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5 Channel Partner Updates: 27 April 2016

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Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Wednesday, April 27, 2016.

Actually, there are 15 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on.

15. Configure-Price-Quote Acquisition: HGGC, a midmarket private equity firm, has acquired FPX, a SaaS company that offers platform-agnostic enterprise Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) applications. As part of the transaction, senior FPX management has reinvested their proceeds from the sale and retained a significant minority stake in the business. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. CPQ platforms are increasingly popular across the channel, overlapping in some ways with solutions like ConnectWise Quosal, QuoteWerks and Salesforce SteelBrick.

14. Cloud Compliance: Rackspace has selected CloudPassage Halo as the underlying security and compliance platform for Rackspace Compliance Assistance. The managed service helps to address PCI-DSS and HIPAA, CloudPassage says. We'll be back soon with more thoughts on HIPAA compliance and audits...

13. Software Cousins Partner: Pivotal and VMware have introduced an enterprise cloud-native stack featuring Pivotal Cloud Foundry and VMware Photon Platform. The offering speeds "application creation and deployment with built-in application and infrastructure management," the duo claims. Pivotal and VMware both are part of the EMC Federation of companies, which Dell essentially is acquiring for $67 billion.

12. Partner Program: Entrust Datacard has launched a new channel partner program, dubbed PartnerPlus, which is designed for security-minded partners in such verticals as financial services, government and education, among others. Details are here.

11. Office 365 Alternative?: Keep an eye on Open365 -- a potential open source alternative to Microsoft Office 365. It's in beta testing now...

10. More PSA Optimism (Sort Of): The field service management (FSM) software market is expected to reach $5.11 billion by 2020, a 21 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from $1.97 billion inm 2015, according to RnR Market Research. The report covers major FSM players like IBM, Oracle and SAP. But don't overlook PSA (professional services automation) software platforms, many of which have field service management components. Meanwhile, the PSA software market itself is set to reach $12.88 billion by 2022, roughly doubling in size since 2014, according to Grand View Research.

9. Google Pursues Midsize Customers: Alphabet has expanded its Google Apps for Work migration perks to cover companies with 100 to 3,000 seats. Details, including links to channel partners, surfaced in a blog yesterday. We'll share more details soon.

8. Senate Studies IoT: The Internet of Things is coming. But don't worry: The government is here to help (gulp). New legislation could create a working group of government and private sector experts to conduct a "deep review of the possibilities of the Internet of Things."

7. HealthTech M&A: Verisk Analytics Inc., a data analytics provider, has sold its healthcare services business to Veritas Capital for $820 million. The deal is expected to close by June 30.

6. Secrets to Project Management Success: Gartner shares them here.

5. Key Hires: SkyKick, which provides cloud management software for IT solution partners, has hired Chike Farrell as VP of marketing; Kathryn Saducas as GM of Western Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and Anthony Philips as GM of business development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). All three executives have Fortune 500 management experience -- and each had key tours of duty at Microsoft.

4. Network Management Partnership: Dell Networking has collaborated with Aerohive to deliver a new cloud-managed solution that integrates and manages wired and wireless infrastructure, the companies say. The move comes as Cisco Systems and HP Enterprise continue to gain momentum with well-managed wireless networking systems.

3. Open Source Networking: Dell also is working more closely with the Open Compute Project -- the open source networking push first launched by Facebook. Keep an eye on an effort involving SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud). Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins is keeping a close eye on OCP but he doesn't sound overly concerned about the open source networking movement, as this video reinforces:

Karen Appleton

2. Apple Enterprise Hire: Karen Appleton, the veteran business development executive who was the first non-technical hire at Box, has left that company for an enterprise-focused role at Apple, sources told Re/code. The move comes as Apple iPhone sales fall for the first time ever, prompting the company to double down on services and enterprise initiatives.

1. Channel Partner Programs: Recent additions to the ChannelE2E Partner Programs Database include GreatAmerica Financial Services, MailerMailer, Managed Marketer, My Digital Shield and TitanHQ. Visit the database to search for cloud, security, storage, networking, and other types of partner programs. Or submit your company's partner program to be listed in the database.

More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner UpdatesPlus:Subscribe 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.