5 Channel Partner Updates: Wednesday 23 January 2019

Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, January 23, 2019. Actually, there are 24 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. 24. IBM Financial Results: IBM's Q4 2018 financial results exceeded Wall Street's expectations, and the company's 2019 forecast was more upbeat than analysts had previously expected. The good news lifted IBM shares nearly 7 percent overnight (Tuesday night to Wednesday morning) in after hours trading. Reality Check: Still, the company continues to face a range of challenges. Chief among them: Q4 revenue fell 3.5 percent to $21.7 billion, and the revenue gap between IBM Cloud and key rivals like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure continues to grow. 23. Data Center Expansion: Leaseweb USA, a hosting and cloud services company, has opened a data center in Miami to support more U.S. customers while creating a future pathway into South America. The company has 10 data center locations across the United States. 22. Application Performance Management: A new SolarWinds study pinpoints the challenges that DevOps, web and developer professionals face with application troubleshooting. 21. Partner - Google Cloud Platform and SD-WANs: Silver Peak's Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN platform is now certified for deployment in the Google Cloud Platform Marketplace. The SD-WAN offering is also certified for Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. 20. Partner - Google Apps Single Sign-On: Pearson Realize, a single sign-on platform, is now a Google for Education Premier Partner. 19. Partner - Google Cloud Platform and IT Consulting: Modern Systems, an IT consulting firm focused on application modernization, has joined the Google Cloud Partner Program as a technology partner. 18. Partner Program - SaaS Distribution: SaaSMAX has launched a productivity and security SaaS suite for Microsoft Office 365. Watch for The SaaSMAX Suite to leverage a close relationship with D&H Distributing. 17. Partner Program - Data Infrastructure: Segment, a customer data infrastructure company, has launched Segment Select, a program for Channel and Technology Partners. Partners gain technical certification, sales training, dedicated technical support, and personalized co-marketing opportunities. 16. Partner Program - Analytics: Information Builders has launched a new Global Partner Program for data and analytics partners. 15. Partner Program - Cloud Data Protection: Rubrik has launched the Rubrik Technology Alliance Program (TAP), a global program for technology integration partners. The company also launched the Velocity Partner Program in 2018. Former Cisco CEO John Chambers is a Rubrik investor.  The company had more than 1,200 employees and was nearing a $300 million bookings run rate, according to a late 2018 statement from the firm. 14. Business Continuity - Veeam Upgrades: The software company has released Veeam Availability Suite 9.5 Update 4 with new cloud management capabilities. Also, the company is touting Veeam Availability for AWS and Veeam Availability Console v3. The offerings address data retention, cloud migration and data mobility, cloud-native backup and protection for AWS, portable cloud-ready licensing, increased security and data governance, and more. The offerings arrive only a few days after Veeam disclosed $500 million in new funding. 13. Data Protection and Anti-Ransomware: Cohesity, which specializes in hyperconverged secondary storage, has launched the Cohesity Anti-Ransomware Solution. The solutions blends backup with a multi-layered approach that can prevent, detect, and if necessary respond to attacks, Cohesity claims. 12. Data Protection and Security: Axcient, has earned an ‘A’ rating from SecurityScorecard -- verifying the security of Axcient's business continuity, disaster recovery, and cloud migration tools, the company says. Axcient plans to leverage the rating as it strives to differentiate from rival MSP-centric data protection platforms. 11. Backup and Disaster Recovery - MSPs: Asigra Inc. has unveiled an Unlimited Use Subscription License to address challenges faced by managed service providers (MSP) when attempting to accurately forecast backup software licensing costs while supporting customers with mixed environments, the company says. Continue to page two of two for today's items 10 to 1. Welcome to page two of two. Here are items 10 to 1. 10. Email Archiving Evolves: Zix, which recently acquired AppRiver, has launched an expanded ZixArchive solution. It supports cloud-based archiving for email and 48 new data sources, including social media, instant message, mobile, web, audio and video. It also supports eDiscovery, including message review, classification, data tagging, and the ability to cull messages based on content, Zix asserts. 9. Private Equity Growth - Europe: The race to become Europe’s first $100 billion private equity firm is accelerating as the recent fundraising boom shows little sign of abating, according to Financial News London. No sign of abating? That's usually when the bubble is about to pop. 8. Momentum - Desktop as a Service:  CloudJumper, a provider of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Workspace as a Service (WaaS) and Desktop as a Service (DaaS) solutions, says its 2018 revenues doubled. The privately held company did not disclose actual revenue and profit figures. 7.  Gender Pay Equality and Alleged Inequality: Intel has achieved gender pay equality on a global basis, the chip giant asserts. Ironically the announcement comes just as the U.S. government files a complaint against Oracle over alleged hiring and compensation biases. Oracle declined to comment about the complaint, according to The Guardian. 6. Women CEOs - Some (Small) Progress: The rate of women taking over the role of CEO in 2018 rose to 22 percent, after hovering at 18 percent in both 2017 and 2016, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Of the 1,183 replacement CEOs recorded in 2018, 264, or 22.3 percent, were women. That is up from 18.4 percent in 2017, when women represented 183 of 993 replacement CEOs announced by U.S.-based companies, the report says. 5. Talent - IT Staffing: Apolis, a $70 million IT staffing and cloud solutions company, has named Ranjith Varma as its new president. Varma, comes to Apolis after serving as Vice President, Private Equity group at Mphasis, a global IT services company. 4. MSP Conference: The 20, which offers an automation and sales development platform for MSPs, is set to host its VISION 2019 conference in October. Check the complete ChannelE2E Technology Event Calendar for more MSP- and partner-centric events. 3. MSP Staying Power: Ash Creek Enterprises Inc., an MSP in Stratford, Connecticut, celebrated its 20th year in business on January 4, 2019. Congrats to President and owner Mark Calzone, and the entire Ash Creek team. 2. Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs: Participate in our survey here and your company could be honored among the world’s Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs. 1. How Much Is Your Business Worth?: Find out during our next ChannelE2E webcast…