5 Channel Partner Program and MSP News Updates: 20 April 2021

Here are five (actually, more) technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, April 20, 2021. Sip up.

What’s In Our Daily Brew?

A. What’s Brewing Today: Technology News

1 . M&A - Application Performance Monitoring: Netreo has acquired Stackify, a developer-centric provider of SaaS application performance monitoring (APM) solutions. This is Netreo's second acquisition in the past year. The earlier deal involved CloudMonix in June 2020.

2. M&A - MSP: ECS / My IT has completed the acquisition of The Purple Guys, a Kansas City, Kansas-based managed service provider.

3. M&A - Private Equity and Software: Thoma Bravo has completed completion of its acquisition of Calabrio, a software company focused on customer experience intelligence.

4. M&A - IT Service Management (ITSM) Software: Atlassian has acquired ThinkTilt, the maker of ProForma, a no-code/low-code form builder for Jira. ThinkTilt helps "IT empower any team in their organization to deliver great service and support to all their other employees quickly," the buyer claims.

5. M&A - IT Services and DevOps: Tech Mahindra has acquired DigitalOnUS, a hybrid cloud and DevOps services provider, for $120 million (about ₹898 crore) to augment hybrid-cloud offerings for enterprise customers globally, LiveMint reports.

6. M&A Pending - Toshiba Buyout Stalls: Toshiba said a potential acquisition offer from CVC Capital Partners has stalled after CVC submitted a new proposal that lacks sufficient information for evaluation. Source: Bloomberg, April 20, 2021.

7. Apple iPad Pro: Apple today is expected to reveal its annual update to high-end iPads, among other new products, and introduce a paid subscription option within its podcast app, The Wall Street Journal reports.

8. Artificial Intelligence Legislation: The European Commission would ban certain uses of "high-risk" artificial intelligence systems altogether, and limit others from entering the bloc if they don't meet its standards. Companies that don't comply could be fined up to €20 million or 4 percent of their turnover. The Commission will unveil its final regulation on April 21, Politico reports.

B. Channel Chiefs, Partner Programs and Strategic Alliances

1. Channel Chiefs: Riverbed has promoted Eric Tinker and Megan Brennan to key sales and channels positions. Tinker is now senior VP of commercial sales with an expanded role including Riverbed channels, global renewals and commercial sales programs. Brennan is now VP of global channels.

2. Talent - Managed Services: AppSmart has appointed Jim Griffith as the company’s new general manager of managed services. Griffith will be responsible for scaling and expanding AppSmart’s managed services business strategy and operations, while empowering Technology Advisors with the ability to ensure that the solutions are always available and operate flawlessly, the company says.

3. Distribution: Synnex has agreed to distribute Citrix Systems workspace solutions to partners in the U.S. and Canada through SYNNEX Stellr.

4. Partner Program - Collaboration Software: Asana has launched Asana Partners, an ecosystem of over 200 work tools and channel partners across 75 countries. Asana also announced support for of seven new languages—Traditional Chinese, Dutch, Italian, Korean, Polish, Swedish and Russian.

5. Partner Program: Zebra Technologies Corporation has launched the PartnerConnect Alliance Track to enable "greater collaboration with complementary, non-reselling partners." The track spans IHVs, SIs, consultants, and technology alliance partners that will benefit from demo kits, marketing development funds and Zebra accreditation for hardware products, the company says.

6. Partnership - Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS): Avaya and RingCentral announced global expansion and new features for Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral. Now available in 13 countries,  Avaya Cloud Office is a UCaaS solution that empowers workforces to "call and connect across any device and work environment."

7. Partnership - Wireless Networks: Connectivity specialist Eseye, an agentless device security platform provider Armis, have launched a partnership and joint solution that enables organizations to deploy connected devices worldwide while leveraging cellular (4G/LTE/5G) connectivity, the companies say.

8. White Label Partner Program: Otava has enhanced its Partner Program with a new partner portal featuring deal registration and management, 150 co-brandable enablement tools, dedicated marketing campaign assistance and trainers, plus a commitment that "Otava will not let Partners lose on price for like deals," the company claims. Otava's partner program is designed to help businesses deliver cloud, data protection, security, and colocation solutions to their customers.

C. Channel Partner Summits, MSP Conferences and Virtual Events Calendar