mobile

Channel Programs

Square announces first formal program for channel partners

September 20, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Square announces first formal program for channel partners
Square has built a big business around providing support to microsellers who were too small to interest credit card companies, or who found their services too expensive. While this market is still their core, they have moved upmarket as well, with larger sellers, assisted by strategic partnerships with companies like SAP. The new channel program is designed to support partners in this upmarket transition.

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Artificial Intelligence

Zoho bringing Zia AI tool into Zoho One suite highlights major upgrades

July 31, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Zoho bringing Zia AI tool into Zoho One suite highlights major upgrades
Other enhancements include a new unified dashboard and unified search feature for all 40 applications in Zoho One, as well as the 40th app – Backstage – an event management solution that is also sold separately.

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Mobility

Aruba announces first SD-WAN branch solution

June 19, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Aruba announces first SD-WAN branch solution
Aruba extends their software-defined architecture to the branch, with the new Cloud Managed 7000 Series Branch Gateways, as well as new Aruba Central abilities to manage them.

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Internet of Things

Aruba enhances new Mobile First Architecture, and announces non-traditional partners around it

March 27, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on Aruba enhances new Mobile First Architecture, and announces non-traditional partners around it
While the new partners in the ArubaEdge Technology Partner Program are decidedly non-traditional, Aruba also says they will open up new opportunities to traditional partners, in the same way the entry of voice-based telco partners in the early days of convergence created massive opportunities for the IT channel.

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Mobility

New Pulse Secure release of virtual Application Delivery Controller adds analytics, improves application visibility

March 21, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on New Pulse Secure release of virtual Application Delivery Controller adds analytics, improves application visibility
The new analytics capability is the first stage of a Pulse Secure project which by next year, is intended to provide systematic linkages to orchestration and automation.

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Mobility

New Catalyst hyper-customization platform in Zoho CRM release likely to interest partners

February 28, 2018 Mark Cox Comments Off on New Catalyst hyper-customization platform in Zoho CRM release likely to interest partners
Zoho CRM also enhances its Zia conversational AI for sales teams, with a voice capability, as well as other improvements its predictive AI and lead enrichment.

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Channel Programs

ServiceChannel seeks partners to add asset management, IOT to services automation platform

August 30, 2017 Mark Cox Comments Off on ServiceChannel seeks partners to add asset management, IOT to services automation platform
ServiceChannel has sold their SaaS service automation platform for facilities managers and contractors direct for years, but technology-related demands have led them to create a partner program to provide the skillsets to integrate with their platform.

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Cloud

CafeX upgrades omnichannel customer service solution for Dynamics 365

July 12, 2017 Mark Cox Comments Off on CafeX upgrades omnichannel customer service solution for Dynamics 365
CafeX Live Assist for Microsoft Dynamics 365’s new Cosmos release facilitates chatbot-to-agent escalation, and provides an SDK for mobile customer service.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook and Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins on stage at Cisco Live 2017 in Las Vegas
Mobility

Cisco, Apple press security message, eye expanded partnership

June 27, 2017 Robert Dutt Comments Off on Cisco, Apple press security message, eye expanded partnership
Cisco and Apple say their joint network/mobile security story is so solid, mutual customers should get insurance discounts.

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Enrique Lores, president of imaging and printing for HP Inc.
Printing and Imaging

HP print boss: “We’re driving a print renaissance”

June 19, 2017 Robert Dutt Comments Off on HP print boss: “We’re driving a print renaissance”
With its printing business growing again, HP is focusing on outcomes in three key markets to keep the growth going.

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Marketing

SonicWall broadens training capabilities with launch of SonicWall University

March 29, 2017 Mark Cox Comments Off on SonicWall broadens training capabilities with launch of SonicWall University
SonicWall University content is designed to be ongoing, beyond the granting of a certification, and to reach a broader range of roles than SonicWall has in the past.

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Storage

Zerto Virtual Replication 5.0 extends continuous data protection journal

November 15, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on Zerto Virtual Replication 5.0 extends continuous data protection journal
Other new features include Azure support, one-to-many replication capability and a mobile app to enable remote access to Zerto environments.

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Managed Services

Tigerpaw CEO Foxall gazes into crystal ball

October 31, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on Tigerpaw CEO Foxall gazes into crystal ball
While Tigerpaw announced its new software release at its user conference, it also previewed what is coming beyond that, solicited feedback about future changes, and emphasized that their partners need to change to stay competitive in a changing industry.

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Managed Services

Mist upgrades next-gen wireless network platform as it looks for new MSP partners

October 12, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on Mist upgrades next-gen wireless network platform as it looks for new MSP partners
Mist is using some of its latest round of funding to build out its MSP channel, with a special focus on partners capable to adding their own value on top of Mist’s platform.

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Data Centre

Nutanix unveils proof-of-concept drone at .NEXT event

June 27, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on Nutanix unveils proof-of-concept drone at .NEXT event
Nutanix sees the drone as an extension of its core webscale philosophy of using software on commodity hardware to make it much more extensible. Down the line, they see this as having application to use cases which will interest channel partners.

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Mobility

PowWow looks to revolutionize mobile applications with new platform, CEO, channel focus

May 27, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on PowWow looks to revolutionize mobile applications with new platform, CEO, channel focus
PowWow’s platform for turning legacy apps into native Mobile ones with relative ease has just been upgraded, and the company is looking to increase its channel business through a select partner channel.

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Cloud

SAP promises new emphasis on understanding customer problems

May 18, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on SAP promises new emphasis on understanding customer problems
CEO Bill McDermott didn’t exactly promise a kinder, gentler SAP, but he did pledge a company that will be more empathetic to customers, have a more complete vision, and be more focused on simplicity. He also offered a forecast of some trends he thinks SAP will be well positioned to leverage.

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Cloud

EMC LEAP looks to revolutionize ECM, take Documentum downmarket

May 4, 2016 Mark Cox Comments Off on EMC LEAP looks to revolutionize ECM, take Documentum downmarket
Project Horizon officially comes to market as EMC LEAP, next-gen cloud-native content apps sold on a SaaS model. While available free through a Loyalty Program to existing Documentum customers, the intent here is to greatly expand the customer base downmarket, with the aid of an expanded channel.

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