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5 Channel Partner Updates: 28 March 2017

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Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, March 28, 2017. Actually, there are 17 timely updates for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on… 17. Congrats: To three of our recent webcast attendees, each of whom won an Amazon Echo. The winners include: 16. SD-WANs: Aryaka, a global SD-WAN provider, has inked a strategic partnership with GAB Enterprise IT Solutions GmbH, a global system integrator for Microsoft technologies. GAB will promote Aryaka’s SD-WAN technology as a next-generation MPLS replacement solution. 15. Cloud Scripting: Jelastic, a cloud PaaS specialist, has launched Cloud Scripting. The offering helps "service providers make the complex things easy for end customers, hence, increasing the added value to its managed services," the company claims. 14. MSP Growth: Manchester-headquartered ANS Group has reported half-year revenue growth of 40% to £33.7 million for the six months to September 2016, Prolific North reported. The cloud and managed services provider, which founder Scott Fletcher set up from his bedroom in 1996, also reported adjusted EBITDA of £5.3m – an increase of 45% from the same period in 2015, the report said. 13. Managed Smart Cities: neXgen Group, an MSP and smart city consulting firm in the UAE, has launched a Smart Safety and Security as a service. It leverages Vidsys's Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) and Converged Security and Information Management (CSIM) software. 12. Cloud  Partner Hub: Dell EMC and Intel have unveiled a Cloud Ecosystem Hub. It connects EMEA Cloud Service Providers and end users, according to ChannelBiz. Related Partner Conference: Dell EMC World 2017 is set for May. 11. Partner Program: Red Hat has launched an Application Platform Partner Initiative. The effort is designed to "optimize the value chain for application development and integration projects." Red Hat is piloting the program with several North American consulting partners. Early adopters include Exadel and OSI Consulting. It sounds like participants leverage Red Hat JBoss Middleware, Red Hat OpenShift, and Red Hat Mobile Application Platform, among other technologies. Related Partner Conference: Red Hat North America Partner Summit 2017 is this week. But wait. More content awaits you on page 2. Proceed to page two now and chow down the remaining items... Welcome to page two. Enjoy a second serving of channel content -- items 10 to 1 -- here. 10. Red Hat Earnings: Red Hat's Q4 revenues were $629 million, up 16% year-over-year. Moreover, Q4 subscription revenue was $560 million, up 17% year-over-year, according to earnings results released yesterday. Red Hat's upbeat outlook during the company's earnings call triggered shares to jump about 5 percent in after hours trading. 9. Ransomware Prevention: Zetta, the business continuity specialist, has unveiled a Ransomware Prevention Checklist. The checklist provides actionable advice to help recover from and prevent ransomware attacks. Most of the major business continuity and backup providers now offer some sort of ransomware recovery service. 8. Workspace as a Service: CloudJumper has launched JumpStart, which aims to accelerate workspace as a service deployments. We'll share more details soon. 7. Distribution, Part I: Ingram Micro's latest Odin Automation Essentials includes new features for hosting service providers that want to offer Microsoft Azure services and more. We'll share more details shortly. Related Partner Summit: Ingram Micro Cloud Summit 2017 is in April. 6. Distribution, Part II: Synnex, the distributor, delivered stronger-than-expected Q1 2017 revenues and profits, the company disclosed yesterday. Technology Solutions revenue was $3.0 billion, up 9.4 percent -- likely because of the company's CloudSolv business, among other factors. Also, the company's Concentrix revenue was $478.2 million, up 38.7% from Q1 last year -- though the boost was directly attributable to the Minacs acquisition. Related Partner Summit: Synnex Spring Varnex Conference 2017 is this week. 5. Frexit?: Is a certain French executive about to exit Denver? Hmmm... For those who understand that play on words, we hope to offer an update later today or sometime this week. Update: Yup. eFolder's Channel Chief has exited, multiple sources say. 4. M&A - Business Continuity: Preparis, a business continuity and emergency notification software and services provider, has acquired Contingency Planning & Outsourcing (CPO). Preparis gains CPOtracker, a preparedness management software tool that assists those who are responsible for developing and maintaining disaster recovery, business continuity, and emergency management plans. CPOtracker will be rebranded  as Preparis iQ. 3. M&A - Cloud Services: Deloitte has acquired "substantially all" of Day1 Solutions Inc., a cloud consulting firm. The company also pointed to the addition of 3,000 new, U.S.-based high-tech engineering jobs; and the opening of new cloud studios across the country. Piece it all together and Deloitte is striving to compete with Accenture and other big rivals amid the shift to cloud services. 2. M&A - Rumor: Will Extreme Networks acquire Brocade's networking business? That's the rumor we're hearing. Some chatter suggests Extreme could buy that business as soon as this Thursday, March 30 -- though we can't back up that claim with any concrete facts. As you'll recall, Broadcom acquired Brocade's overall business in November 2016, but announced plans to sell off the IP network component around the same time. Arris was a rumored bidder in January 2017, but now we're hearing Extreme could be at the negotiating table... Extreme, as you'll also recall, also is bidding to buy Avaya's networking business.
1. Act Now: Our Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs Survey closes this Friday. Submit your MSP now and your business could be honored when we unveil results and associated research on April 27.
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.