Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Friday, February 2, 2018.
Actually, there are 15 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…
15. Amazon Earnings: Amazon's latest quarterly results were spectacular.
14. Apple Earnings: The company had its biggest quarter in history, but critics are still wondering about the iPhone X's long-term sales prospects.
13. Alphabet Earnings: The details from Google's parent are here.
12. Wage Growth: U.S. hiring was solid in January as the unemployment rate hovered at its lowest level in 17 years and wage growth picked up to its strongest pace since the recession, The Wall Street Journal says.
11. Hiring: The U.S. information technology (IT) sector posted modest job gains to start 2018, but hiring for core technology positions was strong in other industries, according to CompTIA.
10. Microsoft Office 365 Compliance: Cloudficient, an Office 365 management solutions provider, has launched an Audit and Compliance solution.
9. Distribution - SaaS: Tech Data Canada will distribute ServicePoint365 to help partners maximize their Office 365 revenue opportunities...
8. IT Outsourcing: Law firms wonder if new Trump administration policies will reshape IT outsourcing...
7. SMB Push - CenturyLink: The IT services giant is opening an outbound sales center to help assist small business customers. Roughly 150 new employees will staff the center.
6. MSP Platforms: The Tech Tribe, an MSP peer group organization with roughly 220 members, has selected Auvik Networks as a preferred vendor. Auvik has been gaining momentum in the network RMM (remote monitoring and management) sector.
5. MSP Software: Kaseya BMS -- a PSA platform -- now integrates Xero's accounting software for small businesses.
4. M&A - Managed WordPress Services: Liquid Web, which provides managed hosting services to SMBs and web professionals, has acquired iThemes, which develops such WordPress plugins as BackupBuddy, iThemes Security Pro, multiple site management Sync and iThemes Sales Accelerator.
3. M&A - Data Centers Part One: AT&T data centers for sale... again?: Sure sounds like it.
2. M&A - Data Centers Part Two: NTT Com has exercised its option to purchase the remaining shares of RagingWire and acquire 100% ownership of the company. As part of this investment, NTT Com named RagingWire its Americas data center platform responsible for NTT Com’s data center business in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and South America under the global Nexcenter brand, the companies said.
1. Milestones: We've got a few updates to share from Infrascale, the data protection company focused on MSPs. Stay tuned for more details...