5 Channel Partner Program and MSP News Updates: 20 May 2021

Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, May 20, 2021. Sip up.

What’s In Our Daily Brew?

A. What’s Brewing Today: Technology News

1. MSP Board of Managers: CompassMSP has named three MSP industry veterans to its board of managers. The key leaders include:

CompassMSP has acquired multiple MSPs as part of an aggressive expansion plan.

2. Talent -  SaaS Startup: ConnectWise veteran and former MSP owner David Powell has joined Prodoscore as president. Prodoscore is a software platform that measures employee productivity by gathering insights from office suite, CRM and other types of applications. Prodoscore has raised roughly $5 million from SNK Capital Partners.

3. Talent - PCs and Printers: HP Inc. has hired MetLife veteran Greg Baxter as chief transformation officer. Baxter had been chief digital officer at MetLife. Also, HP hired Zimmer Biomet veteran Didier Deltort as president of personalization & 3D printing. Deltort reports to Savi Baveja, HP’s chief strategy & incubation officer.

4. Talent - Video Conferencing: Verizon Business has named Eric Spadafora as the new VP and general manager of BlueJeans by Verizon, the business-centric alternative to Zoom, Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams. Spadafora succeeds former BlueJeans CEO Quentin Gallivan, who has retired. Verizon acquired BlueJeans Network in April 2020.

5. Robotic Process Automation (RPA): The new UiPath platform 21.4 release supports Automation Ops, a web-based application that enables admins to "quickly set up policies for automation users and developers," the company says.

6. Cisco Systems Quarterly Financial Results: Cisco cautioned that supply chain issues will linger through the end of 2021 and forecast its current-quarter profit below estimates, sending shares of the network gear maker down 5 percent, Reuters reports.

7. Cisco SecureX Enhancements: The Cisco SecureX platform now supports comprehensive Device Insights.

B. Channel Chiefs, Partner Programs and Strategic Alliances

1. Distribution - Robotic Process Automation (RPA): StarLink has agreed to distribute Blue Prism in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META).

2. Distribution - Passwordless Authentication: Distology has agreed to distribute Beyond Identity to resellers and MSSPs in the U.K. and Ireland.

3. Hybrid Cloud Services for MSPs: Virtuozzo has launched Virtuozzo Hybrid Cloud. The solution enables MSPs and CSP to "design, build and sell modern cloud services to customers quickly and more cost-effectively than traditional hyperscalers," the company asserts.

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