Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, January 11, 2017.
Actually, there are 13 timely entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look…
13. Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs: Participate in the ChannelE2E Top 100 Vertical Market MSP Survey, and your company could be ranked and honored when we unveil research results in April. Deadline for participation is March 31.
12. Synnex Quarterly Results: Synnex, the distributor, announced better-than-expected Q4 2016 quarterly results yesterday. Overall revenues surged 9.5 percent to $3.887 billion and net income jumped 37.3 percent to $85.3 million. The company's technology solutions business, up 6.6 percent to $3.4 billion, was strong -- as was the Concentrix business (up $33.9 percent to $500.4 million). Synnex CEO Kevin Murai is set to speak with ChannelE2E later today. We'll share a recap sometime thereafter...
11. Seagate Technology Layoffs: The company is cutting more than 2,000 jobs as it shuts down its Suzhou factory in China, Reuters said. The latest job cuts were part of its earlier restructuring plans announced in July 2016 to reduce its global manufacturing footprint, the newswire reported.
10. Internet of Things: SAP has launched a jump-start enablement program for its Internet of Things (IoT) portfolio, and is branding its IoT push around the SAP Leonardo name. The company will host its first major SAP Leonardo event July 11-12 in Frankfurt, Germany. Meanwhile, potential IoT rivals like PTC say rapid application development can help VARs and other types of partners to develop IoT intellectual property and raise their valuations...
9. Wal-Mart CIO Exits: Wal-Mart CIO Karenann Terrell plans to leave the retail giant on Feb. 24. The company expects to announce a new technology leader shortly, according to The Wall Street Journal. Wal-Mart this year has earmarked about $11 billion for e-commerce, digital initiatives and store remodels to compete more effectively against Amazon, the paper reported.
8. Autonomy Probe Expands?: U.S. prosecutors may be investigating additional people and offenses related to Hewlett-Packard’s money-losing acquisition. HP acquired Autonomy for $11 billion in 2011, but the deal turned sour and the buyer alleged accounting fraud at Autonomy. The deal at least in part inspired a CEO change at HP, bringing Meg Whitman into the company -- which ultimately broke into HP Enterprise and HP Inc. Meanwhile, former Autonomy CFO Sushovan Hussain is expected to be in court on Thursday to face charges that he schemed to inflate the company's valuation ahead of the HP deal, Bloomberg reported.
7. New CEO Preps IPO: Anaplan, which develops a planning and performance management platform for small business, has hired Frank A. Calderoni as CEO. Caldedroni, a Cisco and SanDisk veteran, arrives as Anaplan prepares to launch an IPO sometime this year. The company has raised more than $240 million in venture capital funding.
6. IT Consulting M&A: Perficient has acquired RAS & Associates for an undisclosed sum. RAS focuses on management consulting for supply chains, financial and business analysis, and strategy. RAS has about $9 million in annual services revenues and 40 employes. We'll share more details soon.
5. HP Enterprise Channel Chief: GE Digital veteran Denzil Samuels has been named global channel chief at HP Enterprise. Former HPE Channel Chief Kerry Bailey resigned to pursue a career opportunity outside of the company.
4. IoT Security Lawsuit: Cause of Action Institute will represent D-Link Systems in its defense against recent "unwarranted and baseless charges" brought by the FTC regarding the company’s security practices for consumer routers and IP cameras. D-Link says the FTC suit is without merit. The FTC has been pursuing D-Link and other networking companies for alleged security lapses that potentially leave IoT devices and network infrastructure open to attacks.
3. How to Build A Partner Program: Impartner has launched "The Ultimate Field Guide to Building a Channel," an eBook for channel chiefs on how to ensure they are moving into the channel for the right reasons, taking the appropriate steps to get started, and deploying the right initiatives early on to ensure long-term sustainable success. Impartner promotes SaaS-centric Partner Relationship Management (PRM) software.
2. Partner Program Launch: SecurityScorecard, which helps organizations to rate their security risk, has launched a partner program for VARs.
1. How Much Is Your Company Worth?: Find out. Register now for our January 26 webcast, during which Service Leadership CEO Paul Dippell will describe IT service provider valuations -- and how to boost your company's value.
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