5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: 3 May 2017

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, May 3, 2017. Actually, there are 20 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… 20. BREAKING: Citrix Systems apparently remains up for sale. Here are three rumored bidders for the company. Related: Citrix Synergy 2017, the company's customer conference, will attract plenty of partners when it begins later this month in Orlando. 19. Salesforce And Startups: Salesforce has prepped a new $100 million fund for startups. Hmmm... We'd ask for some dough. But on second thought we tend to be control freaks who don't relinquish power too easily... 18. Cisco vs. VMware: The frenemies are sparring again, this time in the virtualization and software-defined markets... 17. New Docker CEO: Docker has named Steve Signh as its CEO. Singh is the former CEO of Concur, which SAP acquired. Former Docker CEO Ben Golub remains a director on the company's board. The transition comes while the container software company is still privately held. Golub described the CEO transition in this blog. 16. iPhone Sales Decline: Apple iPhone sales declined ever-so-slightly to 50.76 million units in Q2 2017, down from 51.19 million in the corresponding quarterly last year. Shares fell on the news, and Wall Street things some buyers could be delaying purchases until the 10th anniversary iPhone arrives later this year. 15. AMD Implosion: AMD's latest quarterly results and forecast disappointed investors, and AMD shares dropped 24 percent on the news. The company's Ryzen processors were supposed to boost profit margins, but those margins actually slipped a percentage point during the quarter... 14. Microsoft In Schools: Microsoft has launched Windows 10 S -- an operating system optimized for K-12 and college students. Moreover, the company has introduced a range of Windows 10 S PCs for K-12 classrooms; and a Windows 10 S device for college students—aptly dubbed Surface Laptop. Tye moves are largely seen as Microsoft's response to Google Chromebooks in education. 13. AWS and Microsoft Dynamics: Conventional wisdom says Microsoft Dynamics on-premises customers will eventually migrate to Dynamics 365 -- Microsoft's own managed cloud service. But Data Resolution continues to promote and manage various Dynamics applications on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Why's that? We're taking a closer look and will share more details in the days ahead. 12. AWS and Red Hat: Red Hat OpenShift is now available on Amazon Web Services. The move is somewhat akin to VMware Cloud for AWS. Basically, both Red Hat and VMware continue to support their respective software on-premises, while extending compatibility out to AWS. The moves minimize head-on Red Hat and VMware competition against Amazon in the public cloud sector. 11. AWS and HIPAA Compliance: Amazon continues to add more HIPAA-eligible services as part of its AWS Business Associate agreement push. But wait. There's more. Page two contains items 10 to 1. Don't leave the table before you've had that second serving... Welcome to page two. Now, sip up items 10 to 1 for today... 10. Verizon Sells Cloud Business?: In addition to selling its data center assets, Verizon apparently sold some cloud and hosting assets to IBM last week. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Ron Myers
9. Endpoint Security: Palo Alto Networks has upgraded Traps, the company's advanced endpoint protection offering, to support Apple macOS and Android (in beta). The move comes as Palo Alto Channel Chief Ron Myers seeks to transform key partners into next-generation security innovators. 8. FireEye Rebound?: FireEye yesterday delivered stronger quarterly results than expected. The upside surprise comes after the security company spent several months trying to eliminate channel conflict with FireEye's own corporate consulting team. 7. SMBs and IoT: MACH Networks has agreed to resell Accelerated's LTE networking equipment as part of a machine to machine (M2M) and IoT solutions-as-a-service push. 6. SMB Hiring: Small businesses hired fewer workers in April 2017 but gave their employees raises, a Paychex survey shows.
Phil Soucy
5. Employee Stock Ownership Plan: Modern Technology Solutions Inc. (MTSI), a technology solutions provider, is now officially 100% employee owned. The transition to ESOP ownership began in 2008. The big question: Can MTSI keep its winning streak going? The company's revenue has grown every year since he business launched in 1993... We're reaching out to Co-founder and Chairman Phil Soucy for more details about the ESOP ownership transition and strategy. 4. IT Services Bankruptcy: A Delaware bankruptcy judge cleared Ciber to proceed with its planned auction after learning that the debtor had resolved several issues with the unsecured creditors committee over details of the sale process and its involvement in it, Law360 reported. 3. MSP Government Win: Jacobs Engineering Group has won a 4.5 year IT services contract with the U.S. government that's potentially worth $89 million. Indeed, Jacobs has been selected as the prime contractor for the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) TCJ6 Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) Enterprise Support Contract. What does the deal potentially include? The laundry list, according to Jacobs, spans:
"cyber security, network operations and maintenance, IT planning, system integration, technical testing and evaluation, analysis and guidance, software management, systems administration, hardware and software purchasing, hardware repair and enhancements, software configuration, service desk, end-user devices support/desktop services, architecture and infrastructure management, system management, audio/visual and video teleconferencing, and all deliverables related to these services."
Imagine building a line-item invoice for all those managed services... 2. Distribution - Data Protection: Ingram Micro has agreed to distribute Acronis in Canada.
Marcus Rex
1. Datto Hires Open Source Expert: Datto has hired Markus Rex to manage and nurture the company’s interactions with the open source community. Datto's Inverse Chain technology and associated data protection offerings for MSPs leverage ZFS, the popular open source file system. Rex previously was co-founder and CEO of ownCloud, an open source, self-hosted file synchronization and sharing application platform. Datto Drive, a file sync and sharing solution, is built on ownCloud. Related: DattoCon17, the company's MSP conference, is set for June in Denver.
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.