Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Monday, July 9, 2018.
Actually, there are 13 timely updates designed 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:
13. Huawei & U.S. Trade Sanctions: China’s Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecommunication network equipment, does not see itself becoming the target of U.S. sanctions and will keep buying U.S. chips this year, according to this report.
12. IPO Weakness: Chinese smartphone maker Xiomi had a weaker-than-expected IPO, raising questions about the company's overall business prospects.
11. IPO - IoT Devices: Arlo Technologies, a Netgear business unit, apparently will pursue an IPO. The IoT device maker's revenues reached $100.6 million in the three months ended in April, and a net loss of $5.4 million, Barron's notes. For the full year ended in December, sales more than doubled to $370.7 million, with net income of $6.5 million, the report says.
10. Investment Lawsuit: An investor and his fund face a $20.3 million fine for a "disastrous, bad faith campaign to gain control and profit" from the sale of Basho Technologies Inc., a NoSQL provider, according to Law360.
9. Talent: The U.S. information technology (IT) sector added roughly 9,600 new jobs in June, marking the fifth consecutive month of employment gains, CompTIA, says
8. IT Monitoring: The new GroundWork Monitor 7.2.1 features a Microsoft Azure connector for management and analysis of cloud-based infrastructure performance, and a NeDi connector for easier integration of network discovery and monitoring tools.
7. MSP Institute: SolarWinds MSP has launched MSP Institute, a playbook for MSPs designed to provide training and tips through business, sales, marketing, and technical tracks from experts and industry leaders, the company says. The move comes a few weeks after SolarWinds MSP partnered with The 2112 Group to unveil an MSP benchmarking tool.
6. Private Equity Concerns: Investors in European leveraged loans are increasingly concerned that private equity firms are making overly-aggressive adjustments to portfolio companies’ earnings to support higher debt loads, Reuters says.
5. M&A - Record Activity: More than $2.5 trillion in mergers were announced during the first half of the year, as fears of Silicon Valley’s growing ambitions helped drive a record run of deal-making, The New York Times reports.
4. M&A - IT Services: LinkPoint IT Solutions Ltd. has acquired Radius Technologies Inc., a Canadian managed IT services provider primarily focused on SMB customers. We'll share more details soon.
3. M&A Rumor: Digital Realty is in talks to potentially acquire data center provider Ascenty, according to reports.
2. ESOP Nightmare?: Nearly $40 million in retirement funds disappeared into thin air in June when an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) company was sold, according to a report. Longtime employees found out that day that their heroic efforts to buy and save the company 17 years ago may have ultimately cost them their nest eggs, the report alleges. If true, it's a timely reminder that ESOP ownership models involve risks for businesses and their employees.
1. Ten Ways to Exit Your Business: Here's a simple checklist of options that may help you to exit your business.
