Channel Research

Cloud M&A: Dimension Data Acquires OpSource

• July 1, 2011

Dimension Data, the $4.7 billion IT solutions provider arm of NTT Holdings, announced the acquisition of OpSource, the enterprise cloud company that took the No. 1 spot on the inaugural Talkin’ Cloud 50 list of top service providers. Dimension Data plans to integrate OpSource into its Cloud Solutions Business Unit, reporting directly to CEO Brett Dawson. […]

Cloud Data Centers: Goodbye SAS 70, Hello SSAE 16

• June 20, 2011

When customers and channel partners seek cloud data centers, they often ask about SAS 70 auditing standard. But starting June 15, 2011, the focus started to shift to SSAE 16 — a new standard that seeks to give data center customers and partners more peace of mind. True believers include Online Tech, a data center […]

What Will Differentiate Rackspace In the Channel?

• June 17, 2011

Rackspace Hosting continues to achieve new business milestones. The cloud provider earlier this year unified its partner program under one umbrella, making it easier for VARs and MSPs to resell Rackspace’s cloud, hosted and managed offerings. Moreover, Rackspace is marching forward with OpenStack — an open source platform that could accelerate standardized cloud deployments worldwide. […]

Unveiled: The Top 50 MSPs in Cloud Computing

• June 14, 2011

The Cloud: Stop Selling Ingredients, Start Selling Chocolate Cake

• June 11, 2011

Managed services providers are guilty of selling cloud “ingredients” and need to start selling cloud as part of a larger “chocolate cake” to SMB customers. That’s the key message from TruMethods CEO Gary Pica and CTO Bob Penland, addressing roughly 150 MSPs during the Schnizzfest conference this morning in Philadelphia, Pa. What exactly do Pica […]

HyperOffice: BPOS? Google Apps? Pick Us for Cloud Productivity

• June 1, 2011

HyperOffice has a simple message for the cloud services channel: When it comes to choosing between Google Apps and Microsoft BPOS, the only way to win is to not play. Instead, the company in a blog post is urging customers to take a look at the HyperOffice cloud productivity suite, which it’s hyping as more […]

Appirio CloudWorks Cloud Integration Platform Gets Update

• May 27, 2011

It must be SaaS upgrade season – the Appirio CloudWorks platform, which enables enterprises and MSPs alike to move data from on-premise into the public cloud by way of providers including Google Apps and Salesforce.com, has gotten an update. New in the CloudWorks May 2011 release: various usability tweaks, beta implementations for Box.net and Jive, […]

AweSync Promotes Two-Way Lotus Notes/Google Apps Cloud Migration

• May 27, 2011

AweSync is a cloud-tool developer that wants to offer enterprises a choice when moving from Lotus Notes to Google Apps. Under normal circumstances, companies can choose to switch back to Lotus Notes after testing Google Apps, but it can be a painful process if it has already migrated to Google’s platform (not to mention the […]

Six Emerging Technology Trends for Managed Services Providers

• May 6, 2011

At the 2011 Brocade Technology Summit this week, WIRED Magazine Co-Founder and “Senior Maverick” Kevin Kelly outlined six trends in the technology industry that are expected to gain steam in the coming years. Here’s a breakdown of those trends and the potential implications for managed services providers. The trends include: 1. Screening: People will continue […]

Google, NetSuite Set to Rally Cloud Partners and Developers

• May 5, 2011

Still skeptical about cloud computing channel partner programs? Open your eyes and keep them focused on San Francisco the week of May 8. Indeed, thousands of software developers and hundreds of channel partners are set to attend Google I/O (May 10-11) and NetSuite SuiteWorld (May 8-12), respectively. So what’s in it for channel partners that are […]

Brocade Unveils Cloudplex for Virtualized Cloud Networks

• May 4, 2011

Brocade Communication Systems Inc. has introduced a the Brocade Cloudplex Architecture for Virtualization and Cloud-Optimized Networks. Cloudplex is comprised of three new data center fabric solutions: Brocade DCX 85 10 Backbone, Brocade 6510 Switch and Brocade 1860 Fabric Adapter. The announcement was made this week at the Brocade Technology Day Summit in San Jose, California. According to Brocade Chief […]

VMware Cloud Foundry Experiences Its Own Cloud Outage

• May 3, 2011

Welcome to the cloud outage club, VMware. The company’s fledgling Cloud Foundry PaaS offering, which had only begun to position itself as an alternative to Microsoft Windows Azure dominance, is back online after a short outage. The outage itself lasted from April 24-25, but VMware has only begun to explain what happened. Why are some […]

Sony PlayStation Network: Gaming Cloud Remains Dark

• April 22, 2011

For cloud computing this week represents the worst of times — and the best of times. On the downside, the Sony PlayStation Network cloud has been down since April 20 and the outages could stretch into this weekend. Amazon Web Services (AWS) also suffered a cloud outage this week. But don’t weep for the cloud: […]

Top 11 Questions MSPs Ask About Cloud Partner Programs

• April 19, 2011

Sure, the cloud computing industry is getting pretty darn sophisticated. But if you sit down and really listen to MSPs, you’ll hear them asking some very basic — but very important — questions about cloud computing channel partner programs. For example, here are the 11 top cloud computing questions I heard VARs and MSPs raise […]

Zoho: Biggest Developer In Google Apps Marketplace?

• April 13, 2011

The Google Apps Marketplace has generated a lot of business for cloud integrators and SaaS developers who can connect their applications to the search giant’s productivity platform. And Zoho, which has built its business around providing SaaS enterprise tools like CRM and bug tracking, was one of the first companies to participate. And with the […]