Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, gossip and perspectives to start your day for Tuesday, December 8, 2015.
Actually, this morning's update involves 17 items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs) and cloud services providers (CSPs) to sip on.
17. IPO Backlog: Sure, ChannelE2E often laments the unicorns -- startups valued at $1 billion that lack profits and may suffer falling valuations when they go public. Sounds scary... until you turn your attention to China, where the IPO backlog looks worse than rush hour traffic in Los Angeles. Roughly 675 companies in China eventually want to go public in a quest to raise a combined $63 billion in stock, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ya gotta wonder: How long is it going to take for that IPO traffic jam to clear itself up? Hmmm...
15. Channel Startup: Channel Mechanics, which develops a SaaS-based channel enablement SaaS solution called channelIT, has raised $2.3 million in angel finding. Channel Mechanics will use the funds to expand channelIT to U.S. customers...
14. Europe Cloud Security: The European Union has outlined new rules that push companies to bolster IT security and report attacks. Representatives from each of the 28 EU nations must approve the new rules before they are official. For U.S.-based companies doing business in Europe this is a sign of things to come. Make sure your data center providers are staying one step ahead of the proposed mandates...
13. KPI Distractions. On the one hand, KPI (key performance indicators) can help a business to track and improve its performance. For instance, ChannelE2E recently covered 10 KPIs that MSPs and VARs can leverage to improve their managed services business performance. So far, so good. But some folks are also pushing back against KPIs. As one source recently told Forbes: “I have my real job, and then my extra job meeting the completely arbitrary numbers in my KPI Profile. The must-read article is titled KPIs and Corporate Stupidity. Hmmm...
12. New Hire: Visionary 360, an IT and MSP consulting firm has hired Don Bentz to consult with its clientele. The firm provides a range of services -- including ConnectWise and QuickBooks configuration services.
11. Juniper's Next Move: Watch for the company to improve the "performance, density and operational efficiency" of its SDN-ready Juniper Networks MX Series 3D Universal Edge Routing portfolio. Details should emerge today.
10. New Relic Partner Program: ChannelE2E keeps telling readers to check out New Relic and other fast-growth providers of Application Performance Management (APM) technology. Now, New Relic is continuing to build its partner program. The latest move involves a relationship with Carahsoft, which distributes technology into the government sector...
9. Polycom for Office 365 Cloud PBX: Polycom, like a growing list of vendors, is marketing its video conference products to work with Microsoft's new Office 365 Cloud PBX.
8. Storage Partnership: Commvault has launched Commvault IntelliSnap for NetApp, an array-based snapshot management solution that accelerates and simplifies data protection and recovery for NetApp customers...
7. AWS Directory Services: Anybody else notice you can now run Microsoft Active Directory as a managed service in Amazon's cloud? It's a very big deal. In fact, here's a closer look at Amazon AWS Directory Service vs. Microsoft Azure Active Directory for partners.
6. Data Center Tax Breaks: The State of Michigan is locked in a big debate over data center tax breaks. Some state leaders say the incentives inspire data center companies to relocate to Michigan. Others say the incentives are too lucrative and don't require enough of the data center providers. Roughly 24 states now offer some type of incentive to attract data center providers, according to Crain's.
5. And Data Center Affordability: Overall, the five most affordable U.S. locations to build or operate a data center are Omaha (Neb.), Portland (Ore.), Charlotte (N.C.), Des Moines (Iowa) and Quincy (Wash.), according to commercial real estate services firm CBRE.
4. Dropbox Kills Email, Photo Apps: In its quest to eventually go public, Dropbox is shutting down email and photo sharing apps. The move comes as Dropbox tries to focus on more profitable corporate-focused services... Hmmm... A few days ago ChannelE2E predicted Dropbox and its rivals would witness a market shakeout soon...
3. Top Channel Partner Summits: What are the top channel partner events and conferences? Check out the ChannelE2E Technology Event Calendar to learn the dates and locations for hundreds of events. And submit your company's partner summit or conference for inclusion on the calendar.
2. Backdoor Encryption Access: U.S. lawmakers continue to push IT companies for backdoor access to encrypted devices and applications. ChannelE2E expects the encryption and privacy debate to be the top mobile trend of 2016... and it's already escalating before the New Year arrives.
1. Replacing a Founder CEO: Perhaps you launched a business that's growing beyond your capabilities. Or maybe you work for a company where the founder CEO lacks the energy, focus or skills to take the business to the next level. Then, a new CEO -- a next-generation of leadership -- arrives. How should that new CEO proceed? Here's some timely guidance from goBalto CEO Sunjay Jadhav.
More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner Updates. Plus: Subscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.
