5 Channel Partner Updates: Wednesday 26 June 2019

Here are five (actually, far more…) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, June 26, 2019.

A. Our Daily Brew

B. Freshly Brewed News and Chatter

1. Ransomware – Another U.S. City Pays Hackers: Officials in Lake City, Florida, have voted to pay hackers $460,000 to recover data from a ransomware attack. The move is part of a disturbing trend, including:

2. M&A - Enterprise IT Consulting: Capgemini is acquiring Altran Technologies for 3.6 billion euro ($4.1 billion). The massive deal better positions Capgemini to engage and service technology companies seeking digital transformation capabilities, the companies say.

3. M&A - IT Consulting & Cybersecurity: Accenture is acquiring BCT Solutions, a privately held technology consultancy that specializes in Command and Control, Cybersecurity, Cyber Defense services and expertise, the company said today.

4. M&A - Networking: Extreme Networks is acquiring Aerohive Networks, a provider of incloud-managed networking for $210 million, the companies disclosed this morning. The deal provides Extreme with a subscription revenue stream, additional wireless LAN capabilities and technology related to WiFi 6.

5. Multi-Cloud Management for VMware MSPs: CloudHealth by VMware, a multi-cloud management platform, is now available on the VMware Cloud Provider Hub. The service and associated capabilities are available globally through the Managed Service Provider (MSP) model under the VMware Cloud Provider Program.

6. ITSM Automation: SysAid, a provider of IT service management (ITSM) solutions, has launched Automate Joe, a service orchestration engine that automates manual, repetitive IT tasks. Powered by CA Automic Service Orchestration, Automate Joe is "the first offering in the ITSM market that orchestrates service delivery across business, application, and infrastructure layers at the push of a button," SysAid claims. The service can free service desk agents from manual tasks such as employee onboarding and offboarding, software deployment, Active Directory modifications, and provisioning virtual machines, the company claims.

7. Microsoft Azure vs. AWS - Cloud Profit Margins: There's a clear winner in this debate, according to a research report from Jefferies.

8. Data Protection - Research: Unitrends, a Kaseya company, today will release its fifth Annual Cloud and Disaster Recovery Survey results. Check the Unitrends homepage for details.

9.  Data Protection - Talent: Rubrik has hired Tom Kennedy as VP of Federal. He reports directly to Brett Shirk, Rubrik’s chief revenue officer.

10. Data Protection - File Sharing: Pulseway, a provider of remote monitoring and management (RMM) software, has updated its Remote Desktop application with File Transfer capabilities. With this new feature, businesses can now send and receive files from both the source and destination endpoint, the company says. Market chatter suggests Kaseya may be an investor or owner in Pulseway.

11. Crypto Audits: PricewaterhouseCoopers has added cryptocurrency auditing to its list of services as the firm expands into an asset class that is steadily adopting the accoutrements of traditional finance, Bloomberg reports.

12. Huawei vs. United States: New developments in the case involve loopholes that apparently allow U.S. companies to work with the Chinese technology giant, despite mandates against Huawei. Details are here.

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

1. Data Protection - SaaS Backup: Continuum has launched Recover For SaaS, which allows MSPs to backup and restore data from Microsoft Office 365, Google G Suite and Salesforce.com. The service white labels technology from KeepIt, according to a Continuum spokesperson. The market for such services is growing rapidly but quite crowded. Additional options include Axcient CloudFinder; Datto's buyout of Backupify in 2014; Kaseya's Spanning acquisition in 2018; OwnBackup's Series C funding in 2019; and SolarWinds Backup for Office 365.

2. Application and Data Performance: Unravel Data has unveiled the Unravel Partner Program to help businesses optimize the performance of their modern data applications and the complex pipelines that power those applications. Mark Wolfram, vice president of business development and partnerships, is driving the program.

3. SD-WANs: Windstream Enterprise has expanded its SD-WAN offerings to include Fortinet's Fortigate technology. Windstream Enterprise has offered SD-WAN services underpinned by VMware since 2017.

5. All Partner Programs: Search the comprehensive ChannelE2E Partner Program Database here. Submit your company information here and your partner program can be listed in the database.

D. Next Five Technology Conferences

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