Artificial Intelligence
Adobe enhances its Sensei AI with new services
Smart Layouts, which was shown at Summit last year as a Summit Sneak, was also announced to be in General Availabiilty.
Cloud
Cloud
Pickit image service moves into channel with Ingram Micro bundle around Office 365 sales
Office 365 itself is a notoriously low margin offering, and adding Pickit to it, in what should be a low-touch transaction, can double those margins.
Backup
Datrium shifts licensing default to software model with Datrium Forward
Datrium moves from their original licensing model to a new framework designed to provide customers with maximum portability and flexibility.
Backup
Druva targets VMware customers moving to AWS cloud with DRaaS update
Enhancements include new failback recovery capabilities, and recovery for cloud workloads with cross-region/account support.
Cloud
SAP Chief Partner Officer Fahrbach says his new role reflects partner focus away from selling and towards delivering customer satisfaction
Fahrbach also said that in comparison with the sales position held by his predecessor, Rodolpho Cardenuto, as SAP’s top channel official, he represents the entire global partner organization, and brings it to a higher level of importance within the company.
Printing and Imaging
Konica Minolta reboots Workplace Hub as workplace of future focus, with new dealer resources
Konica Minolta’s Workplace Hub has been on the market for over a year, but the company thinks that what it sees as a ‘next-gen’ product is now ready for prime time with their dealer channel, and so they featured it heavily at their Dealer Conference.
Cloud
SAP names Karl Fahrbach first chief partner officer in reworking of channel chief role
Fahrbach’s new position is a hybrid of the work he had already been doing and the large scope of the role formerly filled by Rodolpho Cardenuto, who recently left SAP.
Cloud
Intermedia adds free Envision analytics for partners to Unite platform
Envision provides a Partner Dashboard showing all customers, and a QoS Dashboard that drills down into a single customer, with more analytics dashboards on the roadmap.
Distribution
Tech Data launches Cloud Solutions Factory [Podcast]
Tech Data’s Sergio Farache discusses the distributor’s new framework for offering integrated cloud solutions to common business issues in this edition of the Podcast.
Mobility
Pulse Secure extends Zero Trust capabilities adding SDP integration to VPN
Pulse Secure believes that the less familiar Software Defined Perimeter architecture market has reached a critical point in market acceptance.
Backup
Pure Storage fleshes out hybrid cloud strategy with NVMe-oF support and ObjectEngine launch
Support for RDMA over Converged Ethernet is available now in Purity 5.2 software, while the ObjectEngine flash-to-flash-to-cloud data protection acquired from StorReduce will hit GA in the first half of the year.
Cloud
Dell EMC upgrades Isilon, Unity elements of storage portfolio
Dell EMC unveils a new Isilon scale-out system, the F810, which has built in data compression capabilities. They have also enhanced their Unity platform with the OE 4.5 software release.
Distribution
New Year’s Podcast Series: Ed Galasso of Tech Data Canada
Tech Data Canada boss Ed Galasso joins the ChannelBuzz.ca Podcast to discuss the distributor’s highlights of the year 2018 and offer his thoughts for what’s to come in 2019.
Backup
Veeam adds new Cloud Tier, enhances Cloud Mobility and DataLabs in new Availability Suite release
In addition to the flood of news around Availability Suite 9.5 Update 4, Veeam also announced Veeam Availability for AWS, Veeam Availability Console V3, and a new licensing option with one license for any workload.
Networking
Security in Canada going through interesting times: Palo Alto Networks Canada country manager Rob Lunney
Palo Alto Networks’ Canadian country manager talks about the challenges his company faces, how it has adapted its strategies to meet them, and what the channel needs to do to keep pace.
Cloud
Pulse Secure introduces full-featured vADC Community Edition to turn developers into fans
Pulse Secure has had free ‘try before you buy’ products before, but this new Community Edition has all the features of the full version, and with no time limit on use. The only limitations are that its scalability is limited to smaller applications, and it lacks the full management and Pulse Secure support.
Big Data
Veeam discusses new $500 million VC investment and indicates it buries thoughts of IPO
Veeam’s Director of Product Strategy talks with ChannelBuzz about what the deal will mean for Veeam, and for its channel partners.
Cloud
Innovative cloud service startup Sonrai Security sees strong channel play as they emerge from stealth
Sonrai also has a strong Canadian connection, with one of the two founders and the company’s engineering based in Fredericton N.B., as was the case with their previous company, Q1 Labs.
Networking
Cradlepoint announces first Gigabit LTE router solutions for pathway to 5G
The new edge router solutions based on Cradlepoint’s NetCloud service that are the first to use their Elastic Wideband technology to provide Gigabit-Class wireless connectivity for enterprise and public safety organizations.
Channel Programs
Citrix looks to move beyond virtualization in articulating sales strategy at Summit
Citrix is emphasizing to partners this year that their Citrix Workspace for unified mobile data access should be positioned beyond the traditional virtualization market, in order to reach the more than two-thirds of organizations who don’t use virtualization at all.