5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: 5 Jan 2016

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, January 5, 2016.

Actually, today’s update involves eight items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on.

8. European IT Services M&A: Vital Network Solutions, an IT service provider in Yorkshire, has acquired Octari -- a rival IT service provider based in Leeds. Vital and Octari specialize in IT support, business continuity, Microsoft infrastructure and cloud services for small and medium-sized businesses across Yorkshire and the UK. ChannelE2E will be back with more details soon.

7. Dell Perot Systems Sale: France's Atos is nearing a deal to acquire Dell's Perot Systems unit for $4 billion, Re/code reported. The price tag is about $1 billion less than Dell was hoping to fetch, according to previous reports. Both Dell and EMC are looking to tighten up their businesses before Dell's pending $67 billion buyout of EMC and VMware is finalized later this year. Dell also apparently is looking to sell its AppAssure, SonicWall and Quest businesses, according to some reports. And EMC will take a $250 million charge to pay for layoffs that are widely expected to occur this quarter.

6. European Telecom M&A: Orange SA is in talks to acquire Bouygues SA’s telecommunications unit in a US$10.8 billion transaction that would boost profits in the French mobile-phone market by reducing competition, according to Bloomberg. There's no guarantee that an actual deal will emerge, Orange said in a statement on Tuesday. M&A across the European telecom sector has been accelerating over the past year. One example involves British phone company BT Group Plc buying the U.K.’s largest wireless carrier EE, which is half owned by Orange, for about $19 billion, Bloomberg notes.

5. Accenture Buys Salesforce CRM Specialist: Accenture has acquired CRMWaypoint, a Netherlands-based consulting firm focused on Salesforce.com applications. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquired team joins Accenture's Cloud First Applications team, which delivers services for Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow, Google and other cloud platforms.

4. Fresh Funding: Technology startups raising money to accelerate growth include:

  • TopSpin Security, a malware detection startup based in Israel, has raised $7 million in Series A funding from multiple backers.
  • MyArea Network has raised angel funding to grow the company's social network -- which connects local businesses with consumers, both online and offline. The funding figure was not disclosed.

3. Oculus Rift: Facebook is expected to unveil pricing and availability for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset on Wednesday. The Oculus Rift initially is expected to appeal to high-end gamers. But vertical market pundits are watching for business opportunities -- particularly in the area of immersive training environments.

2. Internet of Things Manager: Is that title really emerging in Corporate America? Janco Associates says absolutely yes, asserting that IoT manager is a senior level position that oversees the "implementation and maintenance of technical systems support as well as data transmission and retrievals from field controllers." Hmmm... I think IoT titles are popular within technology vendor organizations right now... but we'll see about end-user IT departments.

1. Top Channel Partner Events: What are the top channel partner summits and conferences? The ChannelE2E Technology Event Calendar lists all of the key gatherings, dates and locations to help organize travel plans for 2016, 2017 and beyond.

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.