Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Friday, May 27, 2016.
Actually, there are 16 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on. Take a look…
16. Top 10 Channel Partner Events for June 2016: The list is right here.
15. Got A Startup Idea?: Now, you can test and shape that idea, using GoDaddy Flare. The app allows entrepreneurs to float and test their ideas, gathering feedback from community members. The twist? Ideas that don't get enough support will disappear within 24 hours...
14. Call Center KPIs: Got a service desk or call center? Here are eight Key Performance Indicators that can help you to transform incoming calls into revenue, according to Ringostat CMO Julia Holovko.
13. What If?: Eddy Cue, the leader of Apple Music and iTunes, brought up the idea of buying Time Warner in an Apple executive meeting last year, according to Bloomberg. But Apple never pursued the idea further, and an Apple bid for Time Warner -- and all that content -- never emerged...
12. CSC Layoffs: Let's face it. CSC will have layoffs once it combines with the HP Enterprise IT services spin-off. Among the potential targets: CSC and HPE's IT services business have a combined 95 data centers. Some of them will likely close once CSC and the HPE IT services business combine to form a new company, CSC CEO Mike Lawrie said during HPE's earnings call this week.
11. Next Tech IPO: Twilio, a cloud communications company, appears poised to be the next tech IPO. An initial public offering could arrive as soon as June, according to an SEC filing. Twilio's APIs allow users to build voice, video, messaging and authentication apps. By the way: This has been the worst year for IPOs since the 2009 recession, according to TechCrunch.
10. Big Data Growth: The global market for Hadoop deployments will reach $59 billion by 2021, up from $5 billion in 2015, according to Zion Research. No doubt the Hadoop market is growing as businesses adopt the software for big data and analytics projects. Key players like Cloudera, Hortonworks and MapR have been making partner program investments as well. Just be careful of the forecast data, however, since it often includes underlying hardware and infrastructure -- over and above the core Hadoop software and applications...
9. StorageCraft Pricing Perk: StorageCraft is offering special pricing for premium editions of ShadowProtect backup and disaster recovery software. Current and new partners will receive "significant savings" if they purchase new or renew subscription licenses for StorageCraft ShadowProtect IT Edition or StorageCraft ShadowProtect IT Edition PRO between now and June 30, the company says. Check in with the StorageCraft partner program here.
8. MSP RMM-Security Integration: NinjaMSP's RMM (remote monitoring and management platform now supports a Webroot endpoint security integration. NinjaMSP, launched by Dell PacketTrap veterans, has a growing list of strategic alliances and integrations. Similarly, Webroot works with a range of RMM providers.
7. Cisco's OpenDNS Security Strategy: When Cisco Systems acquired OpenDNS in 2015, the buyout involved more than a channel-friendly security company. In fact, Cisco gained a platform that gathers security insights from around the world. Cisco can leverage that information for its threat analytics and remediation work around the world, Chief Security Officer reports. Then again, ChannelE2E podcast listeners already knew that -- if they tuned in to a conversation with OpenDNS Senior Product Manager Dima Kumets.
6. On Second Thought: Intel has decided not to sell portions of its venture capital portfolio. Instead, the chip giant is restructuring Intel Capital -- one of the major sources of startup dollars in Silicon Valley.
5. Office 365 Updates: Microsoft has made multiple Office 365 updates for May 2016. You'll find details here.
4. MSP Strategies: Continuum is lining up numerous MSPs to speak at the company's Navigate 2016 conference in September. Continuum specializes in RMM (remote monitoring and management), NOC (network operations center), help desk and BDR (backup and disaster recovery) solutions for MSPs.
3. DattoCon16, Automation Nation 2016: First meeting booked. We'll be sitting down with Ted Roller, virtual channel chief at GetChanneled. His current core focus? Acting channel chief at Mailprotector. If you'd like to potentially meet ChannelE2E at DattoCon16 or ConnectWise Automation Nation 2016, email me ([email protected]).
2. Pending M&A Deals?: Quite a few M&A deals get negotiated over three-day holiday weekends -- when media bloggers are seemingly off at the beach, and staff members are unplugged with their families. Hmmm... See you Tuesday.
1. Memorial Day: We'll be closed Monday, May 30 to observe Memorial Day. For all of those who have friends and family members who made the ultimate sacrifice: Thank you.
More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner Updates. Plus: Subscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.
