Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, November 17, 2015.
Actually, today's update involves 14 items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs) and cloud services providers (CSPs) to sip on.
14. Cisco Service Provider Software: Cisco this morning introduced software that enable service providers and web companies to deliver cloud applications with greater agility, automation and simplicity, while reducing the cost of operating the networks that support them, the company claims. Keep an eye on the Cisco IOS XR network operating system...
13. Unicorn Party Winds Down: Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson says many more $1 billion startups will suffer valuation write downs in the days and weeks ahead. ChannelE2E has warned readers multiple times about the risks associated with high startup valuations -- and the way a correction or slowdown could hurt mainstream platforms like Amazon Web Services. Still, I suspect that a few channel-centric startups will achieve unicorn ($1 billion valuation status) in the months ahead. Why? Because those startups are actually profitable, from what I've heard. Stay tuned.
12. Former MSP Raising Money: Tommy Wald, a former MSP who built and sold businesses in Texas, is back. After consulting MSPs for several years, Wald now is chief revenue officer at InXero -- which develops a digital marketing hub for IT service providers. It sounds like the company is exploring potential Series A funding...
11. Security Migrations: As Intel prepares to kill some SaaS security platforms acquired from McAfee, rivals continue to offer migration services to MSPs and VARs. The latest is Roaring Penguin, though rivals like Sophos have also been active on the migration front.
10. MSPs and Microsoft Azure: How can managed services providers (MSPs) potentially profit from the Microsoft Azure cloud? Here are clues directly from Microsoft and a key managed services partner.
9. Acquired: ThinkingPhones, which develops unified communications as a service (UCaaS), has acquired Fuze, a cloud-based video conferencing company.
8. Midmarket Funding: Middle market companies and investors are ready to pull the trigger on capital raising transactions aimed at growing their businesses and creating jobs in 2016, according to a survey of investors and middle market executives conducted by CohnReznick.
7. Partner Program: Ixia, which makes application performance and security resilience solutions, launched a new Global Solution Provider Program. On the one hand, resellers can offer the solutions to end-customers. But there's also an MSP play here, since Ixia's portfolio includes integrated network visibility, security and application performance solutions.
6. Oracle Cloud Gaining Momentum?: Oracle has plenty of SaaS application momentum. But what about the company's overall cloud strategy -- including IaaS? Goldman Sachs suggests the Oracle Cloud is gaining momentum.
5. Surprise Microsoft Exit: Microsoft Corporate VP Bob Stutz resigned from his job running Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
4. Remote Docker Management: Docker, the container technology that eases software development and application deployment across public and private clouds, has a new management tool. It's called Docker Universal Control Pane and it's in beta now. Fast forward to 2020, and I suspect most MSPs will have some sort of Docker management tool on their dashboard. Don't wait for the crowd. Get ahead of the Docker wave.
3. University of Phoenix: Watch for Ingram Micro to work more closely with the University of Phoenix on IT training opportunities for channel partners...
2. Dell Channel: Frank Vitagliano, VP of North American Channel Sales at Dell, is on hand at Ingram Micro ONE. So, how did partner messages from the recent Dell World conference play out in the channel? We hope to gather answers from Vitagliano.
1. Ingram Micro ONE: The distributor's IT conference has kicked off in Tennessee. U.S. Chief Executive Paul Bay is on hand to keynote the conference this morning, and we also have cloud updates from a range of Ingram Micro employees. Stay tuned for a more comprehensive look at the company.
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