Software-defined networking (SDN) is usually discussed as a solution for cloud computing giants and enterprises with large datacenters, but one Plano, Texas-based company believes there's an SMB-scale opportunity in the technology for managed service providers.
Netsocket Inc. this week rolled out a packaged offering for MSPs called Netsocket Virtual Edge, which is targeted at SMBs and enterprise remote offices.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on February 14, 20140 comments
CDW, one of Microsoft's biggest partners generally and especially for Office 365 resales, announced plans this week to start reselling Google Apps for Business.
The deal drew immediate speculation that CDW closed the Google deal in response to Microsoft's Jan. 25 cuts in partner reimbursements. Those cuts affecting partner payouts for deploying Office 365 seats sold under Enterprise Agreements reduced the amount partners received by as much as 56 percent for some SKUs.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on February 13, 20140 comments
Kevin Turner, Microsoft's incendiary and controversial chief operating officer, appears to have an ally in Microsoft's new CEO.
Satya Nadella, newly appointed Microsoft's third CEO, twice singled out Turner as a valuable asset to Microsoft during a webcast Tuesday afternoon designed to introduce Nadella to customers and partners.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on February 04, 20140 comments
By now you've heard the news: Microsoft settled on internal candidate Satya Nadella as its next CEO effective today. Bill Gates is stepping down as chairman but will stay on the board and spend a third of his time advising Nadella. John Thompson becomes chairman, and Steve Ballmer joins the board.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on February 04, 20140 comments
With 64 days remaining until Microsoft officially ends Windows XP support, the aging OS is holding stubbornly onto its market share.
Net Applications.com published its month-end numbers on Feb. 1, showing Windows XP at 29.23 percent share. At a time when users and organizations globally should be jettisoning the operating system, the usage share is actually a very slight increase in Windows XP's 28.98 percent share for the close of 2013.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on February 03, 20140 comments
One of the best not-for-resale software deals in the channel is getting a hefty price hike, although it's still a relative bargain.
Microsoft this week unveiled the long-awaited changes to the Microsoft Action Pack, one of the most popular components of the Microsoft Partner Network.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on January 31, 20140 comments
Kaseya, the managed services provider (MSP) and IT management software and services company, which has been under new management for the last seven months, on Friday issued a cleanup release of its core management platform that the company's CEO said is all about restoring trust.
Yogesh Gupta, an executive with senior management experience at CA and FatWire Software, came aboard as Kaseya's president and CEO in June, when New York-based Insight Venture Partners made a significant investment in the Swiss company. Kaseya Virtual System Administrator (VSA) 6.5, released Friday after a three-week beta testing phase, is the result of new development processes at Kaseya, Gupta said in an interview.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on January 31, 20140 comments
Partners will have the opportunity to bill their own customers for Microsoft's Windows Intune service and the soon-to-be-released Power BI service starting in April.
"Windows Intune will be available for resale through Open Volume Licensing beginning April 1, 2014. Intune joins Office 365, and the upcoming Power BI for Office 365 offer, as the latest in our suite of cloud services available for resale," wrote Lori Dennis, senior director, Server & Cloud Breadth Channel Marketing, in a blog post this week.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on January 30, 20140 comments
The U.S. chapter of the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) passed the baton to two new top officers this week.
"Congratulations to the new U.S. president, Jon Sastre, and vice president, Ro Kolakowski. The new leadership team [for] IAMCP US was installed today," wrote outgoing IAMCP U.S. President Rudy Rodriguez in a LinkedIn post Wednesday.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on January 30, 20140 comments
Citrix Systems Inc. is looking for a new CEO.
Mark Templeton, who has been the public face of Citrix for more than a decade, is returning from a leave of absence, but intends to retire within the next year, subject to naming a successor, the company announced Wednesday.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on January 30, 20140 comments
Less than a week after reaching a deal to buy IBM's x86 server business, Lenovo turned around and cut a deal with Google for the Motorola Mobility smartphone business.
In a deal announced Wednesday, Lenovo will pay approximately $2.91 billion for the smartphone business.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on January 29, 20140 comments
Microsoft partners managing the Office 365 service on behalf of customers now have a tool that will help them keep on top of Microsoft service outages, potentially before angry calls from customers start flooding in.
Microsoft unveiled the Office 365 Partner admin center this week and plans to roll it out worldwide over the next few weeks.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on January 29, 20140 comments