5 Channel Partner Updates: Tuesday 10 September 2019

Here are five (actually, far more…) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, September 10, 2019.

A. Our Daily Brew

B. Freshly Brewed News and Chatter

1. M&A - How to Prepare: BizBenNetwork.com has announced a ProSell Program for business owners. The program helps individuals sell their businesses through continual consultation, building a professional team of resources, and optimizing business-for-sale postings, BizBenNetwork says.

2. M&A - Distribution: AppSmart, a channel-led, one-stop shop for B2B technology services, has acquired Telegration, a distributor of connectivity and cloud services. Financial terms were not disclosed.

3. M&A - IT Services: Hargray Communications has acquired Infinity Network Solutions, an IT services company with operations in Macon and Covington, Georgia.

4. M&A - Big Data Consulting: Accenture has acquired Pragsis Bidoop, a Spanish company with expertise in big data, AI and advanced analytics.

5. IPO - Cloud Monitoring: Datadog's updated IPO filing reveals target raise, proposed valuation and key financial trends in the cloud monitoring market.

6. Funding - Cloud Consulting: Sourced Group, a global IT consultancy specializing in large-scale cloud projects for regulated industries, has closed CAD $20 million financing. Toronto-based Round 13 Capital led the round with participation from Comerica Bank and HSBC.

7. Angel Funding: Members of the Angel Capital Association (ACA) invested $228 million in startups for 2018, according to the ACA's 2019 Angel Funders Report.

8. Talent - MSPs and Compliance: Kaseya has hired CloudJumper veteran Max Pruger as senior VP and GM of compliance. The move is part of a $10 million investment to build a Kaseya compliance business unit. The unit will help MSPs to offer managed services that comply with regulatory standards worldwide.

9. Talent - SD-WANs: Open Systems, a global provider of network and security as-a-service solutions, has hired Jeff Brown to succeed Martin Bosshardt as CEO.

10. Talent on Demand: PeopleScout has launched Beyond the Expected to help customers more effectively build contingent workforces. PeopleScout's HR-focused managed services span temporary, temp-to-hire, direct hire, independent contractor (1099) administration, Statement of Work (SOW) engagements and other services.

11. Tech Skills Gap: Sixty percent of technology professionals have not actively pursued a new skill or completed a certification in the last six months; and nearly 50 percent of tech pros who did start a certification process did not complete it due to lack of time to commit, according to the SolarWinds IT Pro Day 2019 survey.

12. Firewalls: Barracuda Networks has announced Release 8 of Barracuda CloudGen Firewall. The new functionality helps streamline SD-WAN management, optimize cloud connectivity, and automate scalable protection across multi-cloud deployments, the company asserts.

13. Smart Homes & IoT Monitoring: Best Buy is ending a mobile app platform that controls the retailer's Insignia brand of smart home devices. The Insignia Connect platform will be discontinued on November 6, 2019, the retailer says.

C. Channel Partner Programs and Strategic Alliances: MSPs, CSPs, ISVs, VARs

1. AWS Partner: Mission, a Top 100 Public Cloud MSP, has achieved Amazon Partner Network Premier Consulting Partner Status. Mission holds AWS Competency Partner status for several AWS Competencies, including the AWS Healthcare Competency, AWS Life Sciences Competency, and AWS DevOps Competency.

2. Multi-Cloud Infrastructure Automation: HashiCorp has expanded its reseller and systems integrator (SI) programs. The company also honored three partners for 2019. The honorees are:

3. Data Protection & Business Continuity: Scale Computing and Acronis have announced an OEM partnership, offering Acronis Backup to customers through Scale Computing channels.

4. All Partner Programs: Search the comprehensive ChannelE2E Partner Program Database here. Also, submit your company information here and your partner program can be listed in the database.

D. Next Five Technology Conferences

Got news to share for our morning update? Email me: [email protected].