Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Tuesday, April 19, 2016.
Actually, there are nine entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on.
9. Autotask Merges PSA, RMM: Autotask, as expected, has blended its PSA and RMM offering into a "unified" IT business management platform. Autotask unified platform now delivers real-time, bi-directional synchronization and reporting for improved efficiency, service delivery and business insights, the company claims. Here are deeper details.
8. Autotask Growth: In the past 6 months, Autotask has hired 119 new employees — 78 of those in sales, according to the Albany Business Review. The company increased new bookings by 46 percent last year and anticipates the same increase for 2016, the paper added. That's pretty detailed information for a privately held software company to share with a local newspaper. Hmmm...
7. Data Protection for European MSPs: Barracuda Networks, Inc. has launched Intronis MSP Solutions in the UK. The move comes as multiple business continuity and cloud-centric backup companies attempt to leap from the U.S. market into Europe.
6. Key Hires:
- Live Virtual Help Desk has hired Mike Byrne as the company's VP of sales and marketing. Byrne is well-known and widely respected in MSP circles. He previously held key roles at N-able Technologies, GFI Software, Quest Software, Dell and PacketTrap.
- The ASCII Group has hired Shannon Mayer as VP of channel development. Mayer is responsible for developing key alliances while creating new channel strategies for the organization's vendor partner program. The ASCII Group serves VARs, MSPs and IT solutions providers with a range of educational, marketing and event networking services. Mayer previously held MSP-centric roles at Continuum, Datto and LogMeIn.
5. Mixed Views on IBM: First, the good news. IBM's Q1 2016 earnings, announced yesterday, beat Wall Street's expectations. And cloud revenues continue to grow. But overall revenues fell to a 14-year quarterly low. The result? Shares fell about 4.2 percent in overnight trading.
4. Running Out of Ink: Staples is selling off its Staples Print Solutions business -- which specializes in business cards, brochures and other types of packaging for clientele. Taylor Communications is the buyer. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Staples is shedding some businesses ahead of a proposed merger with Office Depot, which will combine two struggling retailers to create a larger struggling retailer.
3. Azure Container Service: Microsoft has officially launched Azure Container Service, giving customers and partners a new way to manage container scheduling and orchestration in the cloud. The service supports Docker's Swarm and Compose approach and Mesosphere's Data Center Operating System.
2. Earnings Watch: VMware is expected to announce quarterly results today (Tuesday), with EMC set to deliver its results on Wednesday. The earnings provide an important reality check ahead of Dell's pending buyout of EMC for $67 billion, which is expected to become official between May and October 2016...
1. Also on Our Radar: Some folks were surprise that Kaseya Connect 2016 wasn't on ChannelE2E's Top 10 Channel Partner Events list for May. Alas, ChannelE2E respects the event but we booked early to attend EMC World 2016 -- where Michael Dell may unveil some updates on the Dell-EMC merger. The EMC and Kaseya events essentially are on the same dates. But we'll be watching closely to see what new surprises Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola has in store for MSPs...
More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner Updates. Plus: Subscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.
