Content, 5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: Wednesday 11 October 2017

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, October 11, 2017. Actually, there are 19 frothy 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. 19. Countering Amazon Workspaces: CloudJumper, a Workspace as a Service (WaaS) platform provider, has launched a Competitive Replacement Program. The program targets partners that currently deploy Amazon Workspaces. Under the program terms, new and existing partners gain access to the CloudJumper WaaS platform at no charge for the first three months when signing up for a 12-month service agreement. Just last week, Ingram Micro and Samsung launched a WaaS program involving Amazon Workspaces... 18. Dell IoT Strategy: Dell is betting $1 billion on its Internet of Things (IoT) strategy, which includes a new IoT division as well as new IoT specific products, labs, partner program and consumption models. The $1 billion involves IoT-centric R&D over the next three years. PS: If you want to earn headlines, through around the "$1 billion bet" statement. IBM used a similar figure when the company bet on Linux roughly two decades ago and Watson artificial intelligence in 2014. 17. Oracle Managed Services: Greenville Utilities Commission (GUC), a utility in North Carolina, has embraced Oracle Managed Services from Emtec, an IT consultancy focused on end-to-end digital transformation services. Emtec and GUC have worked together since around 2012. The latest engagement involves deploying and managing the Oracle Utilities suite. 16. Hyperconverged Infrastructure: Yes, VARs really do like HCI solutions from Nutanix, according to a Barron's report. That's an important statement considering how aggressively Cisco Systems, Dell EMC and HP Enterprise are pushing into the HCI market... 15. Microsoft AI Fund: Microsoft Ventures, in collaboration with Madrona Venture Group, Notion Capital and Vertex Ventures Israel, has launched Innovate.AI -- a global competition aimed at empowering emerging artificial intelligence companies. In total, Microsoft Ventures and its partners will award $3.5 million in venture funding and $2 million in Azure cloud services credits. 14. PC Sales Data: PC shipments declined for the 12 consecutive quarter, according to Q3 2017 stats from Gartner. Impressively, HP Inc.'s Q3 unit shipments rose 4.4 percent year over year -- while Lenovo, Dell, Asustek and Apple all saw unit shipment declines in the quarter... 13. Distribution Part One: Intelisys, a ScanSource company, welcomed more than 1,100 partners last week to the company's Channel Connect conference last week in Monterey, Calif. ScanSource acquired Intelisys in August 2016 to further consolidate the VAR, MSP and telco channels. 12. Distribution Part Two: Ingram Micro has agreed to distribute Zoom Video Communications. The effort includes coordinated sales of Zoom video services with associated hardware from Logitech, Apple, AVer, Intel Polycom and Cisco Systems. 11. Partner Program Part One: Magic Software Enterprises, which specializes in integration and application development solutions, has launched a business unit for managing global integration channel partners. But wait. There's more. Proceed to page two of two with complete confidence that items 10 to 1 await you. Welcome to page two of two for today. Here are the 10 remaining items for your timely consumption. 10. Partner Program Part Two: MobileLogix, a provider of field service management (FSM) solutions for the mid-market, has named Jeffrey Gregorec as the company's executive VP of sales and strategic alliances. Gregoree will oversee the company's channel partner buildout. 9. IT Services Job Cuts: The career outlook for India's senior-level IT consultants looks a bit depressing for the next few years, according to multiple reports and surveys that predict "job shock in the IT sector" for india... 8. Service Management: ServiceAide has launched White Glove Service to elevate companies from underperforming help desk implementations to a top tier Service Desk painlessly, the company claims. The effort includes a Service Desk solution that spans Setup, Migration, Training and Perpetual Administration. 7. Managed Cloud Services: Nerdio, an ITaaS specialist, has launched a white label option for partners to deliver the company's Nerdio Private Cloud and Nerdio for Azure service under their own brands. 6. Managed Security Skyrockets: Data security is now the number one priority for businesses, according to 44 percent of IT service providers surveyed by Autotask. That's up dramatically from 6 percent of respondents who said data security was a top revenue driver back in 2013... And it further explains why we launched MSSP Alert... 5. MSP Training: Keep an eye on MSP 101 -- a free MSP training course from Clarity Channel Advisory Group. More than 200 MSPs now leverage the training service, the company says. For questions check in with Clarity Managing Director Will Ominsky. 4. M&A Part One: DXC Technology has agreed to acquire Logicalis SMC, a Netherlands-based provider of technology-enabled solutions for the service management sector. We'll share more thoughts soon.
Nancy Couden Williams
3. Talent: eFolder veteran Nancy Couden Williams now has a sales role with Small Biz Thoughts, the small business education organization led by Karl Palachuk. 2. Breaking: Talk about a quick encore. Office Depot apparently has acquired Complete Office Solutions, a $150 million office equipment dealer. We're poking around for more details. The move comes roughly one week after Office Depot confirmed plans to buy CompuCom for $1 billion. 1. California Wildfires: The California wildfires have impacted multiple IT service providers and technology companies. We are in touch with multiple sources, particularly in the IT services sector, but respecting their request for privacy while they work through emergency evacuations at this time. We're continuing to follow the situation for updates, and wish everyone a safe path forward.
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.