5 Channel Partner Program and MSP News Updates: 06 July 2021

Here are five (actually more) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, July 6, 2021. Sip up.

What’s In Our Daily Brew?

A. What’s Brewing Today: Technology News

1. Kaseya Cyberattack Recovery Efforts: The latest details directly from Kaseya are here. Plus, MSSP Alert's ongoing timeline tracking the Kaseya Supply Chain Cyberattack is here. For those who missed it, the REvil Ransomware gang attacked Kaseya's on-premises VSA software on July 2. As a precaution, Kaseya shut down the SaaS version of the software. Still, the attack spread to roughly 40 MSPs and then extended to roughly 800 to 1,500 businesses worldwide.

2. MSP - Amazon Web Services (AWS): Mission, a Top 250 Public Cloud MSP, has launched Mission Cloud Elevate. The new service is designed to "scale customers’ engineering resources through a designated pod of highly collaborative and hands-on AWS experts that adapt to organizations’ ever-evolving cloud requirements and initiatives," the company says.

3. MSP Expands: Astute Technology Management, a solution provider known around Columbus, Ohio, recently opened a second office in Cincinnati Ohio to service the southwest Ohio region, the company says.

4. MSP Rebrand: ECS/My IT has rebranded as The Purple Guys. The rebrand comes after ECS/My IOT acquired The Purple Guys in February 2021 and Network Technologies in May of 2021.

5. Talent - MSP: Thrive, a Top 100 Vertical Market MSP, has named Bill McLaughlin as the company’s first Chief Customer Officer.

6. Managed Print Services: MPS Monitor has announced new features – leveraging a proprietary Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning algorithm – targeted at improving supplies monitoring, shipments and analytics on its fleet of more than one million devices, the company says.

7. SPAC and Solution Provider: Microsoft solution provider AvePoint Inc. is now publicly held following a merger with Apex Technology Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). AvePoint's stock symbol is AVPT.

8. Funding - IT Management: WiteSand has raised $12.5 million in seed funding to date from institutional and angel investors.

9. Funding - Customer Onboarding Tool: Arrows, which develops a SaaS-based customer onboarding tool, raised $2.75 million in seed funding.

B. Channel Chiefs, Partner Programs, Strategic Alliances and Integrations

1. Integration - MSP Software: Atera, which develops cloud-based PSA and RMM software for MSPs, now integrates with AnyDesk remote access software.

2. Integration - Password Management and PSA Software: LastPass now has provisioning integrations with ConnectWise Manage and Datto Autotask. With this integration, MSPs can add all or a selection of their clients to LastPass "in minutes – allowing MSPs to simplify LastPass provisioning and minimize the time required to set-up a LastPass account,' the company says.

3. Professional Services Automation (PSA) and Salesforce CRM: Polaris PSA has launched Polaris PSA on Salesforce AppExchange. Key PSA rivals in the Salesforce partner ecosystem include Kimble Applications and FinancialForce.

4. Channel Cloud Marketplace: PartnerStack and Ingram Micro Cloud have launched a new program to help vendors drive revenue through partnerships.

5. Partner Program - Analytics: Tableau has completed a complete redesign of the Tableau Partner Network. The revamp provides "greater transparency of Tableau’s partners, numbering over 1,200, meaning customers can now more easily find a qualified, local partner as the network measures partners against performance-based criteria," the company says.

6. Partner Program - MSPs: DNSFilter announced a global MSP Partner Partner Program.

C. Channel Partner Summits, MSP Conferences and Virtual Events Calendar