Channel Brief: ConnectWise Names New Chief Product and Technology Officer

TechCrunch reported today that the U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed it awarded $7.865 billion to chip giant Intel under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, a federal statute signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022 to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

The funding will go toward manufacturing and advanced packaging (techniques to assemble and integrate multiple semiconductor chips into a single package) projects in Intel facilities across Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon, according to TechCrunch.

This news comes as the U.S. is preparing to impose new sanctions targeting 200 Chinese chipmakers and potentially restrict the export of high bandwidth memory (HBM) to further hinder China's semiconductor and AI advancements, according to Slashdot. And Tom's Hardware reported that "[t]he update sheds light on the Biden administration's recent efforts to impose stricter regulations on chip manufacturers in China. The latest swarm of sanctions reportedly targets roughly 200 Chinese firms. [U.S.] companies are prohibited from exporting select technologies or products to the targeted firms. The report suggests that the U.S. Department of Commerce aims to push these new regulations before the Thanksgiving break - or November 28."

As always, drop me a line at [email protected] if you have news to share or want to say hi!

Grab your coffee. Here's what you need to know today.

Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. ConnectWise names new CPTO: ConnectWise this week announced the hiring of David Raissipour as the MSP platform's new chief product and technology officer (CPTO). In his new role, Raissipour will report to ConnectWise CEO Manny Rivelo and manage the company’s continued innovation of its core solutions, RMM and PSA, the company said. Raissipour will oversee product development, including how ConnectWise delivers enhanced services through its Asio Platform. Most recently, Raissipour served as CTO and CPO at Mimecast and has over 30+ years of experience across enterprise and consumer products. Congratulations!

2. Cisco, NTT DATA expand partnership: Cisco and NTT DATA are expanding their existing partnership to enable greater access to 5G and mobile services, the companies said in a statement. The partnership will leverage Cisco’s eSIM technology, which was initially embedded into Cisco's infrastructure solutions. The eSIM will connect to NTT DATA’s Transatel network, enabling customers to activate, provision, and configure Cisco solutions ‘out of the box’ for a simplified provisioning and setup process to launch secure mobile branches anywhere, on-demand, with ongoing enhanced network device management.

3. AWS adds VMware Cloud Foundation-as-a-Service offering: The Register reported today that Amazon Web Services (AWS) has finally introduced a VMware-as-a-service offering that conforms to Broadcom's licensing schemes. The forthcoming Amazon Elastic VMware Service (Amazon EVS) will offer the chance to run Broadcom's flagship VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) private cloud stack in the Amazon cloud, according to The Register. Amazon said it will be possible to "set up a complete VCF environment in just a few hours" and then "extend on-premises networks and migrate workloads without having to change IP addresses, retrain staff, or re-write operational runbooks." VCF includes compute, storage, and network virtualization tools, plus management and automation products.

4. Maryland invests $1.8 million in cybersecurity education: In a bid to strengthen its cybersecurity workforce, Maryland has provided BCR Cyber and the Maryland Association of Communication Colleges with a $1.8 million grant that would be allocated toward the implementation of advanced cybersecurity training involving new cyber ranges across the state's community colleges, StateScoop reported. This development comes months after the National Institute of Technology emphasized the value of cyber ranges in tackling cybersecurity skill disparities that cannot be adequately addressed by conventional education and training models. "Cyber ranges offer the necessary technology to effectively implement, assess, and track the training and performance of cybersecurity professionals," said the NIT guidance.

5. Halcyon raises $100 million in Series C: Texas-based anti-ransomware startup Halcyon Tech, which has developed a capsule neural network-based ransomware detection system, has secured $100 million from a Series C round, bringing its valuation to $1 billion, reports SiliconAngle. The funds will be allocated toward strengthening its anti-ransomware technology and expanding its customer base, according to Halcyon. Halcyon has touted its system to facilitate improved identification of ransomware compromise with its use of CapsNet-based artificial intelligence models, which have been trained on a trove of ransomware-related data, including attack techniques and malicious files. Aside from tracking prevalent ransomware infection signs, Halcyon's technology also circumvents breach prevention app compromise and enables cryptographic key extraction that could accelerate the restoration of encrypted files.

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