Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Thursday, March 10, 2016.
Actually, there are 13 items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on.
13. Dell, Ubuntu and Barton George: Dell has spent nearly a decade experimenting with Ubuntu on desktops and notebooks. Heck, I even purchased one of those systems around 2007. Amy Katz and I even launched/ran a profitable Ubuntu-focused business site for a bit... Now, Dell is back with some new Project Sputnik laptops for Ubuntu fans. Need more info? Stay in touch with Dell's Barton George, a technical evangelist in Dell's office of the CTO. Sharp guy.
12. ISP Nearly Acquired: Front Range Internet Inc. (FRII), an Internet and data services company, appears set to be acquired. The 20-person company is based in Fort Collins, Colo. (Heck of a town, by the way. Ask me about it sometime.) It's a family-owned business at present, but it sounds like a new owner is on the way.
11. HPE's Brains, Microsoft's Cloud: When Hewlett Packard Enterprise killed its public cloud, the company vowed to work with third-party clouds. Fast forward to the present and HPE has built a machine learning system atop Microsoft Azure. It's dubbed HPE Haven OnDemand. I know what you're thinking: Most channel partners aren't ready for machine learning systems. Hmmm... Check again. Many of the MSP platforms you're already using (i.e., OpenDNS from Cisco; LogicNow LogicCards) are machine learning systems.
10. Mac Ransomware - A Closer Look: The folks at OpenDNS have taken a closer look at the ransomware market -- which is now extending into the Apple Mac OS world. Their conclusion: "Because of the security flaws in OS X, and the lack of a direct and easy way to protect them against attack, ransomware could become a pressing liability for both enterprises and individual users in 2016."
9. IoT Management Services: Fujitsu has developed a software platform that manages sensors, devices and gateways, as well as the condition of the network that connects them. Yup, it's an IoT platform.
8. StorageCraft Pricing: StorageCraft has rolled out socket-based pricing for ShadowProtect SPX, the company's backup and disaster recovery solution. The new licensing model allows IT administrators to purchase licenses based on the number of CPU sockets on the host, both VMware and Microsoft, and protect an unlimited number of virtual machines per licensed socket, StorageCraft said. My question: What's the net impact on pricing for partners and customers? We're checking.
7. MSPs and Workspace as a Service: Sagiss, an MSP in Texas, has embraced nGenx nFinity nWorkspace for cloud-based customer workspaces. So, what are customers running in the Sagiss-provided cloud services? Familiar applications like Microsoft Office, Outlook, and Google Earth -- plus nGenx nFinity Drive 2.0, which synchronizes corporate data, allowing users to access and share business files and folders.
6. Top 10 Office 365 Migration Mistakes: What do partners and customers get wrong during Office 365 migrations? Here's a top 10 list of Office 365 migration mistakes, according to ICONZ.
5. Midmarket M&A -- Bad News, Good News: According to interviews with six M&A professionals and data provided by Mergermarket, a downturn in the US economy could potentially help close the valuation gap between buyers and sellers in the midmarket.
4. Top 10 Public Clouds (In Europe): In case you missed it... One of our best-read blogs last night was a list of the Top 10 public cloud service providers in Europe, based on real-world research from Cloud Spectator. The list is particularly valuable to MSPs that are seeking to break ground in Europe without breaking local data protection laws.
3. eFolder's Reseller Strategy: Loyal ChannelE2E readers already know eFolder's strategy for MSP engagements. But as part of that coverage, we hinted the data protection company was developing a reseller/VAR strategy. The latest clue: eFolder is partnering with Lifeboat Distribution, an international specialty distributor for security, virtualization, network infrastructure, and other technically sophisticated products. Lifeboat will distribute eFolder's solution portfolio to their network of technology partners in the United States and Canada. I get the feeling similar moves are coming on the international front.
2. Help Wanted: MSPs, VARs and technology companies have added new career opportunities to the ChannelE2E Job Board. The latest listings are from Data Network Group Inc. of Denver and Webit Services of Naperville, Ill. Check out the opportunities or list your job openings for free here.
1. Channel Partner Summit Calendar: Intel Security Americas Partner Summit 2016 and Riverbed Partner Summit 2016 are now listed on the ChannelE2E Channel Event Calendar. If you run a partner summit or channel conference your event should be listed, too. Find the complete event calendar here.
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