Fourcast, a key partner, played a central role in a major Google Apps deployment for a Belgian grocery store chain.
7. IT Security Acquisition: FireEye has acquired Invotas International, a startup that's focused on security automation and orchestration. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition comes only two weeks after FireEye purchased iSight Partners for $200 million.
6. Samsung Galaxy 7 Launch: Watch for the Samsung Galaxy 7 to surface on Sunday, February 21 in Barcelona -- one day before Mobile World Congress 2016 kicks into action.
5. Isn't That Ironic: U.S. General Michael Hayden, also the former CIA director, says Silicon Valley should offer end-to-end encryption without giving the U.S. government and the NSA any type of access. Critics worry about terrorists using encryption to gain the upper hand, but Hayden asserts that America is more security with end-to-end unbreakable encryption...
4. SDN Saves Money?: Intel CIO Kimberly Stevenson says she cut IT costs by $500 per company employee in 2016. How so? A healthy dose of software defined network (SDN) and cloud computing, she asserted.
3. AWS At Risk: Imagine this... Dozens of big unicorn startups begin to implode -- turning off their Amazon Web Services accounts along the way. We've been wondering about that potential cloud implosion scenario since mid-2015. Now, Pacific Crest is actually studying that potential scenario. Indeed, the Wall Street Watcher says Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet (i.e., Google), New Relic and Zendesk have heavy exposure to unicorn companies, which puts them at risk if/when the tech startup correction comes...
2. MSPs That Launch Software Companies: Lots of readers liked -- and disliked -- our list of MSPs that launch software companies. Some folks mentioned a range of companies that we overlooked. Others said VARs are just as savvy when it comes to software company spin-outs. Our response? We'll publish a 'Part II' to the blog later today.
1. Top Channel Partner Events: When and where are the top channel partner events, conferences and summits for VARs, MSPs, CSPs, ISVs and more? Check ChannelE2E's Technology Event Calendar for all the event listings, dates and locations.
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