5 Channel Partner Updates: Wednesday 08 January 2020 -

Here are five (actually, a bit more…) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, January 8, 2020. Sip up.

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A. What’s Hot Today

1. M&A - Tech Data Shareholder Vote: Tech Data's proposed $6 billion sale to Apollo Global Management will reach a shareholder vote on February 12, the distributor says.

2. M&A - Audio Visual Partners: Distributor Hills Ltd. has sold its Australian and New Zealand Audio Visual (AV) business to NSW-based Ambertech subsidiary Amber Technology, Australian Leisure Management reports.

3. M&A - IT Education: John Wiley & Sons has acquired mthree from ECI Partners. mthree is an education services provider that finds, trains and places job-ready technology talent in roles with corporations worldwide. The deal's price tag was $129 million (£98 million) in cash.

4. M&A - Private Equity & Cloud ERP: Accel-KKR has acquired Springbrook Software, a provider of cloud-based ERP and payments software for local government. Springbrook supports more than 800 local governments and municipalities across North America. Financial terms were not disclosed.

5. Amazon AWS vs Microsoft Azure: This in-depth look at the cloud services market details market share figures over the past several years, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

6. Talent - Data Center Support: CDS (Computer Data Source), a provider of data center third-party maintenance (TPM) and high-end data storage for enterprises, has hired HiveIO and Datapipe veteran Dan Newton as CEO.

7. Talent - MSP: NexusTek, a national MSP for SMB customers, has hired Mark Richtermeyer as VP of Professional Services. Richtermeyer will lead and grow the consulting, delivery practices and project management teams. Most recently, Richtermeyer founded and led three consulting businesses; the Premios Group, specializing in oil and gas-focused software and consulting services, the Spitfire Group, focusing on high performance consulting and software development projects, and CCG Online, an ecommerce and digital marketing company acquired by iXL.

8. Talent - Digital Transformation: Green House Data, a provider of digital transformation services for enterprises, has hired Victor Tingler as senior vice president of digital transformation. Tingler previously was VP of Cloud Transformation Services at Trace3, VP of Consulting and Cloud Solutions at InterVision, Director of Channel Engineering at CenturyLink, and Global Master Architect at EDS.

9. Talent -SD-WANs: Aryaka has named Brad Kinnish as the SD-WAN company's CFO.

10. Talent - Data Protection: Commvault has hired Dell veteran Marco Fanizzi as vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and VMware veteran Callum Eade as vice president of Asia Pacific Japan (APJ). Deeper details, recapping recent executive hires and the company's strategic focus, are outlined here.

B. Channel Partner Programs and Strategic Alliances

1. Distribution - SMB Momentum: D&H Distributing generated 20 percent growth in its SMB business during 2019, including double-digit gains in areas such as security and surveillance, cloud, PCs, print and imaging, server/storage, and networking/wireless, the company says. Deeper details are here.

2. Distribution - IoT: Avnet is launching a new Partner Program designed to provide developers with a place to build complete IoT solutions. The program involves Avnet’s IoTConnect platform, powered by Microsoft’s Azure IoT Suite.

3. Data Protection - Middle East: SkyOne of Dubai will promote Asigra's cloud backup and disaster recovery solutions to Middle East customers. All data will remain in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) -based clouds either self-hosted or purchased as a GCC-based cloud service.

4. Networking - WiFi Management: Axiros will integrate its management console with Linksys’s Velop mesh WiFi system. ISPs and customers will gain "first-class, carrier-grade solution to streamline provisioning and management of complex network equipment and meet their customers’ needs," the companies say. Also, Plume and Linksys partnered, allowing ISPs to manage customers' WiFi system.

5. Channel Talent - SD-WANs: Silver Peak has hired Ruckus Networks veteran Ian Whiting as president, global field operations. Whiting will lead direct and indirect sales, sales operations and all aspects of the company’s go-to-market strategy for channel and service provider partners. He reports to founder and CEO David Hughes.

6. All Partner Programs: Search the comprehensive ChannelE2E Partner Program Database here. Also, submit your company information here and your partner program can be listed in the database.