Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, August 22, 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. Linux for Microsoft Azure Cloud: SUSE has launched the "first enterprise Linux kernel tailored for Microsoft Azure," the company claims. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 on-demand instances now run on a custom-tuned kernel for workloads on Microsoft Azure, the company says. Customers gain enhanced performance and faster boot speeds along with a decreased memory footprint, SUSE asserts.
14. Linux Certification: CompTIA is beta testing a new version of its CompTIA Linux+ exam.
13. Cisco Hiring Practices: Labor Department investigators recently concluded that Cisco Systems discriminated against U.S. workers by favoring immigrant visa holders for job openings, Bloomberg reports. A Cisco spokesperson denied some of the allegations, Bloomberg says.
12. Microsoft Software Costs: The Israeli government will not renew a contract for various Microsoft desktop software at the end of the year, it said on Tuesday, citing a change in license terms it said would double the price, Reuters says. The decision involves Microsoft's growing shift from traditional software licensing toward subscription services. Microsoft in Israel declined to comment, the report says.
11. Slack Valuation: Workplace chat software maker Slack Technologies has raised $427 million in a new round of funding, lifting the company's overall valuation to $7.1 billion.
10. Security Partnership: Webroot and Zerum have integrated their products. The integrations allow Zerum partners and customers more quickly and efficiently stop potential threats by detecting malicious files at the network perimeter and keeping end users from visiting malicious or unwanted websites, the companies say.
9. IoT and Google Cloud Platform: C3 IoT now supports Google Cloud Platform. Poke around and you'll learn that C3 IoT has emerged as one of the leading Industrial IoT platform providers.
8. Talent - MSP Leadership: Magna5, a national provider of cloud, managed IT and professional services, has hired Gerry Gallagher as senior vice president of sales. Gallagher previously held key sales leadership positions at Fujitsu America, Capgemini and EDS. Magna5 is owned by NewSpring Holdings, an investment firm.
7. Data Center Funding: Goldman Sachs-backed AirTrunk has raised $618 million to fund the expansion of its two Australian data centers and a move into Asia, DataCenter Knowledge reports.
6. M&A - SMB & Enterprise Storage: StorCentric has emerged from stealth mode -- acquiring Drobo and Nexsan -- two companies that specialize in ProSumer, SMB and enterprise storage.
5. Pure Storage Momentum, Acquisition: Pure Storage revenues reached $308.9 million in Q2 2018, up 37.6 percent from Q2 2017. The results beat Wall Street's expectations. The company also acquired StorReduce, a cloud-first software-defined storage solution for managing large scale unstructured data.
4. Cohesity Growth Accelerates: Another major player in storage management market is emerging. Cohesity, backed by Softbank, says sales grew 300 percent in the company's just-ended fiscal 2018. The company's annual revenue run rate is $200 million, Bloomberg estimates. Ironically, StorageCraft earlier this week specifically mentioned Cohesity (and other fast-growth rivals Veeam and Rubrik) as a company it planned to disrupt in the midmarket...
3. Gartner Botches DRaaS Magic Quadrant: Gartner's Magic Quadrant for DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service) excludes vendors that sell exclusively through the channel, the research firm confirms. Rumors about that approach have been around for more than a year. It's a foolish mistake on Gartner's part, considering many of the fastest-growing DRaaS and data protection providers -- i.e., Datto -- have channel-centric business models.
2. AT&T Completes AlienVault Acquisition: The deal is official. Here are details -- and the implications for MSPs and MSSPs, especially partners serving small business and midmarket clientele.
1. Benchmark Your MSP: How is your business performing compared to the overall MSP and IT services market? Join the next ChannelE2E webcast this Thursday to find out.
