5 Channel Partner Updates: 19 December 2016

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Monday, December 19, 2016. 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. If Darth Vader Coached MSPs: The outcome would be this... 17. You Don't Say: Oracle will lose the database battle in Amazon's cloud, according to Global Equities. Um, that's not exactly a surprising prediction -- considering Amazon Aurora has serious database momentum. Still, Oracle will enjoy plenty of cloud success -- particularly in terms of customers running SaaS and PaaS workloads on Oracle's own cloud. 16. Debt Instead of Venture Backing?: Some U.S. startups are now pursuing debt and bank loans to fund their next stage of growth -- rather than connecting with venture capitalists, Bloomberg suggests. The good news: Those startups aren't diluting their ownership stakes. The bad news: Some of the startups may ultimately risk defaulting on the debt...

15. SMB Application Performance Management: Keep a close eye on Jim Stoneham. The New Relic executive gained a new title in November: Senior VP and GM of SMB business. New Relic has been pushing beyond application performance management (APM) to promote infrastructure monitoring. How will those efforts play out in the SMB sector? We're checking... 14. Earnings: Watch for the latest quarterly earnings from BlackBerry (Tuesday), Accenture and Red Hat (Wednesday). We'll be watching to see how BlackBerry's software pivot is playing out; how recent consulting acquisitions impact Accenture; and how Red Hat's continued push beyond Linux is performing... 13. IT Service Management & DevOps: The IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) USA and the DevOps Agile Skills Association (DASA) have formed a Strategic Alliance. The goal: Enable IT Service Management professionals to master DevOps and Agile skills... 12. M&A -- Veeam, Microsoft CSPs: HostedBizz has acquired ITUtility.net. The deal unites Veaam and Microsoft cloud services providers (CSPs) in the Canadian market. Here are deeper details. Thanks to the folks at Ulistic for pointing out the deal... 11. M&A -- Hosting Providers: United Internet AG acquired Strato AG, a hosting provider, from Deutsche Telekom AG. The deal is valued at roughly 12.4 times EBITDA — a bit more than the typical hosting deal of about 11 times EBITDA, according to ChannelE2E estimates.

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10. Microsoft Azure for Government: Microsoft has expanded its Azure cloud offerings for the government sector. No doubt, both Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) continue to deliver Government-centric services at a frantic pace. 9. AWS Billing Management for Resellers: ActOnAWS is promoting a toolset that allows AWS resellers to more effectively manage billing, invoices, and more. We don't know how it compares to potential billing and cost management alternatives from Cloudyn, ConnectWise CloudConsole, CloudMGR, CloudCheckr, CloudAbility, Unigma, and a range of cloud marketplace offerings from distributors. 8. Data Center Network Connections: TerraCom Direct, a provider of colocation and cloud services, has linked its Melbourne, Fla., data center directly to CenturyLink's fiber network. The result is a network of 300 interconnected data centers worldwide... 7. Ingram Earnings: Although Ingram Micro is now privately held, the distributor will continue to announce U.S. GAAP financial results on a quarterly basis. The company doesn't need to make SEC earnings filings, however, since Ingram is now owned by a Chinese logistics giant. 6. Cloud vs. On-premises Backup: Roughly 39% of businesses have pure cloud-based backup services, cloud based only with 36% using a hybrid approach. 24% still using on premise disaster recovery architecture. Of course, those stats only focus on companies that have backup solutions in place. Moreover, 90 percent of companies are now seeking cloud-oriented backup offerings, according to the survey from Quorum. 5. Business Continuity: Host.net, a multinational provider of cloud, managed infrastructure and network services, has selected Zerto and EVault from Carbonite for their disaster recovery and data backup services. 4. Google Suite Backup: Spinbackup is the latest company offering backup and cybersecurity tools for Google G Suite. Potential rivals include Datto's Backupify platform and OwnBackup, led by former Intronis CEO Sam Gutmann. A growing number of backup providers also offer cloud-to-cloud backup for Microsoft Office 365. 3. IT Security -- Glass Half Full?: Roughly 50 percent of c-suite executives are confident in their firm's cyber attack function, according to an EY survey. Um, is the glass half full -- or half empty and draining quickly? 2. Help Wanted: eFolder is seeking to fill multiple positions in its Denver-based headquarters, according to ChannelE2E Job Board listings. If your channel-friendly company is seeking to make hires, post the position(s) on our job board. It's free to ChannelE2E site visitors. 1. Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs: Is your business thriving in a particular vertical market -- say, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, government or something else? Then participate in our Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs Survey. The survey is open to all MSPs in all verticals worldwide. We'll announce honorees and research results in March 2017. More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner Updates. Plus: Subscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.