5 Channel Partner Updates: 7 December 2016

Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Wednesday, December 7, 2016. Actually, there are 21 entries for VARs, managed services providers (MSPs), cloud services providers (CSPs), independent software vendors (ISVs), telco master agents and telco agents to sip on. Take a look… 21. Cisco Launches RMM MSP Platform?: Sure sounds like it. 20. Accelerator Layoffs: The CEO of Dallas accelerator Tech Wildcatters has laid off its two top staffers, shaking up a startup hub that has weathered major changes to its staff and program model over the past year, according to Dallas Morning News... 19. Partner Programs: Xero has launched a new partner program. That's all we have to say about that. For now... 18. Hyperconverged Partnership: SimpliVity's OmniStack technology is now available for sale on Huawei FusionServer. The OmniStack with Huawei FusionServer is offered on SimpliVity’s all-flash hyperconverged models, the companies say.  17. Cloud-based Network Management: Zyxel Communications is shipping its Nebula family of cloud-managed network solutions -- including 11ac access points and Gigabit Ethernet switches. Um, is launching "cloud-managed hardware" really newsworthy these days? Hmmm... 16. MSPs Plugging Into CSPs: Strategic Integration Partners, an MSP, has increased its cloud sales more than 200 percent in less than a year. Among the secrets to success: Aligning with Evolve IP, (a familiar name to ChannelE2E Webcast 5 attendees).  Strategic Integration Partners focuses on the legal, accounting and financial markets. 15. MSPs & SD-WANs: Tata Communications has launched an SD-WAN service. Looking ahead to 2017, SD-WANs management represents a fast-growing MSP opportunity. We'll share more thoughts on this soon. 14. Will Trump Come Calling?: Americans are paying Apple millions of dollars to shelter the company's overseas profits, according to Bloomberg. I'm not necessarily a fan of Trumponomics. But it sounds like something's gotta give... 13. TrumpTech: The president-elect has invited Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins, Oracle CEO Safra Catz and other tech leaders to New York for a roundtable on December 14. Checking my spam filter now for my missing invite... 12. Microsoft-LinkedIn Approved?: The European Union has approved Microsoft's $26 billion buyout of LinkedIn. Among the conditions in the approval: Microsoft must allow rivals social media sites access to Office for the next five years. Salesforce had called on regulators to block the deal because of potential anti-competitive concerns. The EU's approval essentially was Microsoft's last barrier to LinkedIn buyout approval... 11. Let's Finance That: GoDaddy's $1.79 billion buyout of Host Europe Group will be backed by loans, according to Reuters. But wait. There's more. Continue to page two for the exciting conclusion to this blog entry. Welcome to page two of today's blog entry. Here are items 10 to 1. 10. Healthcare IT: Deloitte and the Virtual Technology Cluster Group (VTC Group) have launched the Deloitte Healthcare Virtual Technology Cluster ("Deloitte VTC"). The purpose? You guessed right: Disrupt the HeathTech market... 9. HIPAA Checklist for 2017: Need one? Find a HIPAA compliance checklist here, care of Compliancy Group. 8. HIPAA Cloud Services: BlackMesh has launched a HIPAA-compliant Platform as a Service (PaaS) solution. Admittedly, we haven't studied "how" the PaaS offering complies with HIPAA... 7. Misleading Oracle Cloud Question: A SeekingAlpha blogger wants to know, "Can Oracle really beat AWS?" My knee-jerk reaction is, "No" -- at least not in the IaaS market. Oracle's bare-metal cloud service reminds me of Oracle Linux trying to compete against Red Hat. It was a check-mark technology for Oracle ("sure, we offer that"). The far bigger opportunity remains Oracle SaaS applications. CEO Mark Hurd has repeatedly predicted that the SaaS application suite market will consolidate around two vendors. Surely, he thinks Oracle is one of them... 6. IBM Cloud Update: IBM has launched new Bluemix services designed to simplify and speed app development in the cloud. The effort supports popular DevOps tools like GitHub and Slack. 5. DaaS on Azure: Workspot, a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) specialist, has extended its focus to offer Desktop as a Service 2.0 (DaaS 2.0) on Microsoft Azure. I don't know how it differs from various Microsoft and Citrix DaaS work on Azure... 4. Microsoft Cloud Partner Momentum: More than 20,000 partners are now transacting through Microsoft's Cloud Service Provider (CSP) program – up from 3,500 a year ago. The number of partners with a Gold or Silver cloud competency increased 86% year-over-year. And the number of partners with three or more cloud competencies has increased 53% year-over-year, the software giant said yesterday. My takeaway: I suspect most of those partners focus on Office 365. Early movers who already monetize Azure are likely enjoying some breathing room... We'll share more thoughts later today. 3. ESOP of the Year: Trying to figure out how to sell your business to your employees? Perhaps it's time to explore an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). Sure, ESOPs -- like any ownership transition -- can be tricky. But check out CSG Partners, a consulting firm that helped  E&M Ice Cream Inc. and Calip Holdings Inc. to transfer 49 percent of company ownership to an ESOP. Admittedly, that's not an IT consulting company. But it was named ESOP Deal of the Year... 2. Talent: Two key executive moves surfaced at Datto today. One involves user experience for partners. The other involves Datto's internal IT strategy. We'll share more details later today. 1. Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs: You can find the 2016 list of Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs right here. And what about the forthcoming 2017 list? You can get early details during our December 15 webcast -- including a link to the next survey. And of course, that webcast features TruMethods CEO Gary Pica describing MSP pricing strategies for 2017. More: Read all of our daily 5 Channel Partner Updates. Plus: Subscribe to our daily enewsletter. Thanks to those who already have.