Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Wednesday, July 13, 2016.
Actually, there are 15 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on. Take a look…
15. Microsoft WPC16 Wednesday: Our ongoing coverage of Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2016 (WPC16) continues today. You'll find all of our updates and insights right here.
14. Zetta's MSP Customer Portal: Zetta, which competes in the cloud-centric backup and disaster recovery market, has launched Zetta Portal -- a single-pane view that allows MSPs to track and compare customer storage consumption. Admittedly, a single pane of glass is table stakes in the MSP cloud backup market. But don't underestimate CEO Mike Grossman and the executive team, which has been meeting with MSPs in recent months to fine-tune Zetta's services for partners.
13. BDR Upgrade: BSS Consulting, a technology solution provider based in Indiana, has converted to Continuity247 -- Continuum's fully managed backup and disaster recovery (BDR) platform. In the crowded market for cloud-centric BDR offerings, Continuum differentiates by linking Continuity247 to the company's Network Operations Center (NOC). The result: Continuum can manage BDR instances for MSPs, potentially freeing up the service providers to focus on higher-margin consulting and cloud services.
12. Banking on Managed Services: Fusion has won a three-year, $1.1 million managed services contract with a southeastern bank. Under terms of the deal, Fusion will manage voice and data solutions across the bank's 33 locations. The bank's name was not discussed. Side note: Check out the ChannelE2E Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs list and research.
11. MSP Software Integrations: Accelerite, a provider of infrastructure software for cloud, mobility, and IoT solutions, has integrated its rCloud automated billing solution with the ConnectWise business management platform. Hmmm... we believe that's the same rCloud technology that Accelerite parent Persistent Systems acquired from Doyenz back in 2012 or so.
10. PSA Software Integration: Upland Software, which develops cloud-based enterprise work management software, now offers integration with the Tenrox Professional Service Automation (PSA) solution. Utilizing Dell Boomi, the Integration Manager allows the exchange of data to and from the Tenrox system. Upland is a "roll up" project management software company. Tenrox is one of the many businesses that Upland has acquired in recent years.
9. IT Hiring Rebounds: U.S. employers added 34,200 IT jobs in June -- a big improvement from the 19,400 IT job loses in May, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by consulting firm Janco Associates Inc. The June figure is up significantly from the same month a year ago, when 6,800 jobs were added, The Wall Street Journal noted.
8. Hackers for Fire: Fiat Chrysler will pay as much as $1,500 to ethical hackers who tell the auto maker about data security weaknesses in its vehicles, Reuters noted. Perhaps the U.S. government should offer the same type of bounty to ethical hackers who find and report holes in government networks?
7. Bucking the Media Trend: Anybody else notice that The Wall Street Journal hasn't jumped on Facebook's media bandwagon? On the one hand, media folks (including ChannelE2E) want to attract social media eyeballs. On the other hand, the Journal "has put a stake in the ground about maintaining full control over the data around the relationship with its audience," Bloomberg reported. Smart. Very smart.
6. AWS Cloud Security: Sophos has launched Outbound Gateway (OGW) protection for AWS. It provides unique visibility, policy enforcement, and elastic scalability to outbound web traffic from AWS, according to Chris McCormack, a senior product marketing manager at the company. Sophos has been particularly active in the MSP channel in recent months, having launched a formalized MSP partner program earlier this year.
5. AWS Consultants: Rackspace now employees more than 300 architects and engineers who have achieved more than 300 professional and associate certifications. The employees also tend to be experts in DevOps, Docker, Chef, Ansible and SaltStack, Rackspace asserted. The certifications reinforce Rackspace's focus on AWS managed services. It's a promising strategy but so far top-line revenues haven't scaled quickly enough to please Rackspace shareholders.
4. EU-US Privacy Shield: It's official. The EU-US Privacy Shield has been launched. The agreement, which succeeds Safe Harbor, is a framework to protect personal data that's transferred from the European Union to the U.S. The agreement is particularly important for cloud and managed services providers that manage customer data in the EU. The obvious question: Where does Britain fit in all this since the UK has voted to exit the EU (a.k.a. Brexit)? Hmmm...
3. Tech Acquisitions, Part I: Attentive.ly, a software provider that allows organizations to conduct social listening, identify key influencers and drive engagement, has been acquired by Blackbaud, a provider of software and services for the global philanthropic community. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
2. Tech Acquisitions, Part II: Infor, an ERP specialist, has acquired Starmount -- which develops cloud-based retail applications. Starmount's revenues have been growing about 40 percent year over year and the company has roughly 90 employees. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
1. New Dell-EMC Channel Chief: Dell is expected to finalize its $67 billion buyout of EMC later this month. The new company, Dell Technologies, will have one channel chief to lead all partner program initiatives. That new channel chief's name is...
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