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5 Channel Partner Updates: 8 December 2016

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Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, December 8, 2016. Actually, there are 25 timely entries 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… 25. Phishing Challenges: Why are phishing attacks so difficult to diagnose and stop? Perhaps this stat explains the problem: Roughly 84 percent of phishing sites exist for less than 24 hours, according to Webroot. In other words, phishing attacks are like guerrilla warfare. By the time you realize you may have been attacked, the hackers have moved on to another location... 24. Cyber Espionage?: Technical trade secrets were stolen from the steel production and manufacturing plant design divisions of ThyssenKrupp AG in cyber attacks earlier this year, Reuters reported. It's the latest indication that classic infrastructure industries -- just like cyber industries -- are prime targets for strategic data theft. 23. HIPAA Audits: It sounds like plenty of onsite HIPAA audits are coming in 2017, though we'll be curious to see if or how President-Elect Donald Trump seeks to cut regulatory red tape... 22. Smartwatch Runs Out of Time: Fitbit acquired smartwatch maker Pebble's software and intellectual property for less than $40 million, Bloomberg estimates. The move comes amid continued question marks about the overall smartwatch industry... 21. Lean Times for Wearables?: Consumers abandon roughly one-third of wearable devices -- a potential sign that wearables were a fitness fad that the portly among us are abandoning. 20. Windows 10 for Non-Intel: Microsoft is porting Windows 10 to Qualcomm's mobile chips. The move is a bit of deja vu, since the old Windows NT code base originally extended across x86, MIPS, Alpha and PowerPC processors roughly two decades ago. Those cross-platform efforts ultimately failed amid weak customer demand. But this latest move is all about optimizing Windows 10 for Qualcomm's power-efficient mobile processors on tablets and notebooks. I don't know if Windows 10 ISVs will need to rewrite or tweak their applications for the Qualcomm-powered devices. 19. Microsoft Build 2017: The massive Microsoft Build 2017 developer conference is now set for May 2017 in Seattle. Kaseya Connect 2017 and ServiceNow Knowledge 2017 all are set for the same week. Track those events and hundreds more by checking the ChannelE2E Technology Event Calendar daily. 18. Cloud Distribution: Avnet Cloud Marketplace has two new partner programs The first, Avnet AWS CloudFront Reseller Program, helps Avnet partners deploy content delivery network (CDN) customer workloads on Amazon Web Service. The second, Avnet Oracle Reseller Program, enables partners for Oracle's IaaS, PaaS and SaaS solutions. We'll share more details soon. On a related note, Tech Data will ultimately own Avnet Cloud Marketplace as part of the pending Avnet Technology Solutions (ATS) acquisition. Once that deal is completed, Tech Data will need to sort through potential overlaps in its cloud strategy with ATS. 17. Cloud Systems Management: The cloud systems management market will reach $15.29 billion by 2021, up from $3.95 billion in 2016. That's a 31.1 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), according to MarketsandMarkets. 16. DRaaS: Global IP Networks has launched disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) for its clientele. The solution is built atop Zerto. which has caught on with a range of CSPs and MSPs. 15. File Sync and Sharing: Docker has acquired file sync and sharing app Infinit. The consumer-friendly app could allow developers and service providers to more effectively share and manage code updates and more... 14. Device Monitoring: LogicMonitor has launched LM Configwhich extends the original LogicMonitor platform with device configuration monitoring and management capabilities... 13. Carbonite Founder's Next Move: So, did you think Carbonite co-founder David Friend would retire after leaving the cloud backup provider? Guess again. 12. Barracuda Partnership: Keep an eye on this Barracuda partner ship to further improve web application security. 11. Dell Resignations: Hey, it happens after every big M&A deal. Some folks are leaving Dell now that the EMC buyout is official. Here are two example exits. The departures come just as Dell announces its latest quarterly results...

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10. More Xerox Layoffs: Yes, Xerox job cuts will continue after the company breakup... 9. Cisco Rediscovering SMB?: No doubt most Cisco Partner Summit content this year focused on enterprise accounts. But Cisco has been banging the drum a little more loudly for SMB partners in recent days. The company was particularly loud at the Ingram Micro ONE conference last week in Las Vegas. And this week, Cisco has announced SMB network monitoring tools for MSPs, while also reinforcing gigabit networking for SMB customers. Hmmm... 8. HPE Escalates Rhode Island Battle: HP Enterprise has countersued the state of Rhode Island over a computer project that went badly off course. Surely, 49 other states are watching this closely... 7. Beyond Google G Suite: If you can't make a living purely from Google G Suite (formerly Google Apps), perhaps it's time to diversify. That pretty much explains the strategy at BetterCloud. 6. HP Printer Security: HP has revamped its printer security offerings to defend the hardware against cyber attacks. 5. Kaseya PSA Migrator: Kaseya, in a bid to win MSPs away from Autotask and ConnectWise, has released that promised PSA Migrator tool, the company said yesterday. 4. Managed Services for Banking: The Texas Bankers Association has endorsed managed services from CSI. The key takeaway: Vertical market MSPs should spend more time hanging out with associations... 3. MSP Security APIs:  Mimecast, an email and data security specialist, has expanded its APIs. The move could help MSPs to optimize their Mimecast resources  and manage their new and existing client base, the company claims. 2. MSP Partner Program: Adar has launched Nerdio, an ITaaS partner program for MSPs. 1. M&A: TekLinks has acquired Nashville-based Guidant Partners, a privately-owned IT planning and management firm that provides scalable IT infrastructure service to SMB customers. TekLinks is one of the rare IT services providers that has successfully blended VAR, MSP and CSP solutions. 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.