5 Channel Partner Program and MSP News Updates: 29 April 2021

Here are five (actually, more) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Thursday, April 29, 2021. Sip up.

What’s In Our Daily Brew?

A. What’s Brewing Today: Technology News

1. M&A - MSSP Acquired: Global IT consulting firm Accenture is acquiring Openminded, an MSSP and cybersecurity services consulting company.

2. MSP Investment - Managed Container Services: Rackspace Technology has invested in Platform9, a SaaS Managed Kubernetes provider for distributed clouds. In an associated move, Rackspace launched the Rackspace Managed Platform for Kubernetes (MPK).

3. MSP Security Dashboard: OpenText has unveiled a new Webroot Business Management Console for MSPs and SMB customers. The console provides a unified point of management across the Webroot business security portfolio including Webroot Business Endpoint Protection, Webroot DNS Protection and Webroot Security Awareness Training. We'll share more detials soon.

4. Automation - Public Cloud MSPs: If you poke around the Top 250 Public Cloud MSPs list for 2020, half of the Top 20 and 40% of the Top 50 all use CloudCheckr -- a cloud visibility management platform that helps MSPs to tackle cost management, security, compliance, automation and other public cloud needs for end-customers. The latest Top 250 Public Cloud MSPs survey is open now, with results scheduled to surface during ChannelE2E's November 2021 webcast.

5. Partnership - Cloud and IT Services: CMIT Solutions, an MSP franchising organization, has partnered with Sherweb to help franchise members source and deliver additional cloud services to SMB end-customers. CMIT Solutions manages more than 50,000 endpoints across the United States and Canada, the company says.

6. SolarWinds Quarterly Financial Results: SolarWinds announced Q1 2021 financial results that were in-line with a preliminary estimate from April 13, 2021. The company has been preparing to potentially spin off the N-able software business in the first half of 2021. N-able focuses purely on MSP-oriented software.

7. ServiceNow Quarterly Financial Results: ServiceNow revenue was $1.293 billion in Q1 0f 2021, up 30 percent compared to Q1 of 2020. Net income was $82 million for Q1 of 2021, up from $48 million in Q1 of 2020.

8. Data Protection - Cloud Container Software: Kasten by Veeam has announced  Kasten K10 v4.0, which delivers "Kubernetes-native ransomware protection capabilities, providing much needed immutability against ransomware attacks," the company claims.

9. Talent: ITK Solutions Group has named Brenden Smith as the first director of the company’s Microsoft Power Platform Practice.

10. Investments - SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) Limits: The SEC, headed by new Chairman Gary Gensler, is considering limiting the ability of companies involved in blank-check mergers to give projections to investors of their future revenue and profits, according to Silicon Valley Business Journal. SPACs sometimes hype their future business prospects even before they make associated acquisitions or investments to fulfill those forecasts, critics assert. ChannelE2E tracks more than 80 technology-focused SPACs.

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