OpenStack

Cloud

Toronto’s Breqwatr taking appliance to simplify private cloud deployments through the channel

July 2, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on Toronto’s Breqwatr taking appliance to simplify private cloud deployments through the channel
The Toronto startup is going to market through the channel out of the gate, and unusually for a startup, has been picked up by a major distributor. Arrow is handling their North American distribution.

Channel Programs

SolidFire adds specialization tiers to partner program

June 30, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on SolidFire adds specialization tiers to partner program
Four specializations are being announced, one of which is around OpenStack, which SolidFire believes is an industry first. .

Cloud

Virtustream acquired by EMC, to become separate EMC Federation business

May 26, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on Virtustream acquired by EMC, to become separate EMC Federation business
Virtustream will form the basis of EMC’s managed cloud services business, and will be sold both direct and through service provider and integrator partners.

Software

Maxta upgrades hyperconverged software with new UI, enhanced reporting

May 18, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on Maxta upgrades hyperconverged software with new UI, enhanced reporting
Maxta also announced MxCloudConnect, a cloud based call-home capability, as well as support for OpenStack Kilo out of the gate.

Data Centre

Hyperconverged startup Stratoscale gears up for late summer product release

May 15, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on Hyperconverged startup Stratoscale gears up for late summer product release
Stratoscale emerged from stealth late last year with some powerful vendor investors, a unique hyperconverged value proposition and a 100 per cent channel strategy. The plan is for the product to be available this summer.

Software

EMC defines open source strategy, opens ScaleIO to freemium model

May 5, 2015 Mark Cox Comments Off on EMC defines open source strategy, opens ScaleIO to freemium model
EMC’s announcements indicate that EMC’s open source strategy is becoming much more critical, something the company says is good news for their channel partners.

Ranga Rangachari, vice president and general manager for storage at Red Hat.
Storage

Red Hat readies storage for channel

April 13, 2015 Robert Dutt Comments Off on Red Hat readies storage for channel
Red Hat has built out its storage portfolio over the last year, and now the company’s storage chief says it’s time to take the technology to the channel.

Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst
Cloud

Red Hat CEO rallies partners around OpenStack, OpenShift

April 8, 2015 Robert Dutt 1
Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst tells troops there’s a massive shortage of skills to deliver OpenStack cloud solutions and the company’s OpenShift PaaS offering.

Mark Enzweiler, senior vice president of global channel sales and alliances at Red Hat
Channel Programs

Red Hat channel chief: Time to build an open source practice

April 8, 2015 Robert Dutt Comments Off on Red Hat channel chief: Time to build an open source practice
“Don’t miss this wave,” Mark Enzweiler tells partners as Red Hat prepares to invest in helping partners sell open source as innovation, not commoditization.

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger
Cloud

Something for every partner in pre-PEX launches, VMware says

February 2, 2015 Robert Dutt Comments Off on Something for every partner in pre-PEX launches, VMware says
On the eve of its partner conference, VMware introduces major new releases of vSphere and vSAN, outlines its vision for virtual networking across clouds.