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5 Channel Partner Updates: Tuesday 31 July 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 Tuesday, July 31, 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. Earnings: Apple will announce quarterly results later today...

9. Michael Dell vs. Investors: Dell Technologies investors are raising questions about a proposed valuation designed to shift the company to public markets. Apparently, the investors want Michael Dell to sweeten the pot -- but the executive and the hardware giant don't intend to do so, according to Bloomberg.

8. Artificial Intelligence - IT Services Contract: The U.S. Department of Defense has inked an $885 million, five-year contract with Booz Allen Hamilton. The consulting firm will develop and deliver artificial intelligence technologies and services for the federal agency. The use of AI systems such as neural networks that mimic the human brain could help the Defense Department sift through the “overwhelming” amount of data related to such areas as national security and health care, The Wall Street Journal reports.

7. M&A - Compensation Services: Salary.com and Compdata Surveys & Consulting are merging. The combined company allows compensation professionals to identify, match, and price jobs across all regions and industries for compensation planning, candidate recruiting, employee engagement, and workforce retention, the firms assert. Salary.com CEO Kent Plunkett is the former CEO of Intronis, an MSP-friendly backup provider that Barracuda Networks ultimately acquired.

6. Google Cloud Platform: Enterprise backup specialist HYCU has launched HYCU for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) -- a fully managed backup service for Google's cloud.

5. Compensation & Equality: Nearly 58 percent of companies are reviewing compensation structures to ensure pay parity, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. This is up from 48 percent of companies in January. More companies are focused on creating equality, safety and fair compensation in the workplace amid the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, the research firm says.

4. Talent - Former HPE Channel Chief: ServiceSource, which offers outsourced sales and revenue growth solutions, has hired former HPE Global Chief Channel and Alliance Officer Denzil Samuels as chief marketing & growth officer. He leads ServiceSource's worldwide alliances, strategic partnerships, global marketing, branding and communications. 

3. Talent - Vertical Market MSP: Options, a managed service and IT infrastructure provider to the global capital markets industry, has hired Michael Russo as VP, product management. He's responsible for driving new business growth and supporting the firm’s managed application services.

2. Momentum - Vertical Market MSP: RFA, an MSP for the financial industry, has launched a private financial cloud in Luxembourg. The expansion allows RFA to offer private cloud services to both its existing and new financial services clients in Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, and the wider region.

1. CompTIA ChannelCon 2018: We're attending this week's CompTIA ChannelCon 2018 conference in Washington, D.C. Track news and analysis from the conference here.

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.