7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at HPE, VMware, Rackspace, Microsoft, More
The ConnectWise Cyber Research Unit (CRU) recently analyzed more than 440,000 cybersecurity incidents that impacted MSPs and their clients.
April 7, 2023
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Citing the ongoing macroeconomic downturn, Rackspace has confirmed that it’s shedding 275 employees.
These reductions represent less than 4% of its global workforce.
Rackspace CEO Amar Maletira made waves when he told employees the company had reached a point where it needed to make a decision. Despite cutting costs – including implementing a hiring freeze, delaying bonuses and holding discretionary spending – the MSP continued to struggle.
“As I have said before, we are facing an uncertain macro environment,” Maletira wrote. “From inflationary pressures, high interest rates to the ongoing war in Ukraine and persisting supply chain issues — all signs are pointing to a recession.”
Find out what more about spurred the new Rackspace layoffs.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is advancing the storage management capabilities of HPE GreenLake with a new scalable file storage offering. Besides introducing file storage to its Alletra Storage portfolio, HPE has enhanced its block storage and added data protection services.
“This allows us to give you a simplified single-pane-of-glass data management experience,” said Omer Asad, general manager of HPE’s cloud data services and storage. “Because it brings an integrated cloud operational model to all those services, administrators can manage them from anywhere.”
Discover more about why this is a partner-first platform.
Cybereason garnered $100 million in funding, led by SoftBank Corp., to support the company’s global growth. In addition, it has a new CEO from SoftBank Corp.
Lior Div, Cybereason’s current CEO and co-founder, said partners will benefit as the new funding will support the company’s continued global growth and further advance its innovation in its extended detection and response (XDR), endpoint detection and response (EDR), and endpoint protection platform (EPP) solutions. The funding also further solidifies Cybereason’s presence in North America.
“Cybereason has a dedicated channel partner program,” Div said. “And many of the most trusted brands have helped us grow our business over the years. Working with our dedicated group of partners, we will continue to ensure that our customers are safe from data breaches and proprietary information loss.”
How will this funding take Cybereason to the next level? Find out more here.
Enterprise Connect brings out the big players in communication and collaboration to showcase the hottest new technologies. For example, Microsoft unveiled AI tools offered by Copilot that won’t just summarize information from a meeting, but can “sense” the sentiments as well.
“What would have taken me hours in the past, it would happen within just seconds with [Microsoft 365] Copilot,” said Nicole Herskowitz of the next-generation AI tool.
Find out who else made waves at the conference by viewing our slideshow here.
The latest ConnectWise MSP Threat Report highlights the increasing importance of cybersecurity for MSPs and their customers.
Now in its fourth year, the ConnectWise report provides an analysis of the major MSP-related security events and trends from the past 12 months. It also provides predictions for the year ahead.
ConnectWise Cyber Research Unit (CRU) analyzed over 440,000 incidents that impacted MSPs and their clients.
One of the significant findings in the ConnectWise MSP report is the emergence of a new phishing technique used by bad actors targeting MSPs.
Patrick Beggs, ConnectWise’s CISO, made waves when he said vulnerabilities commonly exploited by Russian state-sponsored advanced persistent threats (APTs) have remained somewhat stagnant and steady, indicating they are having continued success.
“They manage and maintain critical infrastructure and systems, making them a prime target for supply chain and critical infrastructure attacks,” Beggs said.
Learn more here about what else is in the report.
Many technology advisor partners see plentiful growth ahead.
The technology advisor (agent) model for B2B technology purchasing continues to gain traction among end users. More and more end users are demanding as-a-service, opex technologies that advisors sell. More customers are also seeing the value and flexibility of the deep technology portfolio agents (and their tech services distributor partners) offer.
And vendors are replicating that adoption.
“When we started 14-and-a-half years ago, there were maybe 30 or 40 companies selling through the channel,” C3 Technology Advisors founder and president Matthew Toth told Channel Futures. “Today, there are at least 500 through the various TSDs we work with today.”
Learn what the experts say here about consolidation among agents, generational shifts and changing customer needs.
As global regulators scrutinize the pending Broadcom-VMware deal, both companies’ customers stand to grow more wary of the combination.
That’s the word from analyst firm GlobalData a week after the UK’s regulatory arm, the Competition and Markets Authority, decided to probe deeper into the $61 billion Broadcom-VMware pairing. The inquiry could push out approval of the acquisition – the second-largest of 2022 – another six months. Last December, the European Union’s competition branch launched its own extensive investigation into the transaction. That move alone was expected to extend any Broadcom-VMware authorizations until least this summer.
Now those delays look to foster long-term doubt among end users. That’s the word from GlobalData’s Rajesh Muru, principal analyst, who gauges the chances of Broadcom-VMware succeeding at 50/50.
“The CMA move could create a real hurdle for Broadcom,” Muru said.
Learn more from Muru about how the continued uncertainty around the deal could potentially damage VMware’s brand equity.
As global regulators scrutinize the pending Broadcom-VMware deal, both companies’ customers stand to grow more wary of the combination.
That’s the word from analyst firm GlobalData a week after the UK’s regulatory arm, the Competition and Markets Authority, decided to probe deeper into the $61 billion Broadcom-VMware pairing. The inquiry could push out approval of the acquisition – the second-largest of 2022 – another six months. Last December, the European Union’s competition branch launched its own extensive investigation into the transaction. That move alone was expected to extend any Broadcom-VMware authorizations until least this summer.
Now those delays look to foster long-term doubt among end users. That’s the word from GlobalData’s Rajesh Muru, principal analyst, who gauges the chances of Broadcom-VMware succeeding at 50/50.
“The CMA move could create a real hurdle for Broadcom,” Muru said.
Learn more from Muru about how the continued uncertainty around the deal could potentially damage VMware’s brand equity.
To wrap the week, we profile seven individuals at HPE, VMware, Rackspace, Microsoft and more. We featured them in our most-read stories on Channel Futures over the last seven days.
So what made them standout? First, Microsoft presented at Enterprise Connect the AI tools offered by Copilot. They can summarize information from a meeting but can also determine participant sentiment as well. We attended Enterprise Connect and offered up a slideshow of images from the event’s expo hall. (Enterprise Connect shares parent company Informa with Channel Futures.)
Next up is Patrick Beggs, ConnectWise’s CISO. He made waves when he said vulnerabilities commonly exploited by Russian state-sponsored advanced persistent threats (APTs) have remained somewhat stagnant and steady. His assessment was part of a new cybersecurity report from ConnectWise.
Finally, the scrutiny regarding the pending Broadcom-VMware deal may be having an impact on “brand equity,” according to one analyst at GlobalData. The UK’s regulatory arm, the Competition and Markets Authority, decided to probe deeper into the $61 billion Broadcom-VMware pairing, according to our reporter, Kelly Teal.
That’s a wrap. Scroll through our slideshow above for our top stories including HPE, VMware and more. If you didn’t catch the last edition, you can find it here.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Claudia Adrien or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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