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5 Channel Partner Updates: 13 January 2017

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Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Friday, January 13, 2017. Actually, there are 18 timely entries 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… 18. Lenovo Data Center Partner Program: The Lenovo Data Center Partner Program, as expected, will officially launch on April 1. Lenovo confirmed details here. 17. Managed Print Services: PrintFleet Inc., a managed print services software (MPS) specialist, and Brother International Corp. are partnering up. Channel partners will gain "greater fleet management capabilities and added value with a dashboard that offers end-users full visibility into their document imaging devices and workflow," the duo says. 16. SDN Managed Services: Mirantis has launched managed services for OpenContrail SDN (software-defined networking). The moves follows Mirantis’ acquisition of TCP Cloud, a company specializing in managed services for OpenStack, OpenContrail and Kubernetes. It's a safe bet Mirantis will wind up competing with a range of VMware-focused MSPs that are moving into the SDDC (software defined data center) space. 15. SD-WAN Distribution: CloudGenix and Converged Network Services Group (CNSG) are partnering to promote SD-WAN solutions into the IT channel.  14. Mobile Distribution: Tech Data will promote DataXoom mobile data services to its network of solution providers in the United States. 13. AppDynamics IPO: The pending IPO will be priced at about $10 to $12 per share, valuing the company at about $1.5 billion. The problem: AppDynamics' last private valuation was $1.9 billion. The company develops Application Performance Monitoring (APM) software that competes with Dynatrace and New Relic. Moreover, Datadog is moving into the APM market and attracting MSPs. 12. New Tata CEO: Tata Consultancy Services CEO Natarajan Chandrasekaran will become chairman of parent company Tata Sons Ltd. The 53-year-old executive has led TCS, the group’s biggest unit and Asia’s largest software exporter, since 2009, a tenure under which profits quadrupled and the stock tripled to make it India’s biggest company by market value, Bloomberg noted. The company ousted its former leader last year. 11. Slowing Splunk Growth?: Splunk, the fast-growing provider of analytics software, apparently will grow slightly more slowly this year than Wall Street had been expecting. Splunk expects revenue of $1.175 billion for the fiscal year ending in January 2018, slightly below Wall Street's earlier expectations of $1.194 billion, Barron's said. Ummm... The takeaway for channel partners? Splunk is still a high-growth opportunity for partners. If this was a vinyl album you'd turn it over now to hear side two now. Sweet lyrics -- items 10 to 1 -- await you on page 2. Welcome to page two. Hum along as you read... 10. Dell, Nutanix are Frenemies: Dell continues to resell Nutanix gear, but keep a close eye on Dell EMC's VxRail and VxRack offerings. At least on Wall Street firm, Summit Redstone, expects Dell to up the competitive pressure vs. Nutanix in the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) market. 9. Dell EMC Layoffs: The company confirmed planned cuts in 2016. Now, they appear to be happening... Track all technology industry layoffs here. 8. When Did Apple Become a Follower?: Was I the only person depressed to hear Apple wants to make its own movies and TV shows to compete vs. NetFlix and other streaming media platforms? Ummm... What happened to the classic model of Apple innovating rather than imitating? 7. When M&A Isn't Sexy: Google has acquired 200 companies since 2001. Here are the biggest flops, according to TheStreet. 6. Another Example ESOP: Point B, a 22-year-old consulting firm, has an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in place. Here are some details about Point B's journey to ESOP ownership...
Dino Morra
Dino Morra
5. New Channel Chief: Dino Morra has joined Cloud Computing Concepts (C3) as VP of sales, essentially becoming the company's channel chief. 4. RMM Meets Antivirus: Pulseway,which develops a mobile- and cloud-first RMM (remote monitoring and management) platform for MSPs, has launched Pulseway Antivirus. It starts at $1 per workstation per month, and $2 per server per month. I don't know if Pulseway developed, licensed or OEMed the antivirus engine. Most of the major RMM software providers have AV relationships and integrations in place. 3. HIPAA Compliance: - Host.net has launched a HIPAA Compliance Package for hospitals, doctors offices and healthcare service providers. The company specializes in cloud, managed infrastructure and network services.
Mark Hurd Mark Hurd
2. Oracle CloudWorld: CEO Mark Hurd and his channel lieutenants will deliver partner updates during Oracle CloudWorld in New York on January 17. ChannelE2E will be on hand. If you'd like to potentially meet at the summit please email me ([email protected]). 1. Holiday Weekend: ChannelE2E and our parent, After Nines Inc., will be closed on Monday, January 16, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We'll be back at work on Tuesday, January 17. More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner UpdatesPlusSubscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.      
Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.