Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, December 6, 2016.
Actually, there are 13 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…
13. Apple Watch Bad News, Good News: Apple Watch sales plummeted 70 percent in Q3 2016 vs. Q3 2015, according to IDC. However, the sales figures might be a bit misleading. The slowdown occurred just as Apple was preparing to launch its second-generation smart watches. Fast forward to present day and Apple Watch sales to consumers set a record during the first week of holiday shopping, and the current quarter is on track to be the best ever for the product, Apple CEO Tim Cook told Reuters.
12. Distribution, Part I: Westcon-Comstor has agreed to distribute BeyondTrust's security offerings worldwide.
11. Distribution, Part II: Tech Data has been named an authorized distributor for Quest Software. Dell recently sold Quest, the IT management software provider, to private equity investors.
10. Cisco Partner Honoree: OneNeck IT Solutions was named Cisco Partner Summit US West Service Partner of the Year. Cisco announced the winners during its annual partner conference, held recently in San Francisco, California.
9. HIPAA-Compliant Cloud Services: Connectria Hosting says it now offers customers the ability to run HIPAA compliant environments in Microsoft Azure. Connectria offers similar HIPAA-compliant services in its own data centers.
8. HIPAA-Compliant Hosted Desktops: Dizzion secure virtual desktops adhere to HIPAA and HITECH mandates, according to a Coalfire audit...
7. Talent Diversity -- Progress and Challenges: Tech Data has earned a perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index (CEI). This is the 12th straight year that Tech Data has scored 100 on the CEI, earning the company a designation as a "Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality." The CEI is conducted by the Human Right Campaign Foundation. Ironically, some tech giants are delaying their own diversity reports and rethinking associated goals, according to The Wall Street Journal.
6. Hyperconverged Alternative: Datrium has raised $55 million in Series C financing led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The company has raised more than $110 million to date. Keep an eye on Datrium's Open Convergence technology which converges storage and compute in a new way, the company claims.
5. M&A - Government IT: Roper Technologies (NYSE: ROP) is acquiring Deltek for $2.8 billion in cash. Deltek provides software and information solutions for project-based businesses serving niche markets, including government contractors and professional services firms.
4. M&A - Hosted Voice: Globalgig has acquired Velis4, which specializes in hosted VoIP phone, SIP trunking, hosted call center and hosted Skype for Business services. We'll share more details soon.
3. M&A - More IT Channel M&A Deals: The pace of mergers and acquisitions has accelerated significantly in recent days. No doubt, plenty of VARs, MSPs and CSPs want to announce and/or finalize deals before the New Year arrives. To track all of the M&A activity, visit the ChannelE2E Milestones section daily.
2. Top 50 Cloud Management Tools: They're over here. Did we miss any? More updates coming...
1. They're Hiring (Are You?): The ChannelE2E Job Board mentions new positions at G2 Technology Group, Trusted Metrics and other channel-friendly companies. We told you yesterday that we'd tweet, socialize and freely promote new postings like those. So don't wait: Add your company's job listings here.
More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner Updates. Plus: Subscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.
