Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, March 7, 2018.
Actually, there are 15 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. Take a look…
15. Nearshore Americas Disaster Recovery: The chairman of the U.S. telecoms regulator this week proposed directing $954 million to restore and expand communications networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which were heavily damaged during the 2017 hurricane season, Reuters notes.
14. Dell EMC vs. Rubrik Employees: Dell EMC apparently has filed suit against two former employees who now work at Rubrik, the fast-growing cloud data protection and storage provider...
13. Executive Transition: CenturyLink CEO Glen F. Post, III will retire in May. Post had previously announced his intention to retire by January 2019. President and COO Jeff Storey will succeed Post, as planned.
12. Cloud Distribution: Tech Data's StreamOne Cloud Marketplace now offers Cisco Spark collaboration software and Cisco Umbrella security to resellers across Europe, the U.S. and Canada.
11. Partner Program Part One: Mitel will launch a new Global Partner Program in April. The effort combines the previous Mitel and ShoreTel programs, and focuses on the unified communications and collaboration (UCC) market. Mitel acquired ShoreTel for $530 million in July 2017.
10. Partner Program Part Two: Nutanix has launched new channel program incentives and expanded standalone software license offerings with Dell EMC to drive the next wave of enterprise cloud adoption for its customers, the companies say. The new offerings include:
- The Nutanix New Customer Acquisition Rebate Program, which rewards partners with an up to 5% rebate for winning net new customers for Nutanix
- The Nutanix Rebate Program for Dell EMC XC Core, which rewards partners who sell qualified XC Core nodes with Nutanix software with a rebate of up to $3,000 per node
9. Talent - Networking: SDN and NFV networking specialist Coriant has named Sandra Krief as managing director for North America. She's responsible for sales operations, business development, channel strategy, and customer support throughout the U.S. and Canada.
8. GDPR Compliance Audit Tool: RapidFire Tools has launched AuditGuru, which automates and streamlines GDPR compliance audits, the company claims. The GDPR compliance regulation becomes official on May 25, but most companies worldwide apparently are not prepared for the regulation.
7. Cloud Archiving & Healthcare: Archive360 has launched Archive2Azure, which allows healthcare organizations and providers to archive, manage, store, and retrieve large medical images.
6. Network Management: SolarWinds, parent of SolarWinds MSP, has unveiled Traceroute NG, a free network diagnostic tool that effectively maps hop-by-hop performance across modern, hybrid networks and through firewalls, the company says. The free tool enables IT professionals, network administrators and MSPs to monitor performance and pinpoint bottlenecks, whether the resources are running on-premises or in the cloud.
5. IT Monitoring & Healthcare: Paessler AG has extended its network monitoring platform with healthcare-centric capabilities, including sensors designed for the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) and Health Level Seven International (HL7) protocols used throughout healthcare.
4. PSA Integration: Liongard Roar now integrates with ConnectWise. Integrations with Datto's Autotask, ServiceNow and SolarWinds MSP also are under development, the company has indicated. Roar automates the discovery, documentation, change detection, and assessment of modern IT environments, the company say.
3. MSP Benchmarking: Service Leadership and Collabrance are partnering to bring Service Leadership's managed IT quarterly coaching and benchmarking to Collabrance dealers and partners worldwide. GreatAmerica launched Collabrance in 2009 to help Office Equipment Dealers and IT Solution Providers profitably grow their business more quickly with less risk.
2. MSP Expansion: GeekTek IT Services, a Los Angeles-based managed IT and cybersecurity services firm, has opened a new office location in Denver, Colorado. Optimum Networking and inhouseIT and The Network Pro veteran Art Ockey is leading the Denver expansion, according to GeekTek President and CEO Eric Schlissel.
1. ISV Partner Contest: ConnectWise is launching Tech Tank, a contest that is "designed to inspire and drive innovation from developers and benefit the Technology Solutions Provider ecosystem." Beginning today, ConnectWise is accepting software integration proofs of concept submissions. The winning concept will receive up to $100,000 to transform the idea into a working integration, the company says. We'll share more details later today.
