Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Friday, August 31, 2018.
Actually, there are 15 timely updates (yowzers…) 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. Box Developer Support: Box Skills Kit -- which enables customers, developers and systems integrators to build custom AI integrations with Box – is scheduled to be generally available in December 2018. Beta testers include IBM, Deloitte, Robots & Pencils, Codelitt, and AIM Consulting.
14. Connectivity - VMware Cloud on AWS: Equinix is introducing private connectivity to VMware Cloud on AWS. The strategy involves AWS Direct Connect at Equinix International Business Exchange data centers globally. Track all VMware VMworld 2018 conference news here.
13. Contact Centers: CoreDial, a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) provider, has launched CoreNexa Contact Center -- a hosted platform for its channel partners.
12. Apple iPhone Launch: Apple is expected to make iPhone and other device announcements on September 12 in Cupertino, Calif.
11. Talent: IBM Cloud veteran Philippe Oliva is joining european satellite operator Eutelsat as executive VP of sales and products on September 3.
10. Alibaba Cloud Partnership: DoubleHorn, a cloud solutions provider and cloud services brokerage, is now an authorized reseller for Alibaba Cloud. The news comes as China-based Alibaba Cloud increasingly competes against Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Microsoft Azure on the world stage.
9. SAP on Microsoft Azure Cloud Migrations: Wharfedale Technologies has launched an accelerated service to help customers more rapidly activate SAP solutions on Microsoft Azure. The rapid migration services specifically involve SAP HANA and SAP S/4HANA.
8. New Office 365 License Model: Starting October 2, subscribers can install Office on an unlimited number of devices—and be signed into their accounts on up to five of those devices at the same time, the software giant says.
7. Google G Suite & Autotask PSA: Goolash has launched Automaker for Google G Suite. The solution automates the billing process between Datto's Autotask PSA and Google. The service creates contracts in a user’s instance of Autotask PSA for every G Suite subscription sold. We'll share more details soon.
6. Business Continuity: N2W Software (N2WS), a Veeam company that offers cloud-native backup and recovery for AWS applications, has opened an office in Bucharest, Romania. This new office comes on the heels of the opening of its UK office less than a year ago, the company notes. For the second quarter of 2018, N2WS recurring revenues grew 111 percent vs. the corresponding quarter in Q2 2017. Actual dollar figures were not disclosed.
5. Funding - Cloud Monitoring: Metricly, a SaaS-based cloud monitoring service built on a machine learning platform, has raised $9 million in Series A Funding from Rembrandt Venture Partners and Bowery Capital. In addition, the company secured $2 million of funding from Western Technology Investment, a Silicon Valley-based venture debt firm.
4. M&A - App Developers & Digital Marketing: ONGO Framework, which offers custom app development services, has acquired Hockystick Media, a digital media agency. ONGO also received a $1 million investment from multiple angel investors.
3. M&A - MSPs: Managed security specialist Tesserent is acquiring Melbourne-based managed services provider Asta Solutions for $3.8 million, Australia CRN reports.
2. Paid Leave Policy for Contractors: Companies with more than 50 employees that work for Microsoft will have to offer employees a minimum of 12 weeks paid parental leave, for either a birth or adoption. Moreover, the contractors will have to pay employees up to $1,000 per week during their leave, the new Microsoft policy states, according to Money.com.
1. Top 50 MSPs for AWS/Top 50 MSPs for Azure: Participate in the survey here and potentially earn honors for your MSPs. Plus: Get the honoree lists and see the research by attending our next ChannelE2E webcast. Register now.
