Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to end your day for Thursday, November 9, 2017.
Actually, there are 14 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:
14. M&A: Barracuda Networks has acquired privately held Sonian, a provider of public cloud archiving and business insights, the companies confirmed yesterday. The tuck-in deal will deepen Barracuda's cloud archiving, and email security and management capabilities, as well as expand Barracuda's channel reach with the addition of key OEM partners, Barracuda claims.
13. GDPR: Io-Tahoe LLC, which develops machine learning technologies for data lakes and relational databases, has launched a new offering to help customers address requirements for the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
12. Talent Part One: Tech Data has named Kevin Kennedy to senior vice president of Sales, Enterprise Solutions, Americas.
11. Talent Part Two: Following layoffs and a surprise dividend cut that alarmed investors, Windstream has named Curt Allen as the company's channel chief. Wall Street remains skeptical, but Windstream believes it can ride SD-WANs and other emerging technologies to growth.
10. Partner Program Part One: Big Switch Networks has launched the two-tiered Big Switch Networks Channel Partner Program. It features training and enablement on the Big Switch product portfolio: Big Monitoring Fabric (Big Mon), a network packet broker offering feature parity, operational efficiency and reduced CapEx compared to traditional NPBs, Big Mon Inline for software-based DMZ security service chaining, and Big Cloud Fabric (BCF), an automated data center switching fabric optimized for various workloads, the company says.
9. Partner Program Part Two: Datical, a provider of database release automation solutions, has launched the Datical Partner Program for DevOps vendors and systems integrators.
8. Backup: OwnBackup has launched its Winter ‘18 release. The update tightens SaaS data backup and recovery security, offers greater control and access, and improves backup and recovery performance, the company says. Former Intronis CEO Sam Gutmann leads OwnBackup.
7. Managed WiFi Services: Cambium Networks has launched new enterprise and industrial WiFi solutions designed for MSPs. Then again, so has everyone else lately...
6. SMB Financing: Small Main Street banks vowed on Wednesday to fight any review of a ban that prevents retailers such as WalMart and tech giants like Amazon.com from becoming fully fledged banks, Reuters reported.
5. Cloud Cost Management: ParkMyCloud, which develops an enterprise platform for continuous public cloud cost controls, has launched a new iOS app that allows users to park idle instances directly from their mobile devices. The app makes it easy for ParkMyCloud customers to reduce cloud waste and cut monthly cloud spend by 65% or more, the company claims.
4. Eating Whoppers at McDonalds: Acronis is at ConnectWise IT Nation -- but promoting a new Autotask integration to the media this week. WatchGuard made a similar move.
3. Cat Fight: We told you earlier this week that Datto disclosed two security vulnerabilities (November 7, item 1). Turns out rival Continuum apparently was responsible for some of the discovery and disclosure chatter, though we haven't confirmed that directly. It's increasingly common for tech companies to disclose vulnerabilities about each other's products. But the back-and-forth can sometimes trigger some hard feelings. Just ask Microsoft and Google...
2. Infrascale and ConnectWise: Big happenings between ConnectWise and Infrascale. Indeed, ConnectWise will distribute Infrascale to its technology solutions providers --the latest in a growing list of business continuity solutions that ConnectWise offers to MSPs. However, there's a big twist here. Infrascale is quietly emerging as a Datto alternative. Ironically, Infrascale Chief Revenue Officer Bill Falk is a Datto and Kaseya veteran. Infrascale's true believes include Cal Net, a major MSP that is standardizing on Infrascale as part of a larger data management strategy.
1. IT Nation Live Blog: Our coverage of IT Nation 2017 continues here with this live blog along with a complete story lineup here. CEO Arnie Bellini's keynote kicks off around 8:00 a.m. ET. Check those links for ongoing updates.
