5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: 9 September 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 Friday, September 9, 2016.

Actually, there are 16 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…

16. Samsung Selling Printer Business?: The potential buyer could be HP Inc. -- not to be confused with sister company Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

15. Fresh Funding: Goldman Sachs has invested $20 million in Nuxeo, which develops an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform. This adds to the $10 million commitment by Kennet Partners announced in June, for a total of $30 million.

14. Zimbra Partner Program:  Synacor Inc. has launched Zimbra Open Source Support, a global program for its 400+ million Zimbra open source-based email and collaboration software users. In addition, the company launched new mobile sync, backup, storage and admin tools. Synacor claims the efforts will unlock new revenue opportunities for the Zimbra partner network.

13. Government Security: The White House has named retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Gregory Touhill as the government’s first federal cyber security chief. The job is a political appointment, meaning Obama's successor can choose to replace Touhill after being sworn in next January, Reuters reported.

12. Industrial IoT Management: Schneider Electric has upgraded Wonderware Online, a cloud platform capable of collecting, visualizing, and managing operational data across industrial operations. Wonderware, built on Microsoft Azure, can now provide real-time data and analytics capabilities to end users, solution builders, and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), the company claims.

11. Data Center Footprints: Cologix, a network neutral interconnection and data center company, has started construction on a 160,000 square foot data center on its current 8 acre campus in Columbus, Ohio.  The $130 million facility will become the city's largest "neutral" data center and will be directly linked to Cologix's existing data centers, the company says. Those data centers link to 45+ network service providers, 20+ cloud service providers and the Ohio-IX Internet Exchange.

10. Managed Microsoft Cloud Services: Alert Logic, the managed security service provider, is leveraging Rackspace Fanatical Support for Office 365 and Microsoft Azure to optimize performance across a portfolio of Microsoft services, the companies say. Rackspace, which is going private, continues to push deeper into managed cloud services.

9. Google for Work Goes Midmarket: GeeFirm, a professional services firm that specializes in Google for Work, has launched a financing campaign for midsize companies. As part of the campaign, which runs until December 31, 2016, consulting firms are eligible to receiving financial support during the implementation phase.

8. Apple vs Google Apps, Office 365: Apple has finally introduced real-time collaboration features for its iWork application suite. The move comes nearly a decade after Google Apps debuted...

7. Workspace as a Service: Leostream Corp., which develops hosted desktop connection management software, has partnered with Canonical to facilitate the deployment of virtual desktops on Ubuntu OpenStack. The move comes one day  after Dizzion announced $6.4 million in funding for its workspace as a service business (see item 15 here).

6. Twitter Layoffs?: That's the rumor. Again.

5. Business Continuity Regulatory Concerns: Industry and adviser organizations are pushing back against the SEC, which is trying to introduce new business continuity regulations. The groups want the SEC to issue guidance on business continuity under existing compliance rules than create another regulation, according to Investment News. The concerns started in July, when the SEC proposed new business continuity and backup rules.

4. Surviving Hurricane Season: Perhaps these five steps will help your business weather the next storm...

3. HP Enterprise Global Partner Summit: It's next week. Watch for a heavy emphasis on service providers and the SMB segment. For clues about what could be coming check out these details from the HP Enterprise Discover conference back in June. The global partner summit arrives only one week after HPE announced plans to spin off its non-core software assets.

2. Sold Out: Continuum Navigate, the company's user conference for MSPs, is sold out for the third straight year. If I had to guess, managed security services will be a big theme at the conference... Amy Katz and I will be on-hand for the event -- and you might even spot us moderating some sessions. If you'd like to potentially meet at the show then email me ([email protected]).

1. Never Forget: Sunday marks 15 years since the 9/11 terror attacks. Never forget.

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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.