Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Friday, April 14, 2017.
Actually, there are nine updates for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on.
9. Cisco SD-WAN Networking: Amid a busy week for SD-WAN news, Cisco offered a timely reminder that it's focusing aggressively on the SD-WAN market...
8. MSP Funding: ClearData, a cloud-centric MSP for the healthcare industry, has raised $12 million in funding. We'll share more details soon.
7. AWS Security: Saviynt has achieved AWS Security Competency. Saviynt specializes in identity governance and cloud security solutions, The company focuses on such cloud platforms as AWS, Salesforce and Workday, and enterprise applications from Oracle and SAP, among others.
6. Dell and Nutanix - Frenemies?: Roughly 10 percent of Nutanix's sales come from the Dell EMC relationship. But what if Dell cuts ties with Nutanix and develops more hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) technology on its own? Barron's offers this analysis of the Dell-Nutanix relationship... Lenovo, by the way, also has a close relationship with Nutanix.
5. Chromebooks Driving PC Market: The PC market was either slightly up or slightly down in Q1, according to Gartner and IDC figures. Regardless, most of the "growth" seems to be coming from Chromebooks... Hardly surprising, Microsoft is preparing to counter Chromebooks with so-called Windows Cloud offerings.
4. Infosys Concerns: Infosys is warning about revenue growth concerns amid intense H-1B Visa scrutiny. Hmmm... is the Visa mention a real problem or an excuse for greater challenges within Infosys?
3. Accenture and Office 365: Accenture has made a bold statement regarding its use of Office 365 and cloud, with Accenture Australia operations lead Andre Conti stating that the company is the biggest user of Office 365 in the world, CBR reported. Hmmm... I wonder if another company will step forward to challenge that assertion?
2. Valuations Too High?: Buyout firms are paying the highest prices for deals since the 2008 financial crisis, according to CNBC. Meanwhile, buyout firms also are "magically and legally" pumping up the returns on their investments. Anybody else concerned that a market correction could be on the way?
1. Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs 2017: See the list and honorees during our April 27 webcast. Register now.
