Channel Brief: Cisco, OpenAI, NinjaOne, More

Grab a cup of your favorite morning beverage and check out the return of our regular market briefing for managed services providers (MSPs), IT service providers (ITSPs), technology service providers (TSPs), cloud service providers (CSPs) cybersecurity consultants, systems integrators, VARs, independent software vendors (ISVs), and distributors.

Scroll down for a quick view of upcoming in-person channel and MSP events at the bottom of this post (while we spiff up our industry calendar behind the scenes. It will return!)

And please send your news tips, information, and industry chatter to editorial director [email protected].

Sip up.

A. Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. Cisco restructuring ahead? - Reuters is reporting that Cisco plans to restructure its business and layoff thousands of employees as it seeks to focus on high-growth areas. Announcements may be timed ahead of the company’s earnings call on Feb. 14.

2. Gen-AI revenue - OpenAI hit the $2 billion in revenue yearly run rate milestone in December, according to the Financial Times, which cited people with knowledge of the firm’s finances. They added that the Microsoft-backed company believes it can more than double that number in 2025. 

3. NinjaOne’s secret data plan - Canalys Chief Analyst Jay McBain noted in a LinkedIn post that the $231 million round of capital raised by NinjaOne may be about more than RMM and PSA. Frank Slootman from Snowflake and Amit Agarwal from Datadog are buying into the round – two data-focused leaders. (You can’t do AI without training data). Plus, Slootman is the guy who took ServiceNow to IPO and “created a $163.8 billion valued juggernaut.” We’ll be keeping an eye on this one.

4. Amazon’s gen-AI platform gets a UI update - AWS’s pathway to building and scaling gen-AI applications with foundation models, Amazon Bedrock, is getting a new look and feel with an updated UI that improves usability, responsiveness and accessibility. The console now also supports dark mode. 

5. Ransomware payments go sky high - Ransomware payments crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time in 2023. Zero-day exploits, including the MOVEit hack, the spread of ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) and “big game hunting” attacks seeking ransomware payments of $1 million or more helped drive record-breaking numbers, according to blockchain analysts at Chainalysis. (Source: SCmagazine.com)

B. In-Person MSP and Channel Partner Events