Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Monday, August 29, 2016.
Actually, there are 14 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) and telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…
14. Yammer Meets Office 365: It sounds like Microsoft is set to further converge -- or at least integrate -- Yammer (the corporate social media platform) with Office 365. Stay tuned for details at Microsoft Ignite, the company's enterprise IT conference -- which is set for late September.
13. Cloud Data Centers -- Employment Disconnect: Even when a big company opens a big cloud data center in a small town, the development doesn't bring many new jobs to the area, according to analysis by The New York Times.
12. More Hosted Desktops: You may recall that IBM's cloud in June began offering VMware Horizon Air hosted desktops. Fast forward to present day and IBM appears to be hedging its desktop as a service bets. The evidence: IBM Cloud Marketplace now offers Awingu software to partners worldwide. Awingu is a web-based interface for remote access and BYOD; it combines all company files and applications into a single online workspace that is securely accessed using any device, OS or browser. Sounds like a VMware Horizon Air alternative to us...
11. IT Management IPO: Apptio, which makes a portfolio of IT management tools, has filed plans to go public. The company is seeking to raise about $75 million. Apptio revenues were $129.3 million in 2015, up 21 percent from 2014. The company's 2015 net loss was $41 million.
10. Microsoft Surface as a Service: More details about Microsoft's subscription service for Surface has arrived, care of Mary Jo Foley. The effort, known as Microsoft Subscription Services, allows customers to pay monthly fees for the notebook and tablet computers.
9. Intapp Parner Program: Intapp, which specializes in legal software, continues to expand its Intapp Open certification program. To date, Intapp services partners have completed projects at 110 firms, with more than 240 projects currently underway. The latest Intapp services partners to achieve certification include: Harriss Wagner (Australia); Report Factory (Australia); Stickleback Technologies (United Kingdom); and Legal IT Partners (US) .
8. Iran Malware: Iran has detected and removed malicious software from two of its petrochemical complexes, after announcing last week it was investigating whether recent petrochemical fires were caused by cyber attacks. The official said the malware at the two plants was inactive and had not played a role in the fires, Reuters reported. Iran has been the target of cyber warfare before. The United States and Israel covertly sabotaged Iran's nuclear program in 2009 and 2010 with the now-famous Stuxnet computer virus, which destroyed Iranian centrifuges that were enriching uranium, Reuters note.
7. IoT Security: Seventy percent of organizations are unprepared for the security risks associated with the Internet of Things, a Tripwire and Blackhat survey found.
6. Los Angeles Small Business Loans: Los Angeles City Hall is opening up the purse strings with a $4 million investment in small businesses, according to ABC7. The loans can range from $1,000 to $250,000, with rates of around 4 percent.
5. Millennial Student Debt: Want to attract Millennials to work for your business? Then make sure you understand how student debt potentially impacts how they consider salaries, compensation and more. America Express offers up these nine points to consider.
4. Nutanix Acquisitions: Nutanix has acquired PernixData (specialty: data storage) and Calm.io (automation), two startups in California. Financial terms were not disclosed. The moves come only a few weeks after Nutanix started promoting hyperconverged software that runs atop Cisco Unified Compute System (UCS). The move competes with Cisco's own HyperFlex strategy, which has triggered Cisco to kick Nutanix out of its partner program.
3. Clinton's Broadband Plan: Hillary Clinton's plan to expand broadband throughout the U.S. is raising questions from experts -- including technology leaders who support her bid for the presidency. Donald Trump, meanwhile, hasn't laid out a plan for broadband and his advisors didn't respond to a request for comment from The Wall Street Journal.
2. Dell SonicWall: The company is hosting a Dell PEAK security summit for partners in Las Vegas this week. We'll be blogging live from the conference today and tomorrow.
1. VMworld: VMware today will unveil Cloud Foundation, which competes in some ways with Nutanix. VMware, as expected, will also preview software that allows customers to manage workloads across multiple clouds -- including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and more. See our Top 50 VMworld Updates for ongoing conference coverage through Sept. 1, 2016.
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