Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, October 27, 2016.
Actually, there are 14 entries 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…
14. Big Deal: The rumors were correct. Qualcomm is buying NXP Semiconductors for about $38 billion in the biggest-ever semiconductor industry deal, expanding the reach of its chips from phones to cars, Reuters reported.
13. Mac Refresh: Apple today is expected to unveil a revamped MacBook Pro with a fingerprint reader and faster ports, Reuters said. The launch comes one day after Microsoft's perfectly timed Surface Studio launch, which essentially counters high-end desktop iMacs.
12. NetSuite Buyout: Oracle has made its best, final offer to acquire NetSuite, according to CEO Mark Hurd's interview on CNBC yesterday. The statement comes as some NetSuite shareholders push Oracle to make a higher offer for the SaaS ERP provider. Oracle announced the $9.3 billion takeover in July. NetSuite shareholders have until November 4 to approve the deal.
11. Twitter Layoffs Confirmed: Those Twitter layoff rumors were true. The social media site today confirmed plans to cut 9 percent of its workforce, though revenue and user estimates were stronger than expected in the company's most recent quarter. Twitter earlier this month reportedly explored a potential company sale to Disney, Google or Salesforce, but bids didn't materialize.
10. Autotask, Continuum Alliance: Continuum CEO Michael George is introducing Continuity247, the company’s fully-managed backup and disaster recovery (BDR) platform to the Autotask European community this week during an Autotask conference in Dublin, Ireland. Autotask launched its own endpoint backup product in September and it does offer some server backup capabilities. But so far, a head-on showdown between Autotask and the major BDR providers hasn't materialized.
9. Infrastructure, APM & Security Monitoring: Datadog has launched a machine-learning based feature called Anomaly Detection. The service will allow engineering teams to quickly identify abnormal behavior within rapidly changing cloud environments, based on historical patterns that are impossible to track manually, the company said. Datadog, which is venture backed, is expanding beyond its infrastructure monitoring heritage to offer application performance monitoring. A Datadog showdown vs. AppDynamics and New Relic is widely expected.
8. Key Zendesk Move: Keep an eye on Zendesk Explore and plenty more...
7. Cloud ITSM Market: The cloud-based IT services management market will enjoy a 16 percent compound annual growth rate from 2015 to 2019, Wiseguy Reports, a research firm, predicts. Key players in the market are CA Technologies, BMC, IBM, HP Enterprise and ServiceNow, the company asserted. Of those names ServiceNow seems to have the most momentum with MSPs.
6. Partner Program: DSM Technology Consultants, a provider of managed private cloud and IT infrastructure services, has expanded its channel program to include TelAdvocate Communications. Indeed, TelAdvocate is now a Master Agent that distributes DSM's cloud services portfolio.
5. On-Demand MSP Talent?: Project Execution Network, a Pittsburgh-based startup, has launched an online community that connects small and midsize businesses with the region's independent consultants. Project Execution Network's platform combines consulting and managed services portals, an online marketplace, a 24/7 network operations center, an analytics toolkit and a professional services automation system, the company says. In some ways it sounds like a regional version of OnForce or WorkMarket.
4. Microsoft Azure for Government Customers: Government adoption of the Microsoft Azure cloud sounds like it it's skyrocketing. No doubt, Amazon Web Services is enjoying similar government success...
3. Microsoft Azure and IoT Device Certification: Microsoft is starting to certify IoT devices to work with the Azure cloud. That could be a smart move -- or a really risky move. Last week's massive DDoS attacks involved millions of IoT devices. I wonder if/how Microsoft will stand by certified IoT devices that wind up used in global DDoS attacks...
2. Earnings Results Coming Today: Amazon, CA Technologies, Ingram Micro and ShoreTel each are expected to announce quarterly results today. (Avnet already did so earlier today.) Among the things to track:
- Potential Amazon statements about AWS profit margins.
- CA Technologies' Unified Information Management platform, and potential momentum with midmarket MSPs.
- The pending Ingram Micro company sale to a Chinese logistics giant. The deal is expected to close before year's end.
- ShoreTel's efforts to potentially sell the company.
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