Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, April 30, 2019.
Actually, there are 17 timely updates designed for managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), IT consulting firms, systems integrators, VARs, independent software vendors (ISVs), and telco agents to sip on.
17. Dell Partner Program: The Dell EMC partner program has been repositioned as the Dell Technologies Partner Program, with these various updates.
16. Dell and VMware - On-premises as a Service: VMware has unveiled VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, which offers infrastructure as a service to customers’ on-premises data center and edge locations. The offering combines VMware’s compute, storage and networking software running on Dell EMC VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure. The service will be fully managed by VMware. That statement begs the question: Will VMware delegate some of those managed services to third-party MSPs? We're checking.
15. Dell and MSP Partnership: Faction, a Dell-funded MSP for VMware Cloud on AWS, has joined the Dell EMC Select Partner Program. Key areas of focus include hybrid disaster recovery as a service; and Faction Cloud Control Volumes (CCV), which centralize data in a dedicated and location so customers can easily share data between different applications across different clouds, the company says. The news surfaced at Dell Technologies World 2019 in Las Vegas.
14. Financial Results - Commvault: After ChannelE2E warned of potential challenges at Commvault in early April 2019, the data protection software provider delivered weaker-than-expected quarterly financial results yesterday. The data points included:
- Revenue of $181.4 million, down 2 percent from Q4 2018.
- Net income was a $2.1 million loss, larger than a $1.6 million loss in Q4 of 2018.
The revenue and profit figures were below Wall Street's expectations, and shares fell about 11 percent on the news. New CEO Sanjay Mirchandani has been striving to modernize Commvault to offer multi- and hybrid-cloud data protection software. However, fast-moving rivals like Cohesity, Datto, Druva, Rubrik and Veeam have momentum.
13. Financial Results - Ingram Micro: Ingram Micro's worldwide 2018 fiscal year sales were $50.4 billion, up $3.8 billion, or 8 percent. Also, 2018 fiscal year gross profit increased by $230 million to $3.2 billion, with gross margin of 6.30 percent. Parent company HNA Group was exploring the potential sale of Ingram Micro as of December 2018, but chatter about a potential exit has quieted down in recent months.
12. MSP Integration - bvoip and ConnectWise: Unified communication and VoIP platform provider bvoip has introduced a new ConnectWise Manage integration.
11. MSP Integration - Bitdefender and ConnectWise: Bitdefender Cloud Security for MSPs features a new integration with ConnectWise Automate. ConnectWise partners can now more simply leverage Bitdefender Patch Management, Advanced Threat Security, and Endpoint Detection and Response. Bitdefender integrates with a numerous MSP software platforms. Similar, ConnectWise integrates with numerous cybersecurity options.
Check out page two for items 10 to one.
Here’s page two. Boy was that a fast page load. Here are items 10 to one.
10. MSPs - Apple Mac Management: SolarWinds MSP's RMM (remote monitoring and management) software platform now offers a "seamless experience" for monitoring, managing, and protecting Mac devices across customer environments from the same dashboard as current Windows devices, the company say.
9. MSPs - HIPAA Compliance: Compliancy Group has launched a HIPAA compliant stack for MSPs, powered by The Guard Compliance-as-a-Solution. The upshot: Compliance-as-a-Solution (CaaS) allows MSPs to build HIPAA compliant stacks, justifying advanced security services and increasing monthly recurring revenue (MRR), the companies assert.
8. Funding - Cloud Training: A Cloud Guru (ACG) has closed a growth equity investment led by Summit Partners, alongside AirTree Ventures and existing investor Elephant. The company, a provider of online cloud computing training and talent development, will use the funding to accelerate hiring across the globe, expand its content library with specialized courses and labs taught by a growing roster of expert instructors and continue to build out features to help enterprises drive cloud adoption, ACG asserts.
7. Talent - Distribution: The Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC), an international consortium of technology distributors, has hired Frank Vitagliano as CEO. He succeeds Tim Curran, who retired earlier this year after 16 years in the position. Vitagliano is well-known for previous channel leadership roles at IBM, Juniper Networks and Dell, Most recently, he was president and CEO of Computex, the well-known solutions provider.
6. Talent - MSP Data Protection: Axcient has hired Ben Nowacky as senior vice president of product. He reports to President Eric White. Nowacky previously was VP of engineering at Independa, a provider of remote engagement and care.
5. Talent - SolarWinds: It sounds like SolarWinds will relocate its recent Samanage acquisition from Cary, North Carolina, to a neighboring area -- namely Research Triangle Park, according to Triangle Business Journal. Samanage could play a key role in SolarWinds' push against ServiceNow in the enterprise, and perhaps eventually against PSA (professional services automation) tools in the SMB and MSP sectors...
4. Hackers and Kaseya: More evidence that hackers are targeting legitimate MSP software tools to potentially breach end-customers....
3. Lessons From Brian and Eric Dosal: Fourth-generation entrepreneurs Brian and Eric Dosal share lessons learned from their journey building and then selling BrightGauge, an MSP-focused business intelligence software provider.
2. Free - Customer Service ChatBots: eGain a provider of omnichannel customer engagement hubs, is offering free customer service chatbots at the eGain DX19 conference, scheduled for May 13, 2019.
1. M&A - Accenture: The company has acquired Zielpuls, a technology consultancy focused on the design of smart products and services for automotive companies, medical technology, industrial equipment and high-tech industries.
