New Services Roundup: Verizon, Microsoft, Cisco, More

Verizon made available its software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) to government customers. Verizon’s SD-WAN for Government is designed to be highly compliant with the Federal Information Security Management Act, which codifies the Department of Homeland Security’s role in administering the implementation of information security policies for federal executive-branch civilian agencies.

Click here to learn more about Verizon's government SD-WAN offering.

Microsoft 365 Business became generally available, worldwide. Microsoft 365 Business is designed as a single solution, purpose-built for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs). The new offering is powered by Office 365 and Windows 10, and includes device management and security features for data protection.

Read more about Microsoft 365 Business.

Cisco unveiled its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered enterprise-ready voice assistant for meetings and its new Spark Room 70, which replaces its MX800 video system. Cisco Spark Assistant is the latest innovation on the Cisco Spark Platform. It will be released in phases, starting early next year with the first phase being a small group of customers that will use select features.

Learn about Cisco's new voice assistant.

Riverbed Technology enhanced SteelCentral, which gives visibility into networks, and said it’s teaming up with Zscaler to offer a joint solution. The new SteelCentral release extends Digital Experience Management (DEM) capabilities from the end user back to the network; expands DevOps performance management; and advances network performance management (NPM) in big-data enterprises.

Get details on Riverbed's updates.

Sophos announced deep-learning-driven detection in its Intercept X Early Access next-generation malware blocker to enable it to better stop both known and unknown ransomware variants. The technology, based on Sophos’ acquisition of Invincea earlier this year, can be controlled through the Sophos Central cloud-based management platform. All Sophos partners can use the Intercept X early access program, including advanced application lockdown and exploit prevention.

Read about the announcements from Sophos.

Dell EMC announced two new SC all-flash storage arrays that partners can sell. The company says the new products offer federated data mobility, scale and protection, making for “easy, non-disruptive” workload migration and load balancing, and include auto failover for built-in business continuity. Customers also get intelligent data deduplication and software that is included, so there are no extra licenses to buy or maintain.

Get details on the new storage offerings.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Rackspace have partnered to offer OpenStack Private Cloud with a pay-per-use infrastructure and delivered as a managed service. With this service, enterprises will get the benefits of a public cloud – cloud-like utility pricing, elastic infrastructure and simplified IT – in a private cloud environment in their data center, a colocation facility or a data center managed by Rackspace, the companies said.

Learn about the partnership between the two companies.

Lenovo announced AI Innovation Centers, two customer partnerships and two new products, in a push to get more businesses to adopt artificial intelligence. Building on the vendor’s broader $1.2 billion investment in AI R&D, the Data Center Group is operating three new AI innovation centers in Morrisville, North Carolina; Stuttgart, Germany; and Beijing, China.

Reader further about Lenovo's initiative.

Cybersecurity company SonicWall launched a new lineup of professional security services designed and delivered in partnership with its network of channel partners. The new services span three critical competencies: implementation services, solution services, and architecture services for complex or large-scale offerings and customer environments.

Learn about SonicWall's new security services.

Distributor Ingram Micro introduced the Training-Development-as-a-Service program that it piloted with IBM and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE). The program now is available for other established and emerging vendors. It aims to make it easier for IT vendors to customize and scale their partner training programs.

Read details of the professional services lineup.

BCN Telecom expanded its broadband services portfolio, adding Cable One, Mediacom and Suddenlink, a subsidiary of Altice USA. SD-WAN, POTS aggregation and monitoring services are a few components of the broadband portfolio, which is now fully available through through BCN's nationwide network of sales partners..

Learn more about the changes from BCN Telecom.

VeloCloud Networks launched a software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) policy implementation approach. The user sets goals for how the network will prioritize and transport specific applications, and the network automatically adapts to the desired changes using analytics and other learning features. It's VeloCloud's first major product announcement since VMware said it would acquire the company.

Read about VeloCloud and its SD-WAN offerings.