Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, December 12, 2017.
Actually, there are 17 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:
17. Datto-Autotask Post Merger: Yes, the Datto-Autotask merger is now official. But I've said all along, the deal essentially involves Datto acquiring Autotask -- with an emphasis on integrating technology under the Datto umbrella for an end-to-end MSP partner play. Two Autotask technology veterans have joined the Datto executive team, and it's a safe bet integrated product roadmaps will emerge rapidly. I'd expect plenty of news at DattoCon 2018 in June (and sooner). What about Autotask Community Live 2018 in September? Understandably, Datto is still evaluating whether to move forward with that event, but I suspect the answer will arrive rapidly.
16. Talent Part One: Arlington Computer Products, a major IT solutions provider in Chicago, has hired HP veteran Scott Dunsire as president.
Paul Ciesielski15. Talent Part Two: SevOne, which develops network and infrastructure management solutions for MSPs and CSPs, has hired Paul Ciesielski as chief revenue officer. He previously worked for AppDynamics, which was acquired by Cisco. SevOne has also hired JMTP Enterprises veteran Joe Ghattas as VP of sales and managing director for the EMEA region, and ExtraHop veteran Danny Smolders as VP of sales and GM, Asia Pacific.
14. Apple Coding for Kids: Apple is working with the City of Chicago to ensure all students has access to basic coding classes. The effort will reach roughly 500,000 Chicago students in 2018, and focuses on Apple's Swift programming language.
13. IBM Layoffs?: Looks like IBM is getting ready to make some more targeted cuts...
12. Server Rebound?: Worldwide server revenue jumped 16 percent and shipments grew 5.1 percent in the third quarter of 2017 vs. 2016, according to Gartner. The findings suggest demand for higher-end servers has rebounded a bit -- even as the global cloud services market squeezes on-premises sales of low-end servers.
11. Google Cloud MSPs: We told you yesterday that Google Cloud Platform is ramping up its MSP relationships. Amid that backdrop, Rackspace is pointing to multiple Google Cloud Platform customer wins...
But wait. There's more. Continue to page two for the dramatic next chapter in the epic Star Wars saga... er, the conclusion of this blog.Welcome to page two of two. No Star Wars VIII spoilers here. But plenty of channel chatter to chew on.10. AWS Goes to China: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has partnered with Ningxia Western Cloud Data Technology to begin rollout out AWS in China...
8. Cisco Partner Locator Tool: Cisco Systems is beta testing an Ecosystem Partner Locator (EPL). The online directory "makes it fast and easy to find the ecosystem partners that meet your specific sales needs, providing searchable access by vertical, by Cisco architecture, and by region," Cisco asserts.
7. CenturyLink: CenturyLink has signed a five-year contract with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide data networking products to the Commonwealth's agencies, commissions, councils, bureaus, authorities and boards, the service provider says. CenturyLink is collaborating with Comcast Business to provide network services and last mile connectivity to end users. This builds upon a contact announced in September 2017.
6. Asigra Financial Perks for Partners: Cloud backup specialist Asigra has launched new financial incentives to support partners in growing their share of the cloud backup market. The company's new Partner Acceleration Program enables end-customers to reduce their backup and recovery costs by 50 percent, and allows partners to select a preferred software licensing model to fit their business and encourage customer adoption, Asigra asserts. Partners can get details here.
5. Veeam CSP Partner:Umbrellar, which claims to be one of New Zealand’s largest web and cloud hosting providers, has launched Umbrellar CloudConnect. Powered by Veeam CloudConnect, Umbrellar's approach involves offering an offsite, secure solution to protect customers desktops and devices, on-premise physical and virtual servers, or existing Veeam onsite Backup and Replication deployments, the company says. It's part of a growing Veeam strategy to work with third-party CSPs rather than building a decided Veeam cloud.
4. Ingram Micro Guidance: How must partners evolve for 2018? Ingram Micro offers this guidance here...
3, M&A - MSPs:Vintek has acquired Regal IT, a managed services provider based in Sydney, Australia, according to ARN. Regal has partnerships with Citrix, Microsoft, VMware, Barracuda, Nutanix, CenturyLink, Arcserve and Shoretel, the report said.
2. M&A - MSPs:Allixo and Corban IT Services have merged under the Allixo brand. The combined IT service provider now has 22 professionals. We'll share more details soon.1. MSP Security Operations Centers: Should you build one or outsource to a third-party SOC? Attend our webcast this Thursday, December 14, to find the pros and cons of each approach.
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.
