5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: 29 July 2016

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Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Friday, July 29 2016.

Actually, there are 13 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on. Take a look…

13. MSP M&A Update: Earlier this week we learned Cal Net was acquiring inhouseIT -- a deal that combines two of California's top MSPs. We now hear that certain milestones have been met and everything is now official. Stay tuned for more details soon.

Andy Zollo
Andy Zollo

12. Another Key StorageCraft Hire: StorageCraft has hired Gigamon veteran Andy Zollo as the company's new VP of sales for EMEA. Like many of StorageCraft's recent channel, sales and executive hires, Zollo also is a Dell and SonicWall veteran. A private equity firm acquired StorageCraft in January 2015, and the company has since spent heavily to overhaul its brand, make new hires and accelerate its channel partner engagements.

11. Application Performance Management: Riverbed has acquired Aternity -- which specializes in end-user experience and application performance management (APM) technology. I still believe APM is the next major opportunity for many MSPs... but I'm curious to see if Riverbad effectively engages channel partners to describe the opportunity.

10. Goodbye Macs at EMC?: Rumor has it Dell has told EMC employees that they have to ditch their Macs -- at least during customer visits. Dell is expected to complete the EMC buyout any day now.

Chris Schueler

9. Managed Security Talent: IBM veteran Chris Schueler has joined Trustwave as senior VP of managed security services. He's now responsible for the company's global network of Trustwave Advanced Security Operations Centers and Trustwave SpiderLabs incident response.

8. ConnectWise Security Integration: Wavecrest Computing has integrated CyBlock Cloud with ConnectWise's PSA (professional services automation) platform. CyBlock Cloud for MSPs is a Web-use security, analytics, and reporting solution.

7. Get Out and Vote: More than 70 technology startups and venture capital firms say they'll give U.S. employees time off to vote in the presidential election. Although it's a non-partisan effort, many of the participating companies include executives who signed an open letter opposing Donald Trump's bid for the presidency, Bloomberg reports.

6. Amazon, Google Cloud Revenues: The latest numbers surfaced yesterday. And they were impressive. Among the rather interesting twists: Amazon Cloud is generating healthy profits that allow the company to invest in money-losing efforts that are still ramping up. More details soon...

5. AWS Management Tools: Cloudwith.me, a five-person startup that's self-funded, has built a management tool for Amazon Web Services. Initial results sound promising. The company has attracted 2,800 accounts onto AWS over the past four months, Cloudwith.me claims.

4. Partner Program Launch: LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, which specializes in intelligence driven security, has launched LookingGlass Cyber Guardian Network -- a new partner program led by Laurie Potratz, VP of global channels and alliances. Potratz is a veteran of VMware, Brocade, Symantec, Veritas and BMC.

3. More Microsoft Layoffs: Microsoft is cutting 2,850 more jobs than previously expected during the company's current fiscal year -- which started this month. The cuts are expected to impact Microsoft's smartphone hardware business -- which has been deemphasized under current CEO Satya Nadella.

2. New Channel Chief: Fidelis Cybersecurity has named Scott Collins as vice president of channel sales. He previously was director of FireEye's Americas channel sales. Earlier, he held key channel roles at Zscaler, Cisco, Blue Coat Systems and McAfee.

1. Exit Strategies At ChannelCon 2016: ChannelE2E is hosting a panel at CompTIA ChannelCon 2016, titled The Five Step Exit Plan (Wednesday, Aug. 3, 9:45 a.m. ET). Join us as MSPs and IT service providers describe how they launched, built and sold their businesses. Got questions? Email me: [email protected].

More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner UpdatesPlusSubscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.