seven blogs

7. HP Cuts Confirmed: Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is planning to cut as many as 30,000 jobs, CEO Meg Whitman will announce during an earnings call next week, The New York Times has now confirmed.

6. Beyond Hosted Exchange: Former Intermedia Chief Marketing Officer Manlio Carrelli is now CEO of KeKu, a VoIP startup that sounds a little like Skype and Rebtel — though KeKu promotes “simple, cheap international calls — from any phone.”

5. Going Vertical?: Need help navigating vertical market opportunities? Want to better understand your vertical market customers? Check out vertical market our sister sites within the Penton Media family. Examples include: American City and County (government with plenty of IT mixed in); Nation’s Restaurant News (hospitality); Supermarket News (retail). I’ll share more thoughts soon.

4. Cloud Storage Layoffs?: Rumors swirling. Checking.

3. Growth Mode: GFI Software, promoter of the GFI Max software platforms for MSPs, will surpass about 6,000 customers in the next few weeks, up from 5,000 at the end of 2011, according to General Manager Alistair Forbes.

2. Top 100 Cloud Services Providers (CSPs): Did you miss the list? The Top 100 Cloud Services Providers like (aka Talkin’ Cloud 100 is here). Yes, some MSP businesses pushing into cloud computing made the list. But if you want a look at how Google Apps, Office 365 and other channel partners are building their cloud practices, take a closer look at the Top 100 CSP list.

1. Next Stop: I’ll be attending the Sophos Partner Connections conference and EMC World the week of May 21 in Las Vegas. Care to meet? Give me a shout, joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc [dot] com.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading MSPmentor and joining in the conversation.