Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter and more to start your day for Monday, November 23, 2015.
Actually, today's update involves 13 items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs) and cloud services providers (CSPs) to sip on.
13. Intel Recruits for IoT Push: Intel has recruited Qualcomm executive Venkata "Murthy" Renduchintala as president. He will oversee the company's traditional chip business, plus software, services and R&D involving the Internet of Things.
12. Wearable Layoffs: Jawbone, which develops headphones, speakers and fitness trackers, is cutting about 15 percent of its staff (about 60 employees). The company has raised $531 million to date and had a private valuation of $3.3 billion in early 2014. Source: The Wall Street Journal.
11. OpenStack Channel Partners: FusionStorm, a major IT solutions provider, is now a certified rack partner for Mirantis Unlocked Appliances. The appliances ship with Mirantis OpenStack -- the open source cloud platform. FusionStorm is expected to offer the appliances to customers that need cloud native applications and container-based environments.
10. Next Database Wave: Attention SQL Server and Oracle database partners. The next database wave is building fast. NoSQL database sales will reach $4.2 billion by the end of 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 35.1 percent for the 2014-2020 timeframe, Allied Market Research predicts.
9. AVG Doubling Down on Consumer?: Amid layoffs, at least one resignation and a leadership change to its SMB division, AVG Technologies has failed to answer ChannelE2E's basic questions about the company's SMB strategy going forward. Meanwhile, AVG is now crowdfunding the development of a consumer router. The question: Why does a publicly held technology company need to lean on crowdfunding? I'd ask... but I doubt I'd get a reply.
8. Point of Sale Hack: Dozens of Starwood Hotels suffered a malware hack over extended dates, potentially exposing customer credit card information. Sergio Rivera, president of The Americas, disclosed the hack in a letter to customers. The hotel chain also published a list detailing Starwood locations and dates the malware was active. The takeaway for channel partners: Are you monitoring and safeguarding POS systems for customers?
7. iPad Pro Bug: Apple's big tablet has a big problem -- a bug that can cause the iPad Pro to go completely dark. Apple published a workaround for iPad Pro users and is investigating the bug.
6. Failing WiFi Grades: The University of Arkansas's secure WiFi network has experienced a range of problems with users who run Android 6.0, Windows 10 Version 1511 or Ubuntu 15.10. It sounds like hardware vendors are working on a fix. Anybody else seen the WiFi issue the university describes?
5. Eliminating IoT Confusion: Most (53 percent) executives are not aware of the Internet of Things (IoT), and 72 percent are confused by the concept, according to an Internet of Things survey of 700 executives in Canada, conducted by Northstar and Microsoft. No need to panic. In ChannelE2E Podcast 050, LOGICnow Security Lead Ian Trump describes Internet of Things security issues and opportunities. Plus, here are 10 IoT Security Weaknesses and Fixes.
4. Channel Careers -- Help Wanted: The ChannelE2E Job Board has a dozen new jobs listed for marketing, technology and business opportunities at channel-centric companies. Check out the job listings or feel free to submit job openings at your company. The job board is free for ChannelE2E's readers.
3. Data Science and Security: Lots of IT service providers tell me they don't have a need for big data just yet. I beg to differ. Thousands of IT service providers already leverage data science and big data -- yet they don't even know it. A key point: OpenDNS just announced two new data science models that detect clues to an attack, and then find the attacker's entire infrastructure. OpenDNS, now owned by Cisco Systems Inc., has a strong following in the MSP market.
2. Top 100 Entrepreneurs: Our ChannelE2E 100 survey is open. Participate now and your company/leaders could be honored among the Top 100 Entrepreneurs, Startups and Exits in the IT channel for 2015.
1. This Week: ChannelE2E will publish site updates Monday-Wednesday (Nov. 23-25) but will be closed Thursday-Friday (Nov. 26-27) for Thanksgiving -- unless, or course, some really huge news surfaces during the holiday.
More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner Updates. Plus: Subscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.
