Good morning, channel partners. Here are five technology news updates, insights, chatter, and plenty more to start your day for Tuesday, March 7, 2017.
Actually, there are 13 eye-grabbing updates 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…
13. Partner Summit: The Xtreme Business Building Conference (XXBC), Intacct's annual partner conference, has kicked off this week in Irving,Texas. Memo to Intacct: Let us know when you have dates and locations for your 2018 conference. We'll be sure to list it on our ChannelE2E Technology Event Calendar -- the biggest of its kind for channel partners.
12. Tyco IoT Partner Program: Tyco Security Products, part of Johnson Controls, has launched a web portal for its Connected Partner Program to simplify the third-party integrations. Using a self-certification process, partners can manage the integration timeline through the various stages at their own pace, including application, pre-development, development, testing and launch, the company asserts.
11. Google & Hybrid Cloud Storage: SwiftStack has joined the Google Cloud Technology Partner Program. The result: Enterprises can leverage SwiftStack to manage data placement across on-premises infrastructure and Google Cloud Platform storage services.
10. Microsoft Azure for Government: Microsoft has launched new cloud-based business intelligence and analytics capabilities for government customers. They include Power BI Pro on Azure Government (cloud-based analytics) and HDInsight on Azure Government (Hadoop, Spark, HBase and Storm clusters).
9. VMWare's Telco, Comm Service Provider Push: VMware has unveiled vCloud NFV 2.0, a software-defined infrastructure and management technology for global communications service providers (CSPs). Parent company Dell EMC, by the way, recently enhanced its own CSP partner program. Upcoming Partner Conference: Dell EMC World 2017 is set for May.
8. President Trump's H1-B Visa Policy: The United States Immigration and Customs Services has announced that, starting in April, it will no longer offer its 15-day “premium processing” program for applicants of H-1B visas, Recode reported. The announcement means that new H-1B visa applications could take months to process, the report said. With premium processing, U.S. immigration services offered a 15-day expedited service for a $1,225 filing fee, but come April that will no longer be an option, the report said. The new policy could pressure international outsourcing firms like Infosys and Wipro, Reuters noted.
7. Cisco Partner: TekLinks has once again achieved Cisco Gold partner status in multiple area, including the Master Collaboration Specialization, and Cloud and Managed Services Master Specialization. TekLinks is the rare IT service provider that was a first mover across VAR, MSP and CSP practice areas.
6. Mulesoft IPO: Worth watching...
5. Valuation Metrics for MSPs, CSPs: ChannelE2E spends considerable time connecting the dots between EBITDA and valuation multiples. But perhaps we should spend some more time focused on metrics like consistent organic growth, monthly recurring revenue (MRR) growth, and customer retention rates. By focusing on those areas, Front raised $10 million in Series A Funding, according to CEO Mathilde Collin...
4. MSP Rebrands: bpsNode has rebranded around a new company name: Opulent Cloud. The company provides customized solutions and a "white glove" level of service for customers looking to move some or all their IT infrastructure to the cloud, Opulent claims.
3. M&A - Security: Okta has acquired Stormpath, essentially tucking one authentication and user management service into another. Stormpath's own APIs will shut down on August 17, 2017. In the meantime, Stormpath is educating developers about Okta's APIs.
2. M&A Predictions: Former VMware CTO and current Datto board member Steve Herrod predicts a new set of security technologies will likely drive a new wave of M&A activity. We'll share more thoughts soon.
1. Meet at CompTIA AMM?: ChannelE2E is set to attend CompTIA Annual Member Meeting 2017 later this month. If you'd like to potentially meet us then send me an email ([email protected]).
