Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, December 21, 2016.
Actually, there are 10 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…
10. ChannelEyes CEO Change: ChannelEyes CEO Jay McBain has exited the company, which is now seeking a successor CEO, McBain confirmed in a blog on Tuesday. ChannelEyes launched in 2011 with a social network for channel partners, but quickly pivoted to mobile apps for channel partner programs. More recently, the company has promoted a business intelligence system for channel account managers. McBain succeeded Bob Godgart as CEO in May 2015 and is now mulling a range of next moves.
9. Trump and (Some) Tech Fallout: Last week's meeting between President-elect Donald Trump and a dozen or so technology industry leaders has triggered some strong reactions across the IT industry. Among the most dramatic: Oracle veteran George A. Polisner has resigned after Oracle CEO Safra Catz joined President-elect Trump's transition team. In a blog posted on LinkedIn, Polisner said he is prepared to oppose Trump "in every possible and legal way" and therefore resigned from the database giant. Polisner has also launched a "Not Who We Are" petition for Oracle employees to express their concerns about Trump. Meanwhile, some IBM employees have launched a petition urging CEO Ginni Rometty to distance herself from Trump and stand up for "IBM values." Apple CEO Tim Cook, in contrast, authored a memo describing why Cook attended the meeting with Trump. "Personally, I’ve never found being on the sideline a successful place to be," Cook wrote. "The way that you influence these issues is to be in the arena."
8. BlackBerry's Fall (And Rise?): Just how far has BlackBerry fallen? Check out the quarterly revenue chart below -- which captures the essence of the once-dominant company's dramatic fall from grace. Still, BlackBerry yesterday increased its profit forecast for upcoming quarters -- suggesting that the company's shift from hardware devices to security software is starting to pay some dividends. We've reached out to BlackBerry channel team members for more information. Stay tuned.
7. Technology Is Disappearing: So, what do consumers really want... An extra layer of technology that is seen and felt (i.e., smartwatches) or a new type of technology that is invisible unless called upon (Amazon Echo). Here's a hint: Guess which type of technology is sold out ahead of Christmas.
6. M&A - IT for Transportation: Alstom is acquiring Nomad Digital from Amadeus Capital Partners, SEB Venture Capital and Deutsche Telekom Strategic Investments. Nomad, which has about 230 employees, specializes in "smarter trains, connected passengers." In other words, the company provides passenger and fleet connectivity solutions to the railroad industry. Nomad’s technology is used by 1.7 billion passengers annually, with solutions on more than 100 fleets and 17,000 vehicles. The company manages more than seven million WiFi sessions monthly and covers 50,000 miles of track annually.
5. Great Home WiFi That Actually Works: We just deployed Eero, a mesh WiFi system. It's only been about 12 hours since activation but we git it a thumbs way up. Set-up via a smartphone app is a snap. And the mesh WiFi system -- with multiple access points -- creates a wireless cloud that can blanket the typical U.S. home. At $500 for 3 Eero appliances, the system isn't cheap. But it feels a lot like a classic Apple solution -- simple, powerful, elegant and worth the premium price. Walt Mossberg's Eero review is here.
4. Cloud and Colocation Partnership: Forsythe Hosting Solutions and TierPoint have inked a partnership to offer cloud, colocation and managed services delivered through a consultative approach.
3. Partner Programs: The Panasas Accelerate Partner Program has doubled in size of the past year and now supports 130 partners. Roughly 79 percent of the network-attached storage (NAS) company's revenues now come from the channel, up from about 60 percent last year, the company says. Philip Crocker, senior director of channel marketing and sales enablement, has been driving the partner program's expansion.
2. Top Channel Partner Events for 2017: They're all our ChannelE2E Technology Event Calendar. Check out the calendar for top partner summits and conferences designed for VARs, MSPs, CSPs, ISVs and IT consulting firms. The calendar extends into 2018 and beyond...
1. Join Us: Service Leadership Inc. CEO Paul Dippell is confirmed to speak on our next webcast. The topic: How Much Is Your Business Really Worth? (Oh, and how to increase that valuation.) We'll also unveil the Top 100 Mergers and Acquisitions involving VARs, MSPs and CSPs from 2016. Register now and join us Thursday, January 26 at 2:00 p.m. ET.
More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner Updates. Plus: Subscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.
