Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Monday, August 21, 2017.
Actually, there are 12 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:
12. Oracle Java EE and Open Source?: Oracle may open source Java Enterprise Edition (EE), the technology giant revealed in a blog. Oracle acquired Java as part of the Sun Microsystems buyout in 2010. At some points, Oracle has positioned Java as an ideal platform for the Internet of Things. But the open source chatter suggests Oracle simply doesn't want Java EE anymore, according to InfoWorld's spin... Related Conference: Oracle OpenWorld 2017 is set for October.
11. Intel vs. Moore's Law: Intel unveiled its 8th Gen Intel Core processors today. The processors offer a 100 percent boost vs. processors in five-year-old PC. Impressive. Until you consider Moore's Law used to deliver twice the performance power every 18 months... Or perhaps I'm misinterpreting the latest claims. After all, Intel boasts about some major performance improvements in this Bloomberg article...
10. Cisco SD-WAN Transition: Cisco's $610 million acquisition of Viptela, which closed Aug. 1, might seem to signal the end of IWAN, Cisco's home-brewed SD-WAN, LightReading notes. But analysts are predicting a smooth transition to an integrated product that draws from the strengths of both IWAN and Viptela's features, the report says... Related Conference: Cisco Partner Summit 2017 is set for October-November in Dallas.
9. Palo Alto Channel Team: Palo Alto Networks has hired Tom Evans to lead its North American public cloud partner sales. Evans previously held key roles at F5 Networks, ForeScout and K2. Also, VP of Global MSSP Channels Nigel Williams is set to meet with partners this week in Las Vegas. The gathering is part of Palo Alto’s overall Sales Kick Off (SKO) 2017 event. Palo Alto has been testing MSSP Security Specializations for partners since sometime in 2016...
8. Cloud Management: NetApp has acquired Greenqloud, which develops a cloud management platform called Qstack. Take a closer look and you'll discover that Qstack's offering potentially appeals to service providers... Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed. Related Conference: The NetApp Insight 2017 conference is set for October in Las Vegas.
7. Lenovo Rebate Issues, Branding Update: Lenovo has hired KPMG to probe the PC giant's rebate program in Australia, ChannelNews reports. Apparently, some retailers and distributors haven't been paid their rebates in recent months... Meanwhile, Lenovo has hired Data Center Group (DCG) has hired GetIT Comms (GetIT) to manage its marketing duties in Asia Pacific, according to Marketing Interactive. Other influencers include WE Communications to help Lenovo overhaul its brand in Central Asia, and Simran Dhindsa as marketing head for the Asia Pacific region, the report noted. Amid all of those various moves, Lenovo last week announced a surprised quarterly loss, with particularly week results in the company's data center business. However, Lenovo executives insist the company is on track with two-year plan to accelerate that business. Related Conference: Lenovo Accelerate 2018 Channel Partner Forum is confirmed for May in Las Vegas.
6. Server Price Increase: HP Enterprise apparently is increasing server memory prices 20 percent amid the global DRAM supply shortage. Hmmm... I haven't seen cloud services providers (CSPs) increasing their infrastructure pricing. If servers get more expensive and cloud prices hold steady or fall, will migrations to cloud services further accelerate? HOP
5. Unions and IT Outsourcing: A group of IT employees initiated the process on Sunday to form a registered trade union representing the software industry in Karnataka, a state in Southwest India. We'll be watching to see if or how employee unions impact India's IT outsourcing and software development markets.
4. Next Infosy CEO?: Former Dell Services President Suresh Vaswani could be a candidate for the Infosys CEO slot, according to BusinessWorld India. That CEO position is up for grabs after Vishal Sikka resigned last week....
3. Forsythe For Sale?: Sirius is in negotiations to potentially acquire Forsythe, CRN says. The negotiations leak could indicate that Forsythe is looking to bring other bidders into the process to increase a potential deal size...
2. IT Services Plus Software Development: World Wide Technology, a U.S.-based Cisco and Dell EMC partner, has launch an Asynchrony Labs arm in the United Kingdom, the company says. Asynchrony is an Apple mobility partner. The effort includes hiring and/or expanding a team of 75 software developers, some reports say.
1. Inc. 5000 and IT Services Providers: A growing number of MSSPs and IT services providers are celebrating their inclusion in the latest Inc. 5000 list, which tracks the fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S. We've already mentioned a few of the MSSPs and cybersecurity companies on the Inc. 5000 list. But don't forget about such companies as The SMB Help Desk (ranked 843), which has grown 535 percent over the past three years. Revenues at The SMB Help Desk, led by Matt Cleaver, were about $5.4 million in 2016. Also on the list: Information Technology Professionals (Rank: 3328), an IT service provider that has grown 96 percent the past three years. CEO Paul Hager also is a driving force in Ingram's SMB Alliance program. Related Conference: Ingram Micro One 2017 is set for November in Dallas.
