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5 Channel Partner Updates: Thursday 01 February 2018

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Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, February 1, 2018.

Actually, there are 10 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…

10. Breaking News - Microsoft IT Consulting Firm Rollup: This just in. Quisitive, a national digital technology consulting firm, has been acquired by Fusion Agiletech Partners in Toronto, Canada. The acquisition will fund investments in blockchain product innovation. Also, Quisitive will pursue more M&A, seeking to become one of the industry’s largest Microsoft consulting services firms over the next two years, the company says. An IPO also is on the long-term radar. We'll share more details soon.

Carl Icahn
Carl Icahn

9. Xerox Buyout Doubts?: Fujifilm's $6.1 billion buyout of Xerox faces skepticism from two major Xerox shareholders -- Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason. Together, the duo owns 15 percent of Xerox. The two investors harbored concerns Wednesday about the price Fujifilm is paying, according to people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reports. They also raised concerns over Jeff Jacobson’s proposed role as CEO of the new entity after they previously called for him to be fired. The men are evaluating their next steps, The Journal says. Of course, this could merely be grandstanding -- an attempt to make Fujifilm sweeten its offer for Xerox. Still, that could be a tough negotiation, considering Xerox has flat revenues and faces competitive headwinds.

8. Lenovo Challenges: Tough times continue at Lenovo. The company, which lost the world’s largest PC maker crown to HP Inc in 2017, has seen its smartphone business suffer due to higher component prices and fierce competition, Reuters says. Plans to break-even in the smartphone market, originally set for next quarter, likely won't happen. Still, the company's PC business is growing again. And we're checking to see how the company's data center efforts are coming along. Related: The Lenovo Accelerate 2018 partner conference is set for May.

Mark Cattini, SVP of field service, Salesforce

7. Talent: Former Autotask CEO Mark Cattini has joined ClickSoftware as CEO. ClickSoftware specializes in field service management, and has close relationships with SAP and Salesforce...

6. New Google Cloud Marketplace: Yes, Google is building a cloud marketplace to help partners and customers find apps. The effort involves partnerships with MobileIron and Orbitera to ensure the apps are secure and properly monitored.

5. Google G Suite Momentum: Microsoft Office remains the 800 pound gorilla of SaaS productivity applications. But Google G Suite is making progress. Since Google got serious about developing features for major enterprises two years ago, the number of organizations paying for G Suite has doubled to more than 4 million, Reuters claims.

4. Microsoft Azure Momentum: For the 10th consecutive quarter, Microsoft Azure revenues have grown at least 90 percent, the company said yesterday. We'll share more thoughts soon.

3. ServiceNow Growth: ServiceNow's revenues surged 42 percent to $546 million in Q4 2017 vs. Q4 2016, and earnings surged 46 percent for the period.

2. SMB Lending: Online lender Kabbage is expanding its SMB credit line to $250,000, with an emphasis on technology investments.

1. Network Monitoring: Paessler AG, the network monitoring specialist, has joined the HPE Partner Ready Program and built specialized sensors for HPE's servers. More than 200,000 system administrators rely on Paessler’s PRTG Network Monitor to ensure they are the first to know if a problem arises, the company claims. We're checking to see if or how HPE plans to promote Paessler's technology to MSPs and IT service providers.

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.