Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, May 9, 2018.
Actually, there are 17 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…
17. Expansion: Marketopia, a marketing and sales agency for MSPs and the technology industry, has grown to more than 80 employees since launching four years ago, and is preparing to move to larger offices in the Tampa area, according to Co-founder and CMO Andra Hedden. The team includes 50 call center pros and 32 digital agency employees, with a new hire joining every two weeks or so, she estimates.
16. Partnership: Talend and Qubole are partnering to help data engineers build and run data pipelines, applications and services in the cloud at a fraction of the cost and without the burden of managing servers, the two companies say.
15. Talent: Accenture and Cloud Sherpas veteran Emily Cataldo has joined BetterCloud as VP of Channel.
14. SAP Partner Program: SAP has launched a partner qualification program for SAP Model Company services. The two-tiered program guides SAP services partners in learning how to build on and extend prepackaged, ready-to-use, end-to-end reference solutions based on SAP Model Company services, the company says.
13. Desktop as a Service: dinCloud, a cloud platform for hosted workspaces and cloud infrastructure, has selected the Nutanix Enterprise Cloud OS software for its cloud hosted desktop services.
12. Distribution - Customer Support: Mobile connectivity specialist iPass Inc. is outsourcing its tier one support and a portion of its customer management services to Tech Data. Effective June 1, the deal will enable iPass to focus on its core business of bringing connectivity management solutions and big data to enterprises and carriers, the companies say. We don't know if or how the deal will impact iPass's headcount.
11. Distribution - Mobile Security: Tech Data has added IBM MaaS360 with Watson, a security and management system for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android devices, to its StreamOne Cloud Marketplace.
10. IoT and Remote Access: TeamViewer's its remote access solution now integrates with PTC’s ThingWorx Industrial IoT platform, providing service technicians with embedded remote access capabilities..
9. MSP Marketing & Branding: Generate Marketing & Communications and Managed Sales Pros are partnering to offer thought leadership prospecting to MSPs. Through the relationship, Managed Sales Pros will now deliver "relevant content through an automated marketing campaign for customers, sparking highly personal interactions with interested businesses," the companies say. Ingram Micro veteran and former IT journalist Gennifer Biggs recently launched Generate Marketing & Communications.
8. Self-Service - ServiceNow and AWS: A new AWS Service Catalog Connector to ServiceNow allows users to request approved AWS products without having to log in to an AWS account. It sounds like a pretty major self service milestone for enterprise employees who want to activate an AWS cloud service. We're checking to see how the service may benefit MSPs and other types of partners.
7. Funding - PSA Software: KeyedIn, maker of cloud ERP and project management software, has raised $15 million in Series C financing. Arrowroot Capital led the round.
6. M&A - Office Equipment: Automated Business Solutions has acquired Printer Support Corporate for an undisclosed sum. PSC has 15 employees and offers printing and office technology from Epson, HP Inc., Xerox and more. ABS has roughly 75 employees. We'll share more details soon.
5. M&A - Secure Payment Technology: First Data has now integrated CardConnect and BluePay, two companies First Data acquired last year. The combination streamlines First Data’s software vendor (ISV) offering, allowing software companies to more easily add secure payment processing within SaaS, mobile, and point-of-sale applications, the company says.
4. Private Equity - IT Services: GCI, an IT services provider with roughly 500 employees, has been acquired by Mayfair Private Equity. For its part, GCI has acquired a dozen IT service providers and consulting firms over the past few years. We'll share more details soon.
3. MSP Evolution: Rignet, a Top 100 Vertical Market MSP focused heavily on offshore oil rigs, continues to diversify its business around customized communications services, applications, real-time machine learning, and cybersecurity solutions. First quarter revenue was $53.8 million, up $5.8 million, or 12 percent compared to the corresponding quarter last year.
2. Kaseya CEO: Fred Voccola shared these MSP observations during the company's Kaseya Connect 2018 conference yesterday. Track all conference coverage here.
1. MSP Pricing Models Revealed: Get the latest guidance from TruMethods CEO Gary Pica during out next webcast. Register now.
