Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights and so much more to start your day for Tuesday, December 29, 2015.
Actually, today's update features nine items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on...
9. Special K Funding?: Ahem... Ever hear of a venture-backed startup pushing beyond Series E funding? How about F? Go onto G. H? I? Hmmm... J? Let's proceed to K. That's where Palantir Technologies, a big data company, now sits -- having raised $200 million in Series K funding. The "startup" launched in 2004...
8. Healthcare M&A: Versata Enterprises has acquired Compressus, a workflow solutions provider in the healthcare market. Financial terms were not disclosed.
7. Financial Fraud?: Jumio, a mobile payments startup, has restated financial results for 2013 and 2014 -- which may knock down the privately held company's valuation. Founder and former CEO Daniel Mattes was forced out in June amid alleged financial irregularities. Not exactly the type of news high risk/high reward venture capitalists want to hear...
6. Social Network for College Applicants: Memo to readers who have kids in high school. Goodwall SA, a social network that allows students to promote their skills and achievements, has raised $2.1 million in seed money. In theory, students can use the social network to help promote themselves to highly selective colleges and universities. Hmmm... Goodwall is serving a highly prized market segment. I wonder what their privacy policies are?
5. Cloud Security and Financial Services: When it comes to cloud security, Europe's financial services vertical apparently is behind the times -- at least in terms of market knowledge. A new report -- dubbed "Secure Use of Cloud Computing in the Finance Sector" -- shows that European banks have embraced the cloud -- though their knowledge of best practices is extremely weak, according to David Strom.
4. Intel Data Center Strategy: Now that Intel has completed its $16.7 billion buyout of Altera, some pundits think Intel's data center group will enjoy accelerated growth in 2016. Hmmm... It cloud be time for solutions providers to study the programmable chip market -- and its potential implications for data centers and the Internet of Things (IoT).
3. ChannelE2E Podcast Reminder: Our next ChannelE2E Podcast (Episode 057) debuts tonight and features Steve Ferman, CEO of Cloud Nation — a desktop as a service (DaaS) provider that works closely with VARs and MSPs. Ferman acquired the business in 2014, and Cloud Nation has achieved several key business and partner milestones in 2015. Stay tuned for that podcast to debut tonight (Tuesday, Dec. 29) at 9:01 p.m. ET. And check out all of our podcasts here.
2. Mobile Help Desk Acquisition: Freshdesk, a startup focused on customer support applications, has acquired Konotor, which offers a chat interface for mobile apps. Freshdesk certainly has a reseller program. But I'm more curious to know how many IT service providers are consuming the technology to boost their own customer support... Hmmm...
1. Cisco Wins WiFi Patent Dispute: Cisco Systems did not infringe on a WiFi patent, a U.S. appeals court ruled Monday. The patent is held by Commil, which allegedly is a patent troll... The new ruling reverses an earlier $64 million judgment against Cisco. This particular dispute has been clogging up the court system for roughly eight years...
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