Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, July 11, 2017.

Actually, there are nine updates for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…

9. Citrix CEO Change: Yet another surprise CEO change at Citrix Systems seems to indicate that recent takeover bids for the company weren't strong enough, and Citrix will instead march forward as an independent company...

8. Juniper Data Center Push: Juniper's latest network switching products will give Arista and Cisco Systems a run for their money in corporate data centers, according to BMO Capital's latest comments. Juniper's switching push could potentially offset the weakness in the company's core router business, the report suggested.

7. IoT Solutions: SAP has launched several new Internet of Things solutions, including:

  • SAP Leonardo IoT Bridge, a configurable role-based digital command center giving operations managers visibility and ability to act in real time;
  • SAP Global Track and Trace, a cloud-based offering for unified, end-to-end tracking, monitoring and reporting of objects and business processes across supply chain networks;
  • SAP Leonardo IoT Edge software to bring compute, storage and business semantics via the cloud to where intelligent devices reside outside of the data center, for near real-time and deterministic performance of business processes;
  • SAP Digital Manufacturing Insights, a centralized, cloud-based manufacturing performance management solution that provides visibility into manufacturing that enables process optimization; and
  • SAP Asset Manager, a cloud-based mobile app for managing asset health, inventory, maintenance and safety.

6. Azure Stack - Coming Soon: Dell EMC, HP Enterprise and Lenovo will provide servers and equipment needed to run Microsoft Azure Stack starting in September. I believe Cisco Systems and Huawei will join the vendor lineup sometime thereafter. The Azure Stack offerings essentially provide customers with a localized version of Azure. Example use cases include companies with operations in remote locations where it can be difficult to get an Internet connection, such as oil rigs or cruise ships, or those in regions with regulations that require that data be kept locally, according to Reuters.

5. Big MSPs Embrace Azure Stack: Both Rackspace and NTT have vowed to support Microsoft Azure Stack, which allows customers to deploy Microsoft's cloud software on-premises.

4. Azure Deployment Assessments: NetEnrich is working closely with Microsoft and Tech Data to support midsize and enterprise customers in Western Europe. Among the key focus areas: Azure ROI Assessment" services to help customers understand if, why and how they should deploy Azure-related cloud services. The assessments are in initially available in The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Spain. NetEnrich has successfully evolved beyond traditional NOC (network operations center) services for MSPs, and now offers a portfolio of solutions -- across cybersecurity, cloud and more -- to multiple midmarket partner types.

3. M&A - Telecom Services: Cincinnati Bell and Hawaiian Telecom have signed a $650 million merger agreement. Cincinnati Bell has also signed a definitive agreement to acquire OnX Enterprise Solutions, a technology services and solutions provider in North America and the United Kingdom, for a total consideration of approximately $201 million in cash on a cash-free, debt-free basis. The deals allow Cincinnati Bell to sharpen its focus on network communications and enterprise IT services, the companies say. We'll share more thoughts soon.

2. Managed SD-WAN Services: Point5 Managed Services, a Connecticut-based technology services partner, has expanded its Network as a Service offering to include Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN solutions. Specifically, Point5 will now leverage EdgeConnect to enable its distributed enterprise clients to more efficiently build, orchestrate, and monitor their WANs, the companies say.

1. MSP Runbooks: BitTitan has launched the MSPComplete Publisher Program, which allows independent software vendors (ISVs) to publish Automated Runbooks, define and store SOPs (standard operating procedures), and push the latest products and updates directly to partners through the MSPComplete marketplace. True Believers include Datto and Dropbox. We'll share more thoughts soon.