Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to sip on for Thursday, February 4, 2016.
Actually, there are 13 items for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to sip on…
13. Fresh Funding: OwnBackup has raised $3.5 million from Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors. The company, led by former Intronis CEO Sam Gutmann, also is graduating from the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator Program today. Official details about both developments should surface sometime today...
12. Cloud Monitoring for IT Service Providers: Unigma LLC has started beta testing a unified cloud monitoring tool built for IT service providers. The tool, built to work major IaaS clouds such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Compute Engine, and features a unified solution to monitor, manage and report on end users’ clouds, from a single pane of glass.
11. HealthTech Cuts: Electronic Health Records have been hyped as a huge opportunity for channel partners. But keep this reality check in mind. Practice Fusion, a startup focused on EHR, is cutting about 25 percent of its staff to improve cash flow...
10. Salesforce Field Service: Keep an eye on Salesforce.com's latest application -- called Field Service Lightning. It's set to launch in Q2 2016, competing with field service applications like Oracle TOA Technologies and Microsoft FieldOne. Field Service Lightning will allow agents, dispatchers and mobile employees to coordinate real-time assignments based on skills, availability and location, Salesforce.com says.
9. Blockchain and Finance: If you're in the financial services market, it's time to wrap your arms around blockchain -- along with the potential blockchain upsides and challenges.
8. Toshiba Tanks: The tech and electronics giant expects a $6 billion loss amid growing restructuring costs. A $1.3 billion accounting scandal has undermined the company, which now plans to sell off its laptop and home appliance businesses.
7. CloudMgr for Amazon MSPs: Keep a close eye on CloudMgr, which offers billing and cost management tools for Amazon Web Services. CloudMgr continues to work even more closely with MSPs. Stay tuned for potential updates later this week...
6. The $10 Million Amazon MSP: ChannelE2E has interviewed the CEO of an MSP that has grown its Amazon-related managed services business from $100,000 in 2013 to $10 million in 2015. We'll share the details later today... There is one twist: Australian rather than U.S. dollars, but the figures are still pretty darn awesome.
5. Secure Windows 10 Migrations: AppSense has upgraded DataNow, a file sync and migration solution that now supports file migrations to Windows 10.
4. Business Continuity Down Under: StorageCraft, which recently received funding, named a new CEO and hired multiple channel leaders, has partnered with NextDC to launch a disaster recovery cloud in Sydney, Australia. I'm available to tour the new location...
3. HIPAA Fines: Lincare, a home health provider, has been fined $240,000 for HIPAA violations involving the company's general manager. The GM and other employees kept protected health information (PHI) in their residences and vehicles... Ouch.
2. Office 365 Management Tools: They seem to be everywhere now. The latest Office 365 management moves for MSPs involve AppRiver and ConnectWise CloudConsole, respectively. Stay tuned for details in the next few days...
1. Top MSPs: If you're a top MSP then it's time to earn some free publicity and recognition. Participate in our Top Vertical Market MSP survey, and your business could be honored for its expertise and performance when we announce survey results and honorees in Q2 2016.
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