Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, June 19, 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. Fuji Sues Xerox: Fujifilm sued Xerox on Monday for more than $1 billion plus punitive damages, accusing it of succumbing to pressure to activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason in abandoning a proposed $6.1 billion merger, Reuters says.
14. Tesla Sabotage?: Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an email to staff that an unnamed employee had conducted “extensive and damaging sabotage” to the company’s operations including allegedly making unspecified code changes to its manufacturing operating system and sending sensitive Tesla data to unnamed third parties, Reuters reports.
13. Big Data for Azure: Microsoft and Hortonworks have extended their big data software partnership. The ongoing relationship allows customers and partners to deploy Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP), Hortonworks DataFlow (HDF) and Hortonworks DataPlane Service (DPS) products natively on Microsoft Azure. Customers can also use Microsoft Azure HDInsight, a managed service powered by Hortonworks Data Platform; that offering delivers Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark.
12. HPE Consumption Models: HP Enterprise has unveiled GreenLake Flex Capacity for partners. The move helps customers to adopt a pay-per-use model and access new on-premises technologies – such as software-defined infrastructure, all-flash storage and private cloud – without a significant upfront investment, HPE claims. Most major data center hardware vendors are introducing pay-as-you-go consumption models to potentially compete more effectively against public cloud services.
11. IoT Spending Forecast: The latest IoT spending forecast from IDC is... um... laughable. IDC says spending will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.6% over the 2017-2022 forecast period and reach $1.2 trillion in 2022. Awesome. Unreal. Amazing. The problem? IDC and other market researchers lump all sorts of technologies into the IoT market pie -- including analytics software, cloud technologies, business and IT services, and plenty more.
10. IoT Managed Services: NCR is showcasing its IoT-enabled managed services capabilities with PTC, at this week's LiveWorx conference in Boston.
9. SurveyMonkey IPO?: Hmmm... could be...
8. Distribution: Tech Data has launched shop.techdata.ca, a new e-commerce website designed and custom-built for Canadian solutions providers.
7. Data Protection: StorageCraft has unveiled new certified integrations with ConnectWise Automate and Manage, as well as Datto's PSA platform (Autotask).
6. M&A - WiFi Analytics: Cisco Systems is acquiring July Systems that develops a cloud-based WiFi analytics platform. July Systems' Proximity MX platform provides "location analytics for physical spaces."
5. M&A - Telecom: Novacap, a Canadian private equity firm, has finalized the acquisition of Horizon Telcom, a provider of fiber-optic bandwidth infrastructure services operating primarily in Ohio. Novacap acquired the company for more than US$220 million. Horizon's fiber network covers 4,300 route miles and nearly 550,000 fiber miles with over 1,600 on-net locations and 16,600 near-net buildings, the companies say.
4. M&A - IT Services Talent: Digital Intelligence Systems (DISYS), a global staffing and IT consulting firm, has acquired Xtreme Consulting Group, a talent and IT solutions company in the Pacific Northwest. We'll share more details soon.
3. M&A - MSP Management Buyout?: Stay tuned. We may have details today...
2. ConnectWise Automation Nation 2018: Track news and analysis from this week's conference here.
1. Live Blog - Datto CEO Austin McChord: His DattoCon18 keynote is set for this morning. Track all DattoCon18 news and analysis here.
