Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, February 28, 2018.
Actually, there are 18 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…
18. Big Deal: Amazon is acquiring video doorbell maker Ring for at least $1 billion. Some folks think the deal is all about smart homes -- potentially pitting Amazon more aggressively against Google NEST. But other folks think the Ring deal is all about improving home delivery services and associated security/safety measures for curriers and customers. What do I think? I still have an analog doorbell... and I rarely answer it.
17. Momentum - SaaS: Workday revenues hit $582.5 million in Q4 fiscal 2018, up 32.5 percent from Q4 fiscal 2017, the company said yesterday. Workday specializes in SaaS-based HR and and financial applications -- competing aggressively against Oracle and SAP, among others.
16. Talent - IT Services: InterVision Systems, an MSP and data center provider, has hired Victor Tingler as VP of digital transformation solutions. He leads a team of innovation consultants, technical architects, and business analysts, the company says.
15. Talent - Global Outsourcing: Appirio CEO Chris Barbin is transitioning to parent company Wipro as global culture officer. Details surfaced in this blog.
14. Talent - Data Centers: Indiana NAP (INAP) is focused on two Midwest data center projects, led by CEO Peter Feldman. The projects involve "high-power, high-efficiency mission-critical data center space that will serve the Chicago, Illinois regional market as well as connect Indianapolis, Indiana and Chicago back to New York," the company says. Feldman apparently acquired majority control of INAP as part of the initiative.
13. Partnership - SD-WANs: InfoVista and Nuage Networks are partnering to promote application-centric SD-WANs.
12. Distribution: Ingram Micro Cloud has agreed to distribute Kaspersky Lab to Middle East partners. Key offerings in the lineup include Kaspersky Security for Virtualization and Kaspersky Endpoint Security. Key executives to know in the region include Maxim Frolov, managing director, META at Kaspersky Lab as well as Ali Baghdadi, SVP & chief executive from Ingram Micro, META. The deal highlights how Kaspersky continues to build relationships worldwide even after the U.S. government barred the security company from U.S. federal agencies. The Trump administration alleges that Kaspersky could have ties to Russia's government, though the U.S. government has never revealed any firm evidence to back the claim. Kaspersky has repeatedly denied the allegations. Related Partner Summit: Ingram Micro Cloud Summit 2018 is set for late April.
11. Microsoft vs. Department of Justice: Supreme Court justices on Tuesday wrestled with Microsoft's dispute with the U.S. Justice Department over whether prosecutors can force technology companies to hand over data stored overseas, with some signaling support for the government and others urging Congress to pass a law to resolve the issue, according to Reuters. Related: MSSP Alert, our sister site, summarizes the Microsoft vs. DoJ case and its implications for service providers here.
Continue to page two of two for the exciting conclusion to this blog.
Welcome to page two of two, featuring the exciting conclusion to this blog.
10. IoT for AWS: Zipit, an Internet of Things value-added services provider, has joined the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN). The move is designed to "accelerate OEM customers' ability to efficiently get IoT solutions to market and build recurring revenue business models," Zipit says.
9. Broadband Bill of Rights: People in Germany will acquire a legal right to fast Internet connectivity under a proposed coalition between Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD), according to this report.
8. Lenovo Still Struggling?: Lenovo's downward spiral may not be over yet, according to Bloomberg analysis that points out multiple missteps in the mobile and data center sectors. Lenovo's struggles are particularly glaring considering Apple and Samsung have continued to shine in the mobile market, while HP Inc. and HP Enterprise have regained serious momentum in the PC and data center markets. On the partner front, North America Channel Chief Sammy Kinlaw exited for Lexmark in January. Back at Lenovo North America, Rob Cato is now calling the partner shots on an interim basis. Related - Lenovo Partner Conference: We expect Lenovo to offer a reality check and rally cry during the company's Accelerate partner conference in May.
7. Desktop As A Service Twist: For years, I've wondered what the killer application could be for desktop as a service (DaaS) and workspace as a service (WaaS). Merely accessing my Windows or Mac desktop from a smartphone or tablet surely wasn't the answer. Now, along comes a startup called Blade -- which makes a PC virtualization service called Shadow. So what's the killer app this time? Apparently it's gaming -- according to a Wall Street Journal article about Blade. Meanwhile: Back in the business market WaaS continues to gain momentum in some segments. CloudJumper, for instance, recently acquired close partner IndependenceIT. The deal essentially gives CloudJumper complete control of its WaaS software stack -- good news for MSPs and partners that want to know CloudJumper has complete control of its software destiny and associated intellectual property.
6. Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR): A new Veeam Availability Orchestrator has launched. The disaster recovery solution reduces the time, cost and effort associated with planning for and recovering from a disaster, Veeam claims. The offering surfaces as Veeam nears the $1 billion annual revenue mark, and prepares to rally partners at the VeeamOn 2018 conference in May.
5. BDR Part Two: Nakivo, a virtualization and cloud backup software company, is seeking beta testers for its forthcoming 7.4 platform release. The offering features automated VM disaster recovery, instant file recovery to source, enhanced AWS EC2 instance backup, bandwidth throttling, self-backup, instant recovery for Hyper-V VMs, and more.
4. IT Monitoring - Containers & Kubernetes: Sysdig has unveiled customizable support packages for self-hosted Prometheus monitoring users. Many enterprises in early-phase Kubernetes projects use open source Prometheus, but during the transition to production, operational tooling becomes a burden, Sysdig asserts. The new custom support packages for self-hosted Prometheus environments from Sysdig ensure development time isn’t lost to monitoring software behind the scenes, the company adds.
3. A Startup for Startup Management: For $10 per month, ZenBusiness will tell you every form and annual report you need to file with your state, and if they miss something, they will pay your fines, according to TechCrunch. The company recently raised $4.5 million to help accelerate growth.
2. IT Glue's Next Launch: It's official. IT Glue today publicly announced MyGlue -- which allows MSPs to extend documentation and password management services to their end-customers. The effort essentially gives MSPs new ways to monetize IT Glue's platforms. CEO Chris Day shared some preliminary details and associated strategies with ChannelE2E last week. Related Conference: IT Glue will host GlueCon 2018 -- the company's first partner and customer conference -- in September.
1. Thank You: ChannelE2E's readership generated double-digit growth in February 2018 vs. February 2017, and the site has grown every quarter since launching in September 2015. Special thanks to our readers and sponsors for supporting our mission as we guide MSPs, CSPs and VARs on valuation-building journeys from Entrepreneur to Exit.
