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5 Channel Partner Updates: Thursday 28 February 2019

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Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, February 28, 2019.

Actually, there are 16 timely updates designed for managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), IT consulting firms, systems integrators, VARs, independent software vendors (ISVs), and telco agents to sip on.

16. Growth - Hybrid Cloud Services: CloudBolt, which offers a self-service platform for enterprise hybrid multi-cloud delivery, says revenues jumped 150 percent in 2018 vs. 2017. Also, the company expanded its enterprise customer base by 45 percent. Actual revenue and profit figures, however, are undisclosed.

15. Distribution: Lifeboat has agreed to distribute Diamanti's bare metal container infrastructure, the companies confirmed today.

14. Distribution - Dell: The technology giant appears to be working more closely with distributors to support federal government partners.

13. Partner Program: Nexsan, a unified storage solutions provider, has launched the NEXCouncil Partner Advisory Program. The council has been developed to support and align product, sales and marketing initiatives and will also lend strategic support to the company’s select group of global channel partners providing sales enablement.

12. Financial Results - HP Inc.: The PC and printer maker yesterday released financial results for the quarter ended January 31. Among the key takeaways:

  • Revenues were $14.7 billion, down from $15.4 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.
  • Net earnings were $803 million, down from $1.45 billion in the previous year's quarter.

The figures generally fell short of Wall Street's expectations. HP partially blamed the financial weakness on Intel chip supply constraints.

11. Financial Results - Office Depot & CompuCom: Office Depot, parent of IT solutions provider CompuCom, released Q4 2018 financial results yesterday. Among the metrics to note:

  • Revenue was $2.67 million, up 3.5 percent from the corresponding quarter last year.
  • Net income was a $14 million loss, down from a $48 million loss in the quarter last year.

The results generally beat Wall Street's expectations. Office Depot described continued progress with CompuCom, an IT solutions and MSP business acquired in 2017.

10. Apple Layoffs: The company has cut 190 employees from a not-so-secret self-driving car initiative.

9. Launch: Veriflow, an intent-based network verification company, has announced a new CloudPredict SaaS platform to bring network visibility and assurance to multi-cloud environments, the company claims.

8. Talent - Data Protection: Commvault has hired Sungard Availability Services veteran Karen Falcone as VP of worldwide cloud and service providers. Falcone will identify opportunities for Commvault and its partners to develop joint solutions for the success of their mutual customers, the company says. The news comes only a few weeks after Commvault named its new CEO after a one-year executive search.

7. Talent - SD-WANs: Aryaka, a managed SD-WAN provider, has hired Purple Communications and Windstream veteran Olen Scott as senior VP of worldwide channels.

6. Talent - Workspace as a Service: CloudJumper has hired ComSys veteran Frank Pulliam as channel sales manager for North America.

5. M&A - Field Service Automation: ServiceMax has acquired Zinc, which develops a communications platform for field service workers.

4. M&A - Managed Database Services: RDX has acquired ClearDB. The deal reinforces RDX's M&A strategy in the managed database services market.

3. M&A - Backup and Disaster Recovery: Agility Recovery, backed by LLR Partners funding, has acquired Preparis of Atlanta, Georgia. The deal unites two backup and disaster recovery providers.

2. Green Cloud Partner Summit 2019: It's confirmed for April.

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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.