5 Channel Partner Updates: 27 July 2016

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Wednesday, July 27 2016. Actually, there are 20 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on. Take a look… 20. Apple Transition: Apple confirmed that iPhone sales have fallen for the second consecutive quarter but the actual figure (40.4 million smartphones) beat Wall Street's expectations. CEO Tim Cook is working overtime to assure investors that Apple has a new generation of technology -- featuring artificial intelligence and augmented reality -- on the way... 19. World's Most Secure Android Smartphone?: BlackBerry claims its new DTEK50 smartphone is the most secure Android smartphone on the market. CEO John Chen has been striving to jumpstart the company's mobile device business even as some Wall Street pundits call on the company to get out of the smartphone market. Meanwhile: Google itself is taking steps to further secure Android. 18. Chip Acquisition: Analog Devices is buying Linear Technology for about $14.8 billion. The deal pushes Analog deeper into chips for smart phones and IoT devices. The deal comes less than a month after SoftBank announced plans to acquire ARM Holdings -- the major mobile processor maker. 17. Next Citrix Sell-Off: After selling off its CloudStack and GoTo businesses, rumor has it Citrix Systems may look to sell off its NetScaler offerings. 16. Discrimination Settlement: Qualcomm is set to pay more than $19 million to settle claims that the company discriminated against female employees. 15. White House Guide to Cyber Security: a new Presidential Policy Directive seeks to "codify" how the federal government responds to significant cyber security incidents.... Welcome to 2010. We look forward to more government guidance around 2025... 14. Application Performance Management: New Relic is set to host a FutureStack conference on Aug. 9 in New York. For channel partners that are trying to wrap their arms around application performance management (APM), this event could be particularly worthwhile... 13. eDiscovery, Legal Vertical Managed Services: Stroz Friedberg's Electronic Discovery and Disclosure business has bolstered its  Managed Services platform. The upgrade "fully integrates tracking legal hold and data collections efforts to the existing data processing, review and budget forecasting capabilities, bringing together the full spectrum of the EDRM process," the company claims. 12. Cloud Data Center Sales?: CenturyLink is set to announce quarterly results on Aug. 3. We wonder: Will the company finalize plans to sell -- or retain -- its 60 cloud data centers? Hmmm... Rival Verizon plans to make a decision on its own data center ownership in Q3, the company confirmed this week. 11. AWS Cloud Cost Management Tools: Logicworks has launched CostLogic, a cost management solution that helps customers plan, monitor, and manage their AWS spending and reduce overall costs by up to 40 percent, the company claims. A growing list of cloud cost management tools are now on the market, including options from CloudMGR, CloudCheckr and CloudAbility, just to name a few. Ahem. Don't leave yet. Continue to page 2 for items 10 to 1. As promised, here are items 10 to 1 for today's update. 10. Disaster Recovery as a Service: HOSTING, a managed cloud services provider, has launched a Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) cloud solution built atop Zerto's BC/DR software. HOSTING claims the platform improves its HIPAA and PCI compliance stance. 9. Oracle Partner Acquired: Datavail, an Oracle channel partner focused on managed database services, has acquired Art of BI, an Oracle analytics partner. We'll share more details soon. 8. PSA, RMM and Business Intelligence: Atera, which develops a cloud-based RMM and PSA platform for MSPs -- has integrated Benchmark, its business intelligence (BI) platform, into its software. The integration offers MSPs real-time evaluation of their pricing structure through the billing system, the company asserts. Atera CEO Gil Pekelman shared some of this strategy with ChannelE2E back in May 2016. 7. Sage Consolidates Partner Programs: Sage has consolidated 54 regional channel programs into a single program, Channel Chief Alan Laing announced at the company's partner summit this week. Computer Dealer News has the details. 6. Partner Program: SpiderCloud Wireless, a provider of scalable small cell systems, has launched a partner program to recognize systems integrators who are qualified to deploy its small cells in the United States. The program is designed to help mobile operators and enterprises select systems integrators that can provide trusted, expert services in their geographies, the company said. 5. Cloud Services Brokerage: First Distribution, a distributor in South Africa, has reorganized into four distinct companies. One of them is called CBS Africa -- yup, a cloud brokerage service provider... Generally speaking, cloud services brokerages offer the following three capabilities to channel partners. 4. Channel Talent: Progress has hired Mitch Breen as chief revenue officer, where he'll manage all customer-facing initiatives and revenue channels, including sales, strategic alliances and services. Breen is a veteran of Simplivity, Oracle and EMC. 3. IoT Talent: Aptilo Networks has promoted Jan Sjönell to the new position of VP,  Internet of Things. Sjönell, one of Aptilo's founding members, will be responsible for developing Aptilo´s strategic and operational direction within the IoT arena. Aptilo develops a service management for WiFi and IoT administration. 2. (Lack of) HIPAA Compliance: Ninety-five percent of hospitals have written electronic health record contingency plans, but only about two-thirds have plans that meet four HIPAA requirements, according to a survey conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General. That finding surfaces as nearly 170 HIPAA audits unfold across the U.S. Some of those audits could eventually extend to MSPs and VARs that service health care companies. 1. Coming Thursday: Join us as we host Not Your Typical Ransomware Webcast. Our MSP and MSSP guest speakers will share six tips to help mitigate ransomware threats across your customer base. We'll also offer an open Q&A throughout the webcast. More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner Updates. Plus: Subscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.