Content, 5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: Wednesday 18 September 2019

Here are five (actually, far more…) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, September 18, 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. Funding - Data Protection: Acronis, armed with funding from Goldman Sachs, is pursuing acquisitions...

2. M&A - Distribution and IoT: Avnet has acquired Witekio (formerly known as Adeneo Embedded), a privately held company with software and embedded systems expertise for IoT systems.

3. M&A - Office Equipment Dealers & Private Equity: Flex Technology Group, backed by private equity firm Oval Partners, has acquired Laser Technologies Service of Concord, Massachusetts. ​Laser will gain scale from the combined group, but will continue to operate independently, the companies say.

4. Private Equity - New Fund: Advent International's latest fund has exceeded a $1.6 billion target and reached a hard cap of $2 billion after six months in the market. Initial investments include:

  • Definitive Healthcare, a provider of data, intelligence and analytics on the healthcare provider market; and
  • Transaction Services Group, a global company offering business management software and integrated payment solutions to the health-and-fitness and child-care markets.

5. Venture Capital - Dell: Dell Technologies Capital (DTC), the venture investment practice for Dell Technologies has named Tyler Jewell as managing director, and Chris Hillock as VP of business development. Jewell will lead new investments around DevOps, cloud infrastructure, and analytics. Hillock will create go-to-market partnerships for investment portfolio companies by connecting them to Dell Technologies business units and directing engagement with large enterprise customers. DTC has completed 20 new investments and 39 follow-on investments since February 2018.

6. Talent - MSPs: Automated Business Solutions (ABS) of Warwick, Rhode Island, has hired Steve Ethier as director of managed services.

7. Talent - Office 365 Management: CoreView, which develops a SaaS management platform for Office 365, has hired Tahlor DiCicco as VP of marketing.

8. Cyber Attack Costs: SMBs are greatly underestimating the cost of cyberattacks, according to new research from AppRiver, a Zix company.

9. PSA Software and Expense Management: HarmonyPSA now integrates with Expensify, the expense management system.

10. Remote Management: TeamViewer Pilot now integrates with RealWear Wearable Headsets, Vuzix and Epson smartglasses, in addition to previously announced integration with iOS and Android-based smartphones and tablets. TeamViewer Pilot enables experts to remotely guide users through complex operations via live camera-sharing, voice and on-screen annotations.

11. MSPs - Password Management: IT Glue unveiled several new password-related features at the company's GlueX conference in Phoenix. The company is also integrating QuickPass with IT Glue, allowing MSPs to automatically update their Active Directly passwords via the documentation platform.

12. MSP Conference: Auvik Networks has announced key speakers for the company's first Frankly MSP conference -- scheduled for January 2019.

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

1. Partner Program - Data Privacy: BigID, a provider of data-centric personal data privacy and protection solutions, has unveiled the BigID Momentum Value Added Reseller (VAR) Program. The program allows partners to assist customers with California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), among other opportunities.

2. Partner Program - Application Performance: F5 Networks has launched the F5 Unity+ channel program.

3. Partner Program - Low-Code Application Development: K2 has launched the Solution Showcase partner program.

4. Distribution - Data Protection: Prodata has agreed to distribute StorCentric’s Retrospect  backup and recovery software in Sub-Saharan Africa.

5. Distribution - Cloud Services: D&H Distributing's cloud portfolio for partners now includes SkyKick and ConnectWise.

6. Distribution - UCaaS: Jenne has agreed to distribute Intermedia's unified communications as a service to SMB partners.

7. Marketing: Nitel's Partner Accelerator Program now assists partners with custom email campaigns, branded sales collateral and event co-sponsorship opportunities.

8. Veritas and Pure Storage: Veritas has expanded its partnership with Pure Storage -- providing business continuity, storage optimization and data analytics for customers.

9. Partner Program: DigitalOcean has launched the DigitalOcean Solutions Partner Program for two distinct types of partners:

  • Managed service and IT providers, cloud resellers and web development agencies that focus on selling DigitalOcean infrastructure along with their own services; and
  • platform builders that develop their own technology solutions on top of DigitalOcean.

10. Revenues: Granite Telecommunications, a provider of communications solutions to businesses and governmental agencies throughout North America, has surpassed its 2019 fiscal goal of achieving $1.5 billion in annualized revenues. The company achieved the milestone with no outside acquisitions, no outside investment and no debt, Granite asserts. Among the growth drivers: A growing partner program.

11. VMware Cloud on AWS: The Panzura Vizion.ai platform has attained VMware Partner Ready for VMware Cloud on AWS validation. Vizion.ai enables enterprises to collect, visualize and analyze machine generated data across private, hybrid and multi-cloud environments using its serverless Elasticsearch platform.

12. 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.

D. Next Five Technology Conferences

  1. Oracle OpenWorld 2019 (September 15-19, San Francisco)
  2. Cisco Contact Center Summit 2019 (September 17-19, Hollywood, Florida)
  3. New Relic FutureStack (September 19, New York)
  4. Spiceworks Spiceworld 2019 (September 23-25, Austin, Texas)
  5. Intelisys Channel Connect 20219 (September 25-27, Monterey, California)
  6. BonusChannelE2E’s complete event calendar

Got news to share for our morning update? Email me: [email protected].

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.