Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, September 6, 2017.
Actually, there are 11 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.
11. HPE Surprise: HP Enterprise delivered stronger-than-expected quarterly financial results yesterday. Third quarter net revenue of $8.2 billion was up 3% from the prior-year period and up 6% when adjusted for divestitures and currency. The big divestiture involved HPE selling much of its enterprise software business to Micro Focus. On the hardware front, HPE server revenue fell 1 percent; storage rose 11 percent and networking jumped 16 percent...
10. Meg Whitman's Future: HPE CEO Meg Whitman says she has no plans to leave the company. The statement comes after Uber allegedly pursued her for a CEO slot before hiring former Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshah.
9. Huawei and Microsoft: Huawei and Microsoft are partnering on the cloud front -- and Microsoft's applications will be released on the HUAWEI Cloud. That could be a very big deal as Microsoft attempts to push deeper into China, where Huawei is based...
8. Distribution: Ingram Micro Cloud has agreed to distribute Storage Guardian's backup solutions in Canada.
7. GPS A Little Off?: A cloud of charged particles blasted from the sun is expected to reach Earth Wednesday and Thursday, potentially triggering a geomagnetic storm that could interfere with satellite navigation systems, Bloomberg says. The geomagnetic storm is not expected to disrupt the U.S. electricity grid. After all, we already have plenty of hackers focused on that market opportunity...
6. Symantec Acquisitions?: After acquiring Blue Coat Systems last year, Symantec CEO Greg Clark says his company could be back in the market for big M&A deals. When? First, the company needs a period to pay down debt and prove it can meet growth targets, according to Reuters. Hmmm… Isn’t that the standard answer from any executive who recently completed a big M&A deal?
5. Lenovo Settlement: Lenovo has settled charges that it sold laptops with compromised user security, Reuters notes. The $3.5 million settlement involves Lenovo's decision to sell laptops in August 2014 with software called VisualDiscovery. The software delivered pop-up advertisements... but also blocked browsers from warning users when they tried to access malicious websites....
4. SD-WAN Benefits: Amid all the hype about SD-WANs, here's a list of potential SD-WAN benefits for service providers and their customers. Admittedly, the list comes from an SD-WAN vendor (Cato Networks).
3. Ransomware Mitigation: Autotask today unveiled an ebook to help IT service providers protect customers from ransomware attacks. Additional ebooks and guides on the topic include Datto's Business Guide to Ransomware; Intronis's Smarter MSP's Guide to Ransomware; ProofPoint's Ransomware Survival Guide; and SonicWall's How to Protect Against Ransomware. Related Conference: Autotask Community Live 2017, the company's annual customer and partner conference, is set for this month in Miami. If you'd like to potentially meet at the event please email me ([email protected]).
2. M&A, Part One: Solar Communications has acquired TWL Voice and Data Limited for an undisclosed sum. Solar is a 90-person cloud communications provider with offices in Chippenham, Harlow and Manchester, UK. The TWL deal allows Solar to extend its managed services offering and geographical reach into Cardiff.
1. M&A, Part Two: Zayo Group has acquired yet another data center. The latest deal involves Zayo buying Westminster Data Center's location in Colorado for $3.5 million, according to Colorado Real Estate Journal.
