Content, 5 things

5 Channel Partner Updates: Wednesday 25 October 2017

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, October 25, 2017.

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. Juniper Business Weakness: Juniper, as expected, delivered weak quarterly financial results yesterday.  The networking company apparently had layoffs earlier this year. Now, the company says it has  initiated "a realignment of its workforce in Q4.Ahem... that sounds like a fancy way of saying "brace for more layoffs."

14. Commvault Miss: Commvault's stock dropped 11 percent yesterday after the data protection company revealed weaker-than-expected financial results. Commvault blamed the weakness on enterprise class deals that didn't close as quickly as expected, according to Baron's.

13. AMD Struggles: AMD's latest revenue forecast disappointed investors...

12. After The Acquisitions: Extreme Networks has launched a unified partner program, combining existing and acquired programs and technologies. The move reflects Extreme's recent acquisitions of Zebra Technologies' WLAN business, Avaya's networking business and its intent to acquire Brocade Communications Systems's data center networking business, which is expected to close by the end of October 2017.

11. HPE Changes Server Strategy: In a stunning sign of the times, HP Enterprise will stop promoting commodity servers to tier 1 data center customers like Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. HPE will continue to promote high-end servers to those customers. The change of strategy reflects growing competition from so-called white box servers and commodity systems that some cloud providers build on their own.

10. PC as a Service: Dell has expanded its PC as a service portfolio -- furthering the device as a service trend across the hardware market. Most major PC makers, distributors and financial firms now offer some sort of hardware as a service (HaaS) model for partners and customers. Examples include GreatAmerica's Hardware as a Rental; HP Inc.'s Device as a Service; Microsoft Surface as a Service; and Ingram Micro's Technology as a Service.

9. Microsoft Azure Managed Services: Logicalis US has expanded its IaaS solutions and services for Microsoft Azure.

8. Infosys Boardroom: It sounds like stress levels are running high within the Infosys boardroom. The massive IT consulting firm is seeking a new CEO while also trying to overcome a weaker-than-expected revenue forecast for next year. Further complicating matters, it sounds like the Infosys board is clashing with the company's founder amid the CEO search, according to Bloomberg...

7. Big MSP Win: Meriplex Communications has embraced Kaseya Traverse to monitor and manage SD-WAN services for Fortune 1000 and midmarket customers. The win is significant for several reasons. First, SD-WAN services are a hot growth area for MSPs and telecom service providers -- but such services are useless without proper IT management services in place. Second, Traverse is a promising cloud and network management tool that Kaseya acquired in 2013. But Traverse initially struggled a bit under Kaseya's ownership because of Kaseya's own executive and ownership changes. The business and associated executive leadership began to stabilize in late 2015, and the overall Traverse business has show considerable growth this year.

6. PSA Enhancements:  FinancialForce's PSA (professional services automation) platform for Salesforce now features enhanced forecasting, resource optimization, and scheduling tools, the company says. Details surfaced here. FinancialForce supports all types of professional services organizations. With the technology sector, adopters typically include midsize IT consulting firms.

5. Avaya Bankruptcy Plan: Avaya still expects to emerge from bankruptcy this year, and offered this update on its new financial plan...

4. AMD Struggles: AMD's latest revenue forecast disappointed investors...

3. Managed Networking Services: Datto, as expected, has announced the availability of Datto Networking for MSPs in Europe. The news surfaced at DattoCon London.Designed for MSPs, Datto Networking includes WiFi access points, cloud managed PoE switches and a network security appliance with integrated 4G LTE failover. Datto previously introduced the networking gear in North America. The networking push started when the company acquired OpenMesh in January 2017.

2. SolarWinds MSP Conference: The Empower MSP conference kicks off later today in Orlando, Fla. Some MSP to MSSP surprises are expected. ChannelE2E and sister site MSSP Alert will be on hand. Stay tuned for live coverage through the end of this week...

1. Bad Rabbit Ransomware Vaccine: As the Bad Rabbit ransomware attack continues to spread worldwide, Cybereason claims it has a vaccine for the malware.

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.