Mark Cox

Sorgen says Microsoft’s channel responding well to challenge of change

Microsoft’s channel chief noted that Signature Cloud Support, an exclusive partner technical benefit that is part of its new cloud competencies, has been well received by partners who have taken advantage of it.

Pure Storage enters converged infrastructure market with all-flash FlashStack solutions

Two solutions were announced, both of which use Cisco and VMware as partners, but more converged all-flash solutions are coming from Pure, and these will use additional vendor partners as well.

IBM, Apple deliver first wave of IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps

Aimed at both the enterprise and mid-market, the new apps will be customized, integrated and deployed by partners, and IBM will support partners here with several new tools.

BitTitan extends MigrationWiz to migrate DropBox to One Drive for Business and Google Drive

BitTitan sees their tool to migrate DropBox accounts to Microsoft One Drive for Business or Google Drive as particularly appealing to customers looking to consolidate all their data.

Avaya repositions collaboration offerings with Avaya Engagement Solutions portfolio

Avaya rebrands and reorganizes its collaboration solutions to focus on engagement, and announces some significant new and enhanced solutions, including a beefed-up version of IP Office.

Canadian retailers ring up low scores in backup protection in new EMC-sponsored study

EMC Canada’s Michael Sharun also stressed that channel partners (and sales people generally) need to do a better job of adding backup and recovery to their storage sales.

HP unveils new 3PAR converged flash array, File Persona

The 7440c Converged Flash Array gives the same performance as an all-flash array, while adding the affordability and flexibility of adding spinning media. It is aimed at the high midmarket through the enterprise.

New ultra thin and light Elitebook 1020 highlights HP notebook announcements

The major news here is the introduction of an entirely new product, the HP EliteBook Folio 1020 family, which HP is touting as the thinnest and lightest business-class notebooks in the industry, and which is targeted mainly at the executive market.

D&H Canada brings Partner Services Marketing library to Canada

D&H’s Canadian partners had been asking for this service, available in the U.S since 2012, to come north. It assembles marketing collateral and customizable templates from both D&H and participating vendors in one library, and is free to use.

D-Link boosts IP surveillance business with suite of tools and resources for partners

With this new package of tools and resources, D-Link is looking to encourage traditional networking partners who have not yet got into surveillance to stop leaving money on the table, as well as encourage traditional physical security specialists to look at D-Link more broadly for their IP needs.

Cisco targets SMB, lower midmarket for collaboration with Cisco Business Edition 6000S

The BE6000S supports four virtual machines, is targeted at 25-150 user organizations, and costs 22 per cent less than the BE6000, which has the same software, at the lowest configuration.

Fourth gen HP MSA Storage adds data tiering, SSD read caching

The enhanced horsepower in the Gen 4 MSA facilitates needed upgrades like Archive Tiering and Performance Tier options, a new SSD Read Cache feature to better utilize flash, and thin provisioning.

Canadian SMBs bullish on economy, mobility

An annual study from Sage finds Canadian SMBs are more bullish about the economy, and about how mobility can help their businesses, even though that comes at a cost of being contacted outside of traditional working hours.

Cisco announces Project Squared free SaaS collaboration app

Project Squared, a SaaS business collaboration app for chat, audio, video, multi-party meetings and content sharing, will initially be a free download, but Cisco expects to monetize it as they add more features, and they see it as a strong channel opportunity.