5 Channel Partner Program and MSP News Updates: Monday 01 March 2021

Here are five (actually, more) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Monday, March 1, 2021. Sip up.

What’s In Our Daily Brew?

A. What’s Brewing Today: Technology News

1. Private Equity Party Ending?: In a little-noticed December 2020 ruling in a case involving a failed 2014 leveraged buyout, a federal judge threw some sand into the otherwise well-lubricated gears of private equity, The New York Times reports. The result: It’s about time we started asking tough questions about the ramifications of loading up companies with huge amounts of debt they will surely have difficulty repaying, The Times says.

2. Zombie Company Concerns: The Fed's economic support is making it easy for struggling companies to stay afloat through access to cheap financing, Bloomberg warns.

3. Venture Capital  for Cloud Software Startups: JMI Equity is seeking to invest in small B2B cloud software companies that have $10 million or more in annual revenues, the investment firm disclosed this morning.

4. Potential SPAC: Cloud-communications company Twilio has agreed to invest as much as $750 million in Syniverse Technologies. The investment could eventually trigger a merger between Syniverse and a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company), The Wall Street Journal reports. Private-equity firm Carlyle Group currently owns Synerverse.

5. Updated List - 36 Technology SPACs: Here's the list of technology-focus SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) and the potential implications for the IT channel.

6. M&A - Two Accenture Deals: Global IT consulting firm Accenture announced two more acquisitions this morning . The first deal involves acquiring Pollux for robotics and factory floor automation. The second involves buying Cirrus for leadership and executive coaching. Accenture has now acquired more than 50 companies since 2019 -- including businesses focused on big data analytics, cloud computing, digital transformation, cybersecurity and MSSP services.

7. M&A - Networking: Cisco Systems has completed the acquisition of Acacia Communications. Acacia designs and manufactures high-speed, optical interconnect technologies that "allow webscale companies, service providers and data center operators to meet the fast-growing consumer demand for data," Cisco says. China closely scrutinized the deal before approving Cisco's increased bid for Acacia.

8. Managed Hybrid Services: Park Place Technologies, a provider of data center hardware maintenance and managed services, has unveiled ParkView Server Management. The service spans physical, virtual and cloud technologies. The new service, delivered by Park Place’s Enterprise Operations Center (EOC), streamlines IT operations by "simplifying the management of compute environments and provides clients with incident management, patch management and remediation," Park Place says.

9. Cloud and Financial Services: Ernst & Young has launched a cloud enablement center for financial services customers. The center, based in Phoenix, Arizona, offers risk, regulatory and technology expertise. Key focus areas include cloud, analytics, cybersecurity, data, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

10. Embedded Edge Computers: Lenovo has announced an all new portfolio of embedded computers. The new ThinkEdge SE30 and ThinkEdge SE50 are ":small, rugged, and powerful enough to meet the demanding needs of enterprise data processing, security and scalability at the edge," the company says.

B. Channel Chiefs, Partner Programs and Strategic Alliances

1. Partnership - Public Cloud Storage: IT consulting firm ePlus has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Storage Competency status.

2. Partnership - Kubernetes: Portworx by Pure Storage , a Kubernetes Data Services Platforms, today announced that it has "teamed up with IBM to help enable OpenShift-based data services to run in hybrid cloud environments with performance, data protection, data security and mobility on IBM Cloud Satellite," the companies say. IBM Cloud Satellite, now generally available, enables clients to run IBM cloud services on any cloud, on premises, in multicloud environments or at the edge – all delivered as a service, the company says.

C. Channel Partner Summits, MSP Conferences and Virtual Events Calendar