5 Channel Partner Program and MSP News Updates: Tuesday 02 February 2021

Here are five (actually, more) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, February 2, 2021. Sip up.

What’s In Our Daily Brew?

A. What’s Brewing Today: Technology News

1. Help Desk Automation - AI for Slack: HappyFox has released HappyFox Assist AI. The product allows IT and HR teams to "leverage AI to auto-resolve repetitive questions and allow companies to manage their IT and HR support within Slack," HappyFox says.

2. Talent - Cloud MSP: 2nd Watch, a Top 250 Public Cloud MSP, has hired IBM veteran Chris Whaley as executive vice president, cloud solutions sales. Whaley most recently was a partner at IBM leading Cloud Application services. Earlier, he was senior VP of business development at Cloudticity.

3. Talent - Digital Consulting: Nerdery has named Laura Etches as VP of marketing and Chris Cobb as VP of of design. 

4. Talent - Salesforce CFO Retires: After a 40-year career in finance, CFO Mark Hawkins has retired from Salesforce. Amy Weaver, previously the company’s chief legal officer, took over as CFO on February 1, 2021, The Wall Street Journal reports.

5. Funding - Robotic Process Automation (RPA): UiPath has raised $750 million in Series funding at a lofty post-money valuation of $35 billion, TechCrunch reports. UiPath had annual revenue of $360 million, CNBC reported in December 2020.

6. Funding - HPC Cloud Services: Rescale has raised $50 million in Series C funding from Hitachi Ventures, Microsoft’s M12, Nautilus Venture Partners, NVIDIA, Republic Labs and Samsung Catalyst Fund, bringing the company’s total funding to over $100 million, Rescale says.

7. Google Cloud Revenues: Alphabet will report the cost and operating profit of its Google Cloud business for the first time on, disclosures that are expected to overshadow record overall quarterly sales for the internet’s biggest platform for ads, Reuters reports.

8. Google Android and Ford Motor: Google signed a six-year deal with Ford Motor Co. that will bring Android technology to the automaker’s cars and cloud services to its factory floor, in a triumph for the internet giant over rival Microsoft, Bloomberg reports.

9. Digital Transformation - Java Applications: Emerging from stealth today, vFunction has launched a platform to help customers transform complex, monolithic Java applications into microservices with a scalable, repeatable factory model, the startup asserts. The vFunction is backed by $12.2 million in seed funding.

10. Apple Mac as a Service: Scaleway has launched Apple silicon M1 as-a-Service. The cloud service provides customers with a fully native Apple experience based on macOS Big Sur running on the Mac mini M1. All systems come pre-installed with the latest version of macOS Big Sur 11.2 and Xcode 12.4.

B. Channel Chiefs, Partner Programs and Strategic Alliances

1. Channel Chief - Workday: Fast-growing SaaS-based application provider has promoted Doug Robinson to executive VP of global sales. Workday has been working with global systems integrators to promote its SaaS-based finance, HR, planning and spend management software. But the company doesn't typically say much about its overall channel partner strategy.

2. Partner Momentum - SD-WANs: Aryaka Networks has announced "major customer wins" in the Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Many of the wins involve partners, and the victories include several deals worth over $1 million across Aryaka's EMEA region. The largest deal, with a deal value of over $10 million, involves a financial services company with over 10,000 employees operating over 80 sites globally, Aryaka says. The specific customer name was not disclosed. Key partners in the region include:

3. Partner Program - SD-WANs: Bigleaf Networks has launched a revamped service provider program with" enhanced sales enablement, better training and ongoing support to address sustained increase in demand for its intelligent SD-WAN platform," the company says. John Hogan, Bigleaf's first vice president of sales, is leading the program.

4. Partner Program - IT Automation: Netenrich has expanded its global channel partner program, called ProsperIT. The program is designed for VARs, system integrators, MSPs and MSSPs to "drive digital transformation for themselves and their clients with less complexity and increased operational efficiencies and profitability," the company says. The ProsperIT program drives outcomes across IT operations, cybersecurity, networks, and hybrid/multi-cloud environments (including AWS, Azure and Google), Netenrich says. The updated partner program surfaces roughly two months after Netenrich launched a SOC as a Service option for partners and customers.

5. Partnership - SAP for SMB Customers: Lumen is hosting various SAP services to make it easier for VARs to offer SAP applications to SMB customers.

6. SAP Merges Online Stores: The SAP App Center (for partner solutions) and SAP Store (promoting SAP's own solutions) have merged. The combined store, called SAP Store and available at store.sap.com, simplifies the shopping experience of customers, the company says.

7. Distribution - Zoom Video Communications: AVANT Communications has achieved more than $1 million in monthly recurring revenue since becoming a Zoom master agent in March 2020.

8. Distribution - Zoom Europe: Nuvias UC, the unified communications business within Nuvias Group, has expanded its Zoom relationship to become a wholesale distributor as well as Master Agent across Europe.

9. Distribution - Security: McAfee and Ingram Micro have announced an expanded worldwide relationship. The new agreement will "provide access to McAfee products and solutions across Ingram Micro’s global distribution network, including its regional Cloud Marketplaces and Centers of Excellence," the companies say. McAfee launched its SaaS portfolio on the U.S. Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace in late 2020, and plans to expand its footprint on Ingram Micro’s network of e-commerce platforms throughout 2021, the firms add.

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