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5 Channel Partner Updates: 3 March 2017

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Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Friday, March 3, 2017. Actually, there are 21 captivating updates 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…
Heather Margolis
Heather Margolis
21. Happy Birthday: To Channel Maven Consulting, which just celebrated the company's eighth birthday. Channel Maven offers partner program-centric consulting services to the vendor community. CEO Heather Margolis continues to expand the team with a range of channel-oriented talent. Margolis's views and guidance also surface here on ChannelE2E. 20. HP Enterprise Asset Sale: HPE will finalize the sale of it enterprise IT services business on March 20. The unit will combine with CSC to form DXC Technology. HPE CEO Meg Whitman announced the IT services business sale last year.
Meg Whitman HPE CEO Meg Whitman
19. Microsoft Azure Pressures HP Enterprise: You already knew that cloud services were squeezing on-premises hardware sales. But did you consider that public clouds are also pressuring hardware makers to design cheaper servers? That seems to be the case with Microsoft, which apparently has pressured HPE to deliver lower-priced servers for Azure... 18. Did I Do That?: Amazon blamed human error for AWS outages earlier this week. 17. AMD vs. Intel: The old PC chip wars are back... thanks to fresh microprocessor designs. AMD has shipped new Ryzen chips -- which roughly double the performance of the company's previous products. The big twist:: Ryzen chips cost less than comparable Intel units, according to The Wall Street Journal... 16. Dell Earnings: Although Dell Technologies is privately held, the company will host a call on March 30 to discuss its Q4 and full year results... Hmmm... Upcoming Partner Summit: Dell EMC World 2017 is set for May in Las Vegas. 15. ESOP Advice: As we keep saying, there are pros and cons to an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan). The good news: ESOPs allow entrepreneurs to transition their company ownership to employees. The potential risks and challenges? This article explains them well. 14. Cisco HCI, Veeam Partnership: Cisco and Veeam continue to work more closely together. The latest move involves Veeam offering direct snapshot integration with Cisco HyperFlex -- the company's hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) platform. Upcoming Partner Summit: VeeamOn 2017 is set for May. 13. HCI for SMB: Can hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) benefit SMB customers? I've been a bit skeptical since I think most SMB workloads will float off to the clouds. But Advanced Systems Group makes the case for Nutanix Xpress's value to SMB customers.... ...
taylor-mcdonald Taylor McDonald
12. Partner Program - Cloud ERP: Intacct, which develops cloud ERP software, now has 100 value-added resellers (VARs) in its partner program. Key participants include BrainSell, E2B Teknologies, Stambaugh Ness, and The TM Group. In addition, Cohn Reznick, a Top 10 accounting firm, has joined the program, Intacct says. Want to learn more? The name to know is Taylor Macdonald, senior VP of channel sales. 11. Midmarket Unified Communications: Edgewater Networks and Yealink have expanded their partnership with a unified communications solution that targets midmarket customers. The offering leverages Edgewater cloud-based EdgeView Service Control Center and on-premises gear like EdgeMarc Intelligent Edges and Yealink's T4 series IP phones... But wait. More content awaits you on page 2. Proceed to page two now and sip up the remaining items... Welcome to page two. Enjoy a second serving of channel content -- items 10 to 1 -- here. 10. Partner Program - Big Data: CDK Global's partner program has attracted nine new ISVs. The CDK Global Partner Program makes business-ready data available for use by auto dealers, third parties and OEMs. 9. Partner Program - ECM: VisualVault, a Business Process Automation (BPA)/ Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software company, is expanding the reach of its Global Partner Program while launching a new certification program, the company says. 8. Partner Program - SD-WANs: VeloCloud Networks, a cloud-based SD-WAN provider, has raised $35 million in Series D funding, and will leverage some of the money to expand its partner program globally. Key backers include Cisco and Telstra. 7. SD-WAN Partnership: AHEAD, a leading IT consulting firm, now offers  CloudGenix's SD-WAN technology to AHEAD's Midwest and Southeast customer base...
Adam McCarthy Adam McCarthy
6. Channel Talent - ServiceNow: ServiceNow has named Adam McCarthy as head of alliances and channels in Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), and Brent Paterson as head of alliances and channels Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ). ServiceNow, which makes a popular cloud-based ticket management system, ranks among the world's fastest-growing SaaS providers. Upcoming Partner Summit: ServiceNow Knowledge17 is set for May. 5. Microsoft Azure Stack for Hybrid Clouds: Microsoft has released the third and final Azure Stack technical preview -- essentially setting the stage for more hybrid cloud services... Generally speaking partners say Microsoft offers a more friendly approach to blended on-premises/public cloud services than rival Amazon, which wants customers to eventually move all workloads into AWS... 4. Sort of Ironic...: Intelisys has agreed to distribute Mitel's cloud communications portfolio to telecom agents, VARs, MSPs and IT solutions providers across North America and the UK. The move comes as Mitel attempts to take market share from Avaya, which is navigating a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Ironically, Intelisys parent ScanSource recently offered a vote of confidence to Avaya's partner ecosystem. 3. Partner Program - Security: BeyondTrust, which specializes in Identity and Access Management (IAM), has inked partnerships with CIS, GoSecure and XMS Solutions.
Dale Cline Dale Cline
2. Managed Security Services: Armadillo, an MSP in  the UK, has embraced BlackStratus CYBERShark -- a white-label SIEM platform designed to monitor and remediate cyber security threats and compliance violations for SMBs. On a related note, BlackStratus CEO Dale Cline recently described the company's business journey to ChannelE2E. We'll share more details soon... 1. Channel Partner Programs Database: Digital Defense Inc. is now listed in the ChannelE2E Partner Programs Database. More than 150 companies are listed in the free, searchable database. Is your company listed? If not, submit it for consideration here. 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.