Channel Brief: Delta CEO Says Microsoft ‘Fragile,’ Veracode Enhances Partner Program

Happy Friday, folks.

As August kicks off, Delta's CEO Ed Bastian is on the record saying Microsoft has ‘probably the most fragile platform’ while praising Apple’s record with outages, 9 to 5 Mac reported. He's certainly not pulling any punches.

In other news, Reinvent Telecom has launched its next-generation UC&C solution, MyCloud UCaaS, which was designed to maximize revenue for Reinvent’s white-label and co-branded reseller partners, the company said. Rockville, Maryland-based Dataprise this week acquired Phoenix IT, a cybersecurity incident response and managed services provider based in Arizona. Veracode expanded its Velocity partner program with new benefits and a technical certification program. And finally, congratulations to Deltek's new CISO Becca Harness and chief customer officer Margo Martin.

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. Delta CEO Calls Microsoft 'Fragile,' Praises macOS: In a new interview with CNBC, Delta CEO Ed Bastian calls out Microsoft as having ‘probably the most fragile platform’ while praising Apple’s record with outages, 9 to 5 Mac reported. This comes on the heels of Delta hiring an attorney to sue Microsoft and CrowdStrike. The CrowdStrike outage cost Delta an estimated $500 million, the company said, and the airline is seeking damages from the companies responsible. Shareholders are also suing CrowdStrike.

2. Dataprise Acquires Phoenix IT to Expand Cybersecurity IR: Rockville, Maryland-based Dataprise this week acquired Phoenix IT, a cybersecurity incident response and managed services provider based in Arizona. This acquisition broadens Dataprise’s cybersecurity platform with new incident response and remediation services and expands the company’s managed services regional footprint to Arizona, the company said in a statement. Dataprise is a portfolio company of Trinity Hunt Partners, a growth-oriented private equity firm. Lance Meilech served as the investment banker on the sale of Phoenix IT.

3. Deltek Names New CISO, Chief Customer Officer: Software solutions provider Deltek this week promoted Margo Martin, most recently Deltek’s group VP of customer success, to SVP and chief customer officer. Martin has been with Deltek for more than 25 years, first as a senior support analyst, eventually taking on larger leadership roles within global support and customer success. Martin served as group VP of customer success since 2021. In Martin’s new role as CCO, she will continue to lead customer learning experience, customer support and customer success teams, prioritizing building and establishing relationships with Deltek’s global customer base. Deltek also appointed Becca Harness as VP and CISO, leading the global information security team. Prior to joining Deltek, Harness was the VP and CISO at Quickbase, a software application platform built for dynamic work management. Harness's 25-year career in IT includes 12 years focused on information security and compliance. She founded and led two successful technology startups is a longtime board member and president of ISACA St. Louis (a professional IS organization with over 700 members). She is an alumnus of Hastings College and received a Master of Science in Information Security Engineering from SANS Technology Institute.

4. Reinvent Telecom Launches MyCloud UCaaS: Reinvent Telecom, a provider of wholesale unified communications, SIP trunking, business messaging, direct routing for Microsoft Teams and contact center solutions, this week launched MyCloud UCaaS, its next-generation unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) platform. MyCloud UCaaS was designed to maximize revenue for Reinvent’s white-label and co-branded reseller partners, the company said in a statement. MyCloud UCaaS is available in Simple, Basic and Call Center seat options – each including local and long-distance calling. Basic and Call Center seats also include business SMS/MMS and web meeting services at no additional cost. Additionally, Reinvent separates line items for usage and software to minimize usage taxes and maximize partner revenue. Reinvent’s MyCloud UCaaS platform is immediately available to reseller partners through Reinvent’s White-Label and CoBranded Partner Programs.

5. Veracode Expands Velocity Partner Program: Application risk management firm Veracode launched its enhanced Veracode Velocity Partner Program this week. The program enables new collaboration opportunities across North America, LATAM, EMEA, and APAC and simplifies the approach to working with resellers and value-added distributors, Veracode said in a statement. New benefits include early access to Veracode products, invitations to Veracode Technical Summits and Partner Technical Advisory Council membership, participation in thought leadership programs, revenue acceleration programs, and marketing investment. Veracode is also unveiling its enhanced Partner Technical Certification Program, which provides partners with technical certification across four progressive levels, retires any requirement for Customer Premises Equipment and builds visibility of expertise with Credly badges on LinkedIn.