Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, May 2, 2017.
Actually, there are 13 updates 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. GDPR Privacy Regulations: How will the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) impact U.S. firms? David Jones, HP Enterprise's Senior VP of security and information governance, offers answers in this interview.
12. Posturing for the President?: Infosys plans to hire 10,000 U.S. workers in the next two years and open four technology centers in the United States, starting with a center this August in Indiana, the home state of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, according to Reuters. The move comes as the Trump administration attempts to revise H-1B Visa rules, which many India-based firms leverage for talent purposes.
11. Education Vertical: Dell has won a $17.45 million contract to refresh Virginia's Henrico County School District with 18,370 new laptops. We're checking to see if a channel partner is involved in the deal.
10. Security Partner Program: IDdriven, which specializes in Identity and Access Management (IAM) security solutions, has launched a channel program. Key partners include Ingram Micro, Insight, CDW and SHI.
9. Channel Talent: IGEL has named Brad Tompkins as its VP of of sales for North America. In this role, Tompkins leads IGEL’s North American sales organization as it continues to pivot toward a software-driven sales model and expand its reach into the education, financial services, government, healthcare and retail sectors, the company says. IGEL, which specializes in endpoint management, is a 100 percent channel-centric company.
8. Funding - Data Protection: Rubrik, a data backup startup, raised funding at a $1.3 billion valuation. The company's backup technology works across Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. Reports last week suggested the valuation would be closer to $1 billion.
7. Managed Storage: NTT Communications ICT Solutions is partnering to offer Nimble Storage's all flash array systems in Australia. We're checking to see if the deal covers additional countries. HPE acquired Nimble for $1 billion in April 2017.
6. Accounting and IT services: Cherry Bekaert, a CPA and consulting firm, has launched a Technology Solutions Group. The group, led by Managing Director Toby Stansell and Director Jim Holman, seeks to meet the technology and business intelligence needs of the firm’s clients, according to Accounting Today.
5. MSPs and Financial Services: Edgile, a security and risk consulting firm, has launched a Technology Diagnostics Managed Service for financial services organizations. The managed service provides financial companies with "critical insights to more quickly and effectively assess their cyber practices, risks and compliance readiness," Edgile claims. Related: Our Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs list for 2017 includes the top MSPs in the financial services sector.
4. MSPs and Life Sciences: Pilgrim Quality Solutions and Concerto Cloud Services are partnering to offer managed cloud services across Equinix and Microsoft Azure data centers. The managed services specifically target life sciences customers.
3. PSA and Augmented Intelligence: Kimble PSA version 1.25 features "augmented intelligence" capabilities. The AI capabilities identify patterns in data and feed that info into a range of “intelligent insights,” which illuminate the path ahead, suggesting to users what needs to be done next, Kimble claims. Hmmm... Sounds a bit like SolarWinds MSP's LogicCards. Related: Kimble launched the new PSA version at this week's Technology Services World 2017 conference in San Diego.
2. Remote Control: ScreenMeet has launched a new cobrowsing and remote support platform to streamline the daily workflows of customer support and help desk representatives. Co-founders Ben Lilienthal and Eugene Abovsky have extensive experience building startups and selling them to larger companies like GoToMeeting and Acxiom. ScreenMeet's product launch comes one week after ConnectWise Control introduced a free trial offer for technology solutions providers.
1. Microsoft vs. Google Chromebooks: Microsoft is set to host a gathering in New York City today. The expected agenda: A cloud-centric version of Windows 10 and potential Google Chromebook alternatives.
