Channel Brief: NinjaOne Adds MDM, Pure Storage Intros AI, Resilience Tools

Hey, folks, it's Thursday! Have you ever wondered where the brains behind many generative AI startups worked before they took the plunge? Well, a new study from VC firm Accel and Dealroom found that most came from U.S. big tech firms.

Speaking of AI, Gartner's latest hype cycle examines AI use cases in cloud tech and networking and says, "Cool your jets."

In other news, Silicon Valley venture capital fund General Catalyst is acquiring early-stage investor Venture Highway to strengthen its India presence. NinjaOne has introduced mobile device management (MDM), and Pure Storage unveiled some new cyber resilience features at its //Accelerate conference this week.

As always, you can reach me at [email protected] with news, tips, or just to say hello. Now, grab your coffee. Here’s what you need to know today.

Today’s Tech, Channel and MSP News

1. Where do AI Startups Come From? A new study from VC firm Accel and Dealroom found that most of the top-funded generative artificial intelligence companies in Europe were founded by entrepreneurs with experience at U.S. technology giants. The report, produced in partnership with Dealroom, found a quarter of the 221 generative AI companies across Europe and Israel previously worked at Apple, Amazon, DeepMind, Meta, Google and Microsoft, as CNBC reported. That figure rose to more than a third (38%) for the top 40 European and Israeli generative AI companies in terms of venture funding raised, and 60% for the top 10 generative AI companies for funding levels.

2. Gartner's Latest Hype Cycle Urges Caution on AI-Assisted IT Automation: The Register has a great analysis piece about the reality of AI-assisted tools for cloud tech and networking -- the TLDR: In both areas, Gartner "suggest[s] cooling your jets rather than rushing towards AI-assisted tools to operate your tech." Gartner's 2024 Hype Cycle for Enterprise Networking rates AI networking and network AI assistants as having reached peak hype. Gartner's 2024 Hype Cycle for Cloud Computing features "a flurry of activity at the Peak of Inflated Expectations." The analyst firm suggests that's to be expected given cloud is relatively new.

3. General Catalyst Acquires Venture Highway to Focus on India: Silicon Valley venture capital fund General Catalyst, which has backed global tech giants such as Airbnb, Snap, Canva and Stripe, is acquiring India-focused early-stage investor Venture Highway to strengthen its India presence. As part of this move, the Economic Times reported, Venture Highway—which has backed unicorns like Meesho and Moglix—will become General Catalyst India. The new India entity will be a part of General Catalyst’s global fund, for which it is raising $6 billion, according to a report in the Financial Times. The firm currently manages more than $25 billion in assets globally.

4. Pure Storage Unveils New Resilience, AI-Focused Capabilities: At its //Accelerate conference this week, Pure Storage announced new capabilities that the company said will radically improve customers' ability to deploy AI, improve cyber resilience and modernize their applications. The first is the next generation of Pure Fusion, which unifies arrays and optimizes storage pools on the fly across structured and unstructured data, on-premises, and in the cloud and an AI Copilot for storage that guides storage teams through investigating performance and management issues to help stay ahead of security incidents. Pure Storage also announced new cyber resilience capabilities, including three new advanced storage as-a-service (STaaS) service-level agreements (SLAs) for the Pure Storage platform - cyber recovery and resilience and site rebalance, the company said in a statement.

5. NinjaOne Introduces MDM: Endpoint management, security and IT visibility solutions firm NinjaOne has expanded its platform with mobile device management (MDM). The new solution manages Android and Apple mobile devices and endpoints within a single, intuitive console, the company said in a statement. With the introduction of MDM, NinjaOne now has endpoint and device coverage beyond unified endpoint management.

6. Hurry Up, Cloud MSPs! Submit Your Survey to Our Top Cloud MSPs List - Don't forget! Our Top 250 Public Cloud MSPs survey is open now, but it closes soon. Don’t wait until the last minute. Get it done and check it off your list today so you don’t miss the deadline. If your MSP practice includes working with a cloud provider, this survey is for you. Here’s the link to participate. Participation is free. The survey closes in June. Submit your MSP here for recognition today! And if you want to check our lists from previous years, you can find them here.

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