Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, November 15, 2017.
Actually, there are 11 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:
11. SD-WAN Deployments: AT&T has deployed more than 100,000 SD-WANs to date, and more moves are coming... Also, vXchnge has inked a partnership with Megaport. As part of the partnership, Megaport empowers vXchnge’s interconnection platform to deliver SDN-enabled, elastic interconnection and direct cloud connectivity services in vXchnge’s data centers, the companies said.
10. Secondary Offering: Presidio, the midmarket IT solutions provider, has announced a proposed secondary public offering. The potential move is designed to Presidio's private equity parent, Apollo, to sell some shares while increasingly liquidity in the stock. Presidio launched its IPO earlier this year. More recently, the company has shown strong cloud and cybersecurity momentum, though the shift from traditional data center sales remains an ongoing journey for Presidio and many of its rivals.
9. Startup Conference: TechDay New York 2018 is set for May 10 in Manhattan. The event typically attracts 20,000 attendees -- along with about 500 startups and 30 accelerators...
8. IoT Remote Monitoring and Management: PTC has launched ThingWorx Asset Advisor. The app allows service providers and customers to remotely monitor and service IoT-connected assets deployed in the field.
7. IT Service Management: Freshworks has launched Freshdesk Mint -- an overhauled version of the IT service management platform. Freshdesk mint features a redesigned user interface, a re-architected platform to speed response times, a new API-driven approach to speed development cycles, and a consistent design across web and mobile interfaces, the company says.
6. IT Services Franchise Growth: TeamLogic IT, an IT services franchiser, remains in growth mode. The company opened 22 new offices in Q3 2017, and will close the year with 135 locations throughout North America, according to President Chuck Lennon. Network-wide, franchisee revenues are up 31 percent and comparable office sales are up 25 percent, Lennon added.
5. M&A Experts: Zygoquest Group continues to strongly influence the office equipment and IT services provider M&A market. The latest example: Zygoquest advised All Net of California on the company's capital stock sale to WIZIX Technology Group. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
4. Welcome to 2012: Veritas has introduced subscription pricing for Backup Exec. Sorry if it sounds like I'm picking on the company... but that purchasing model should have arrived at least five years ago. In the company's defense, Veritas was slow-moving under former owner Symantec. Now independent, the data protection company seems to be getting more nimble.
3. Veeam's MSP Dashboard: Veeam has launched a new Veeam Availability Console, a free management console for MSPs and other types of service providers delivering Veeam-powered services, such as Backup as a Service (BaaS) and Disaster Recovery as a service (DRaaS). Competition in the market for MSP-centric DRaaS services is intensifying. From MSP-centric software providers to publicly held companies like Carbonite, multiple DRaaS services for the channel have launched or will soon launch.
2. Acronis-Autotask Integration: Acronis Data Cloud now integrates with Autotask Professional Services Automation (PSA) software. The integration allows service providers to operate their own data protection services directly from the Autotask console, the companies say. The integration, according to Acronis, allows allows service providers to manage the:
- creation of tickets in Autotask based on the Acronis Data Cloud service alerts;
- Provisioning and billing for data protection services; and
- setting quotas for customers in Acronis Data Cloud based on Autotask service plans.
In some ways, Acronis competes with Autotask's new owner -- Datto. The Datto-Autotask merger is set for completion sometime later this quarter. Both Datto and Autotask have vowed to maintain third-party integrations -- even if they compete with the Datto and Autotask portfolio.
1. SAP's Next Move: It involves a major SME partner program push. We'll share extensive details on Thursday. You'll find some background here.
