Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Wednesday, January 27, 2016.
Actually, here are 16 items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on...
16. Continuum's Next PSA Integration: Continuum -- pushing beyond Autotask, ConnectWise and Tigerpaw Software -- has now integrated with Accelo, an emerging PSA system for MSPs and IT service providers... I believe Kaseya and LogicNow also integrate with Accelo. Hmmm...
15. Workplace as a Service: nGenx says its Cloud Application Catalog now contains more than 1,800 compatible applications. The catalog allows service providers and customers to track which applications can be deployed most easily as a cloud service.
14. Fresh Funding: Fireglass, a stealth IT security startup, has scored $20 million in Series A funding. We'll be watching for partner program details as the company charts its growth strategy.
13. Rabobank, Leasing and Cisco Capital: Rabobank is in preliminary talks to potentially sell its leasing unit, Bloomberg reported. The potential twist? Multiple sources say Rabobank has financial relationships with Cisco Capital, the financing arm of the networking giant. We're certainly not predicting any turbulence with Cisco's financing business. But as Rabobank negotiates its own future, we'll be watching to see if the partners at Cisco's table evolve in the months to come...
12. Cloud Management: Avnet Cloud Marketplace is partnering with CenturyLink and IO. The relationships should empower Avnet partners with key key hybrid cloud management tools. This is the latest in a growing list of key relationships brokered by Avnet VP of Cloud Solutions Tim FitzGerald.
11. Juniper Makes Acquisition: Juniper Networks is buying BTI Systems, a provider of cloud and metro networking systems and software to content, cloud and service providers... ...
10. EMC Earnings: EMC's latest quarterly revenues fell slightly and net income fell to $771 -- down from $1.15 billion in the same quarterly last year, the company disclosed this morning. An earnings call is set for 8:30 a.m. to share deeper details. Wall Street will be watching closely amid Dell's pending $67 billion buyout of EMC. Already, VMWare -- which EMC controls -- delivered a weaker-than-expected business forecast for 2016, though the company's NSX and End User Computing businesses are performing very well. EMC recently updated its partner program to help prime the pumps for 2016.
9. SolarWinds N-able's Next Moves: After launching N-able N-central 10.1 yesterday, what's next for SolarWinds N-able? We got the answers from GM JP Jauvin. Stay tuned for details later today...
8. Walmart and Your Cloud: Yowzers. Even Walmart is getting into the cloud and DevOps software market. The company has open sourced OneOps, an application lifecycle management platform that could help service providers to speed on-premises and cloud application refreshes...
7. Microsoft Azure In Your Data Center: Here we go again. Microsoft is preparing a version of its Azure public cloud platform to run directly in your data center (or your customer's data center). We've heard this strategy off and on for several years. But perhaps Microsoft is onto something this time. A beta of Azure Stack for your data center is rolling out soon...
6. Apple Can't Find What's Next: Apple remains spectacularly profitable, delivering an $18.36 billion profit on $75.87 billion in revenue for Q4. However, iPhone sales growth is slowing dramatically and revenues are expected to fall in the current quarter -- the first decline since 2003.
5. Cloud Help Desk M&A: AppDirect has acquired Radialpoint, which provides IT help desk support software. The goal: help SaaS companies improve their selling, onboarding and support services.
4 . Top 50 Cloud Management Tools: Which tools and technologies are designed to manage and monitor cloud services? Here are 50 of the top cloud monitoring and management tools -- actually, more than 50. Let us know what we missed.
3. ConnectWise 2016.2: ConnectWise, the business management software company focused on IT service providers, has started to post teasers for ConnectWise 2016.2. Chief among the enhancements: CloudConsole, a dashboard that allows partners to manage Office 365.
2. On the Road Again: I'll be out of the office on Thursday... surfacing... at... Well, I'll let you know Thursday.
1. Top Vertical Market MSPs: Is your MSP business succeeding in a key vertical market -- like healthcare, financial services, retail, government, etc.? Then celebrate your success and earn some honors. Complete the ChannelE2E Top 50 Vertical Market MSPs survey. We'll announce honorees in Q2 2016.
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