5 Channel Partner Updates: Tuesday 23 July 2019 -

Here are five (actually, far more…) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, July 23, 2019.

A. Our Daily Brew

Who We Serve: Content for managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), IT consulting firms, systems integrators, VARs, independent software vendors (ISVs), and any other partner acronym that further caffeinates our already stellar SEO.
Frequency: Every business morning.
Reaching the Barista: Send news, tips and rumors to [email protected].

B. Freshly Brewed News and Chatter

1. Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) Advice: First Midwest Bank has hired a team of bankers experienced in lending to ESOP-owned companies. First Midwest's new ESOP Finance Group will have a national lending platform and provide expertise in ESOP-based ownership transition to its relationship bankers and customers, the bank says.

2. IT Monitoring - NIST Seeks Feedback: The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST's) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) has released new draft project description Continuous Monitoring for IT Infrastructure. NIST is seeking feedback on this draft to help refine the challenge and scope. The comment period is open through Friday, July 26, 2019.

3. Application Performance Monitoring - Dynatrace IPO: We've got new details including pricing and valuation targets here.

4. Cloud Monitoring: INAP has launched Intelligent Monitoring, a "premium" managed cloud and infrastructure monitoring service, the company says.

5. MSP Conference Recap: A two-part recap of the recent Build IT 2019 conference, hosted by IT By Design, is here and here. Also, the Build IT 2020 conference is scheduled for next May in New Jersey.

6. Investment - Microsoft and AI: Microsoft has invested $1 billion in OpenAI, an artificial intelligence startup that will build new Azure AI supercomputing technologies.

7. Talent - Linux Leadership: SUSE has named SAP veteran Melissa Di Donato as the Linux company's CEO.

C. Channel Partner Programs and Strategic Alliances: MSPs, CSPs, ISVs, VARs

1. Distribution – Mobile & Cyber Services: Synnex and Westcon-Comstor are taking additional steps to distribute BlackBerry’s Enterprise Mobility Suite. The effort includes recruitment for the BlackBerry Enterprise Partner Program and the BlackBerry Cylance Partner Program.

2. Distribution - Data Protection: Lifeboat has agreed to distribute Arcserve's data protection, backup and disaster recovery (BDR), and business continuity software to partners in North America.

3. Cloud Distribution – Network Security: Ingram Micro Cloud has agreed to distribute Perimeter 81‘s software-defined network security solutions.

4 . Alibaba - SMB Partners: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group will now allow small businesses in the United States to sell on Alibaba.com, the company said on Tuesday, an effort to tap into the business-to-business e-commerce market and fend off fierce competition from rivals like Amazon.com, Reuters reports.

5. Managed Database Services: Rackspace’s ObjectRocket has been certified as a worldwide cloud provider of MongoDB, the open source general purpose database platform.

6. All Partner Programs: Search the comprehensive ChannelE2E Partner Program Database here. Also, submit your company information here and your partner program can be listed in the database.