5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: 25 April 2017

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, April 25, 2017.

Actually, there are 17 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...

17. Privacy - Big HIPAA Fine: CardioNet, a Malvern, Pa.-based device manufacturer and a subsidiary of BioTelemtry, has agree to pay a $2.5 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) due to potential noncompliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules, according to Healthcare Informatics.

16. Talent - H-1B Visas: Nasscom, an IT industry organization, is defending TCS and Infosys from perceived H-1B Visa attacks launched by the Trump administration. The two companies accounted for 8.8 percent of the approved H-1B Visas in 2014-2015, Nasscom says. The figure counters White House statements claiming India-based IT services companies are commandeering the lion's share of H-1B Visas.

15. Telecom Loss: Ericsson reported reported an operating loss of 12.3 billion Swedish crowns (US$1.4 billion) as previously announced provisions, writedowns and restructuring costs pushed it deep into the red, Reuters says. Ericsson and other telecom equipment suppliers face competition from software-defined and cloud technologies. Plus, major 5G network rollouts have yet to begin.

14. 5G Spectrum Auctions: On the one hand, telcos need 5G wireless to drive the next-generation of consumer and business revenues. But on the other hand, it sounds like some telcos want 5G wireless spectrum auctions to be pushed back -- perhaps until 2019 -- so that there's more time for testing, business planning and infrastructure investments.

13. Guest WiFi Services: Aptilo Networks, which develops WiFi service management and offloading solutions, has launched Aptilo Guest Wi-Fi Cloud, a cloud service designed for multi-site businesses or for large deployments in e.g. shopping malls, smart cities and stadiums. We're checking to see if MSPs can deploy, monetize and manage the service.

12. SD-WAN Standards: What if SD-WANs from different vendors could talk to each other? The Open SD-WAN Exchange (OSE) is making progress toward that goal. New details about the group's progress are expected today during the ONUG Spring 2017 conference in San Francisco.

11. Oracle Startups?: Oracle's internal "startup" strategy strives outpace rivals on the innovation front, according to Bloomberg. It sounds promising, but I'm also skeptical of so-called intrapreneur strategies.

But wait. There's more. Check out page 2 for items 10 to 1.

Here's page 2. Boy was that a fast page load. Here are items 10 to 1.

10. SAP Momentum: SAP sales topped analysts’ estimates for the fourth straight quarter, Bloomberg notes. First-quarter revenue rose 12 percent to 5.29 billion euros ($5.7 billion), SAP disclosed Tuesday, compared with the 5.16 billion-euro estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Cloud computing software sales grew better-than-expected 34 percent, the report says.

9. DevOps Management, MonitoringeCube Systems has launched NXTmonitor 9.0 Application Performance Management tools for DevOps teams. NXTmonitor supports application orchestration (i.e. start, stop, restart and health scripts) across IBM i-series, z-series, OpenVMS, Windows, Unix and Linux, the company says.

8. AWS Cloud Profit Margins: Oh the irony. Cloud services are pressuring just about everybody's profit margins -- except Amazon's.

7. Funding - IoT:  Sensoro, which specializes in Internet of Things (IoT) sensor device and network technology, raised $18 million in Series B funding. Sensoro was founded in 2013 as part of the Microsoft Accelerator program.

6 . Funding - Data Backup: Rubrik, a data backup startup, is raising roughly $150 million to $200 million on a $1 billion valuation, sources tell TechCrunch. Rubrik protects data and applications running in AWS and Azure. A $1 billion valuation for a privately held backup company? If Rubrik achieves that milestone it won't be unique. Privately held Datto achieved a $1 billion valuation in 2015.

5. M&A - Storage Scraps: Quantum Partners, a private investment fund managed by Soros Fund Management, acquired Violin Memory's assets for $28 million in a bankruptcy auction. Violin pursued a $2 million valuation in  2013, but the actual valuation was less than $900 million. How's that for a timely reminder about risky, inflated valuations?

4. M&A - Vertical Market IT Services: FTE Networks, a network infrastructure solutions provider for technology and communications customers, has acquired Benchmark Builders for $75 million. Benchmark specializes in construction management. The valuation was less than 20 percent of Benchmark's annual revenues.

3. Webroot Error: Webroot's security software mistakenly flagged Windows system files as malware on Monday. Webroot was working on an MSP fix for the error as of late Monday night. Stay tuned to ChannelE2E today for potential updates on the fix.

2. PSA Extension Marketplace: Top Step Consulting has launched a PSA Extension Marketplace to help professional services firms expand NetSuite OpenAir's capabilities. Top Step also has a relationship with FinancialForce, so I suspect marketplace extensions for that platform also are on the way.

1. ConnectWise Control: Surprises coming in the remote control market? Hmmm... Tuesday could be interesting. Stay tuned.

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.