Good new this week? Tax Day postponed. Bad new this weekend? Snow comes back, dumping 1-3 inches from Chicago east to Boston and all points in between. Paint a few flowers on your snow shovel blade to get that warm spring feeling. But before you look for your snow boots, catch up on all the fun newsbits we missed.
Big news from big names. Cisco announced a new payment program that allows customers and partners to invest for recovery by deferring 95% of equipment cost until January 2021. Called the Business Resiliency Program, and offered through Cisco Capital, the bucket of bucks includes $2.5 billion in financing to help partners and customers manage cash flow.
Feeling guilty that you haven’t learned Mah Jong or how to speak Norwegian the last few locked-in weeks? Try this instead: Intel and Udacity launched the new Intel Edge AI for IoT Developers Nanodegree Program to train the developer community. Grok some deep learning, computer vision, and accelerate the development and deployment of AI models at the edge.
Microsoft rolled out some goodies as well. Updates to its global partner program include increased access to training, support, and go-to-market services and a chance to differentiate your skills in the Azure Expert MSP Program. A streamlined Partner Center helps, as do revved up co-selling programs.
Here’s a mashup you rarely see: affordable and iPhone. Welcome to the new iPhone SE (pictured) with a 4.7-inch Retina HD display, Touch ID for security, and a price tag starting at $399. Includes the Apple-designed A13 Bionic chip to power the single camera system quickly and smoothly. Pre-order starting April 17, 2020.
Want to make your iPad Pro more productive? Get the new Apple Magic Keyboard. Includes a trackpad (support introduced in iPadOS 13.4) so you can avoid that gorilla-arm feeling typing and touching and typing and touching. Available to order now.
Working remotely means everyone needs a good laptop and HP just announced a bunch, including the newest Z by HP mobile workstation and HP ENVY portfolio for creators who push those virtual envelopes. Hello to the HP ZBook Studio, HP ZBook Create, and the HP ENVY 15, all part of the HP Create Ecosystem. Wide range of sizes and options.
HP also launched Print, Play & Learn, a free online resource to support families with children from 2-12 years old. Weekly literacy content is available, as well as worksheets, coloring pages, puzzles, and other learning printables.
Hello to the VMware vRealize Operations Cloud, a self-driving operations tool delivered as SaaS. Enables consistent operations for the VMware hybrid cloud to improve operational agility, scale rapidly, speed innovation, and increase flexibility.
Everybody always wants more horsepower. Good thing that AMD is extending its 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processor family with three new models. Hello to the AMD EPYC 7F32 (8 cores), EPYC 7F52 (16 cores), and EPYC 7F72 (24 cores). Run faster, jump higher, and SQL more speedily.
What a segue! Hello to the entire portfolio of new Supermicro H12 A+ Servers that fully supports the newly announced high-frequency AMD EPYC 7Fx2 Series processors. New H12 SuperBlade Twin A+ SKUs include a 4U server supporting eight double-width GPUs with 200G connectivity.
Security news. Equipping a batch of remote workers in a hurry gives security people nightmares. Maybe the new Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud will help them perchance to dream. Gives IT more visibility over shadow IT and better ways to ensure compliance to corporate security policies.
Mailbox filtering isn’t perfect, missing between 12% and 75% of phishing, spam, and malware attached emails. KnowBe4 launched PhishRIP (pictured) to help remove, inoculate, and protect against email badness faster.
SentinelOne announced new customizable dashboards and reporting capabilities. The new turnkey data visualization integrations with Tableau and Power BI help, too. All complement its Singularity Platform to help defeat every attack.
Welcome to the new F-Secure Countercept. The fully managed service helps you hunt down threats and detect advanced attackers within minutes. You know, sophisticated cyber defenses to guard against modern targeted attacks as they happen.
Attivo Networks and CrowdStrike teamed up to integrate the Attivo ThreatDefend Platform and CrowdStrike Falcon platform. Adds network deception technology to endpoint protection for a defense-in-depth strategy.
Respond Software’s Respond Analyst, a virtual cybersecurity analyst, now supports endpoint detection and response data from Carbon Black, CrowdStrike, and SentinelOne.
Edge and IoT news. Avnet’sHackster.io unit and the United Nations Development Programme are working with 12 leading tech companies to help protect the world’s developing countries from the coronavirus pandemic. Tagged the COVID-19 Detect and Protect Challenge, the group is working on low-cost and easily deployable software, hardware, and services to detect and prevent COVID-19 spread.
Just announced, the new Cradlepoint E300 Series Enterprise Router (pictured) supports increased performance and advanced LTE, Wi-Fi, security, and management requirements for high-traffic pop-up sites. Examples include quarantine centers, small clinics, and treatment facilities. The E300 Series is also aimed at distributed voting sites.
Automated certificate provisioning for Infineon’s OPTIGA Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2 using Sectigo IoT Identity Manager is the goal of a new partnership between those companies.
Arm and Hexing started a separate strategic partnership to create the new Arm Pelion IoT platform, which provides building blocks to create full-stack IoT solutions. Pelion’s device management component already works to lower cost for large-scale IoT deployments.
Welcome to the new QNX Black Channel Communications Technology from BlackBerry. Part of its automotive and embedded software portfolio, it helps make countless nodes of data communication in embedded systems function safely.
MSP Day approaches (get your Hallmark cards today!) Barracuda MSP is so excited about MSP Day that it’s joined with CompTIA to support a global MSP Day celebration. One deliverable? The “”2020 Evolving MSP Landscape“” survey. Take it today and register your tears or cheers.
