Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, May 30, 2018.
Actually, there are 12 timely updates designed for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on.
12. Cloud Services Adoption: While Google G Suite's market share has remained steady at 25 percent, Office 365 usage has grown from 34.3 percent in 2016 to 56.3 percent in 2018, according to new Bitglass research.
11. Momentum - Laptops: HP Inc. reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and raised its full-year profit forecast on Tuesday, helped by strong demand for its notebooks and desktops, Reuters notes. Also Steve Fielder will succeed CFO Cathie Lesjak, who is retiring.
10. Momentum - SaaS: Salesforce's Q1 revenue for the quarter ended in April rose 25 percent to $3.01 billion, easily beating Wall Street's expectations.
9. Oracle PartnerNetwork: V-NEO Inc., a business advisory and technology consulting firm focused exclusively on Insurance, has achieved Gold-level member status in Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) as well as gaining certification for Sales and PreSales of the Oracle Insurance Policy Administration (OIPA) next generation core processing solution, the company says.
8. Intel Faces Lawsuit: Nearly three years after Intel launched layoffs that cut more than 10,000 employees globally, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Seattle office is working to determine whether the job cuts were discriminatory, according to a document from the agency reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
7. Partnership - Google Cloud Platform: AT&T and Google are partnering to ensure AT&T's network offers direct, high-speed, secure connections to Google Cloud Platform -- without touching the public Internet. The deal involves Google's newly launched Partner Interconnect initiative. The alliance also makes G Suite available through AT&T Collaborate, a hosted voice and collaboration solution for businesses of all sizes.
6. Funding - CRM: Swiftpage, which develops CRM software for SMB customers, has received a strategic investment from SFW Capital Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed. Swiftpage's offerings include the classic Act! contact management system.
5. Funding - Office 365 Services: CoreView, an Office 365 management specialist, has raised $20 million in funding led by Insight Venture Partners. Also, David Moran joins as CEO.
4. Partner Program - ICT: The UK's FluidOne is launching an MSP partner program push that spans cloud, IoT, mobile, broadband and fixed line services, according to new CEO Russell Horton. The effort includes Platform One, a new software-defined connectivity platform that includes a national fibre network. Roughly 25 communications providers integrate into the system. Platform One is "the most complete connectivity platform in the UK," Horton asserts.
3. Managed Cloud Services: Rackspace has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Financial Services Competency status. It's the latest in a growing list of managed services expertise that Rackspace appears to be riding toward a potential IPO.
2. M&A - MSPs: Excel I.T. Services Ltd. is acquiring RedstoneConnect‘s systems integration and MSP division for roughly 7.2 times annual EBITDA, ChannelE2E estimates.
1. M&A - CSPs: Data center provider DC BLOX has acquired Infrapoint, a cloud solution provider in Atlanta, the companies have confirmed. We'll share more details soon.