Other product news. Lexmark has added 13 new printers to its lineup. They include nine new monochrome business-class printers and multifunction products and four new small-workgroup color printers and MFPs for GO Line device partners and enterprise customers. Smaller, lighter, faster. All good things.
Epson announced three new SureColor T-Series printers. These are designed for entry and mid-level CAD production. Can also be used for general purpose wide-format graphics. Clear a space for them today in your office for when they ship in May.
D-Link just released the new EXO AX1500 Mesh Wi-Fi 6 Router (DIR-X1560-US, pictured). First of a new series of Wi-Fi 6 routers planned. Fits right into D-Link’s Wi-Fi mesh technology and supports lots of smart devices needing simultaneous bandwidth.
Current Ooma subscribers can get the new Ooma Office Pro desktop app for no additional cost. The app turns Windows PCs and Macs into full-featured business phones. Use it as a virtual endpoint or in addition to a traditional desk phone.
IGEL, the edge-OS-for-cloud-workspaces people, just released a new “”Work from Home Kit“” that’s designed to ease and accelerate remote work strategies. To juice the program, IGEL also announced the 2020 sweepstakes and contest program, “”Workspace Coolspace”” to win two complete home workspace makeovers worth $20,000.
The EnGenius Cloud has some new functions to make managing and troubleshooting wireless networks easier. The Client Timeline shows device connection history. Splash page customization tools help your brand, and the client blocklist allows admins to block rogue client devices from accessing specific SSIDs.
Heard anyone complain about hackers breaking into videoconference calls? Sure you have. Mayhaps the new 8×8 Video MeetingsPro solution, powered by Jitsi, will be of interest. Video meetings will run on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure with optimized cloud security.
When having tech troubles, a friendly face is always welcome. Could be the just-released LogMeIn Rescue Live Lens will make it easier to do support by removing the need to download and install an app. Fully browser-based, the system provides instant, guided assistance to lower handle times and resolve issues faster. But wait, there’s more! LogMeIn also launched the GoToConnect Support Center. Offers as-a-service functionality in an affordable and easily deployable package to bring contact center capabilities to virtually any business.
Non-product vendor news. SkyKick promoted Kathryn Saducas to global vice president, MSP sales. She moves up from being European general manager.
Lexmark promoted Chuck Butler (pictured) to senior vice president and chief financial officer. Takes effect April 23.
Extreme Networks rolled out the welcome wagon for Wes Durow, who joins as chief marketing officer.
Optiv Security welcomed Kevin Lynch as CEO and a member of the board of directors.
CompTIA is working with Pearson VUE to offer “”anytime, anywhere”” online testing for its certification exams. The tests are available via Pearson VUE’s OnVUE online proctoring solution.
A little reorg and shuffle, and bingo! Hello to the OpenText U.S. Public Sector Group. Gathers together sales teams from across multiple product portfolios into one new operational business unit. Karen Terrel joins the company as president of OpenText U.S. Public Sector.
TeamViewer signed a global distribution agreement with Ingram Micro to distribute secure remote access and support, centralized remote monitoring and management, and remote end user assistance.
Jenne’s training division, Jenne University, now offers virtual training for all Avaya, Extreme Network, and Mitel certification courses.
This week’s stats ticker:
Citrix Systems commissioned a recent survey by OnePoll about the new face of work. The majority of the 2,000 U.S. workers who responded are adapting daily routines in the absence of a commute. Guess what? 25% sleep in a little more, and 22% sleep until the last possible minute to get online. Did you wonder about the stories of going to meetings in pajamas? Not anymore. Slow home Internet and lack of apps available in the office bother 33% of workers. 64% are sharing their new “”work”” space with partners, 84% with kids from newly hatched to 12, and 19% with in-laws. Five percent are sheltering in a hotel. 29% admit children and/or pets have appeared in video calls. 22% say they hope to work at home more often after the all-clear signal is given, while 33% can’t wait to return to cubicleville. 28% say they will actively look for a new job that allows them to permanently work remote
The IDC Worldwide Semiannual Services Tracker reports worldwide IT and business services grew 5% year over year in 2019. However, COVID-19 has soured the growth outlook. IDC now forecasts a worldwide services market decline of 1.1% in 2020 and growth of just over 1% in 2021. Real 2020 GDP will likely decline by more than 2% after the second half of the year almost balances a sharp decline in Q1 and Q2. American growth was at 5.2% in 2019 but should be down to 0.2% this year. This global pandemic will also lower the five-year CAGR more than previously forecast.
The new COVID-19 Tech Index from IDC forecasts an overall decline in IT spending but says pockets of opportunity exist. A global survey, it reports expected cuts in traditional tech like PCs, mobile devices, server/storage infrastructure, and IT services. But funding should remain close to on track for cloud, AI, and the Internet of Things. A recent boost in laptop and other remote working investments will slow and many companies will revert to contingency plans to cut capital spending. Buyer intent in March was broadly flat with expected IT spending declines in Europe and Asia/ Pacific offset by more a bullish attitude in U.S. respondents. Market indications are now more negative as buyers have significantly lowered their outlook for the rest of 2020.
When street artists stay home. Spreadsheet ninjas and project management pros can work anywhere with a computer. But what do you do if you’re a street artist locked in the house?
You drive your wife fracking crazy, says the world-famous Banksy. Just one reason? His “”rat-themed”” bathroom, with charcoal rats cavorting on the walls, sink, and even the toilet. One dances on the toothpaste which squirts a white mess on the wall above the sink.
Banksy often uses rats in his work as social commentary. We think Mrs. Banksy may strongly identify with the rat marking down the days of confinement on the wall. We also think Mrs. Banksy may be throwing blankets and pillows on the lumpy den couch for the biggest rat in her home.
Photo credit: Banksy
