We’re counting down the weeks left in 2020 (six) with the hope 2021 shines brighter and safer. Next week is a good time to take a deep breath before the sprint to the New Year, but do it through a mask, please. And we’ve sanitized all the newsbits below, so partake with abandon.
News from the big names. Looking for a collab app for that new Intel laptop? Try out some of the 20 new Teams apps for meetings from Microsoft. These join the more than 700 Teams apps already in the Teams App Store and come from big names like Asana, HireVue, monday.com, ServiceNow, Slido, and Teamflect.
Amazon announced general availability of AWS Network Firewall managed security service. Just a few clicks in the AWS console and roll it out to your Amazon Virtual Private Cloud environments.
Trend Micro is a launch partner for AWS Network Firewall, providing its integrated managed threat intelligence feeds from its cloud security service. Trend Micro IPS, meet AWS Network Firewall.
Another AWS Network Firewall partner, Alert Logic, provides customers another point of threat visibility to stop frequent web application attacks. Includes thousands of Alert Logic signatures of web applications exploits.
VMware rolled out its Modern Network framework to help companies adapt to the new normal. The Modern Network gives you a top-down view with Modern Application Connectivity Services, powered by VMware NSX. Need scalable enterprise-grade trusted networks to unlock data silos? Try the new VMware Blockchain.
Cisco announced its intent to acquire Banzai Cloud of Budapest. Plan is to help solve pain points in application and API connectivity and give a run time platform for cloud topology.
Qumulo and HPE teamed up to release the new All-NVMe Flash product based on HPE ProLiant DL325 Gen10 Plus servers powered by the Qumulo file data platform. Handle unstructured file data with high-throughput and low latency.
Cloud news. Wasabi and DataCore Software shook hands to offer a fast, practical, and cost-effective product for archiving inactive files and saving snapshots to the cloud. Great for NAS users to protect their files.
Rubrik made a major update to Andes 5.3 to deliver 10x faster SQL Server backups. Up to 10,000 SQL databases can be saved on a single Rubrik 4-node cluster and Oracle backup speed doubled to nearly one gigabyte per second.
Cloudian is working with providers in the VMware Partner Connect program to offer free software to protect against ransomware. Partners get a free 50 TB year-long license for Cloudian object storage software with Object Lock technology.
Zerto for Kubernetes is now in beta, and it provides always-on replication for backup, disaster recovery, and more for Kubernetes applications that utilize persistent data.
Apptio announced two new products: Cloudability SaaS and Cloudability Shift. SaaS helps you discover, manage, and optimize spending on SaaS applications throughout your organization. Shift helps you analyze, plan, and track migration from on-premises data centers to the cloud.
Network threat detection and response Vectra announced new cloud capabilities to track and link accounts and data in hybrid environments. Detect and stop threats across the entire network, tracking attackers between cloud, hybrid, and on-premises networks.
Hello to the McAfee MVISION Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP). Several native AWS integrations help secure applications and data in IaaS and PaaS environments.
Datadobi now has file migration to and protection on Microsoft Azure. You can keep your NFS file data in your data center, in Azure, or both.
Other product news. Another team-up, as Avast Business incorporates Ivanti Security Controls Advanced SDK. Ivanti OEM partners can get patch management functionality to automate the patch remediation process.
Baking more than sourdough? Try out the new SolarWinds Automation Cookbook that helps MSPs reduce the costs of managing and protecting their customers.
NinjaRMM’s latest platform update (5.0 if you’re keeping score) adds support for Microsoft’s BitLocker, Apple’s FileVault, and Linux, plus a new maintenance mode, and more.
Starting next month, the Sherweb’s 6,000 partners can take advantage of more API services to integrate solutions with Sherweb’s partner portal. First off, they can connect any PSA solution or their own billing tool to Sherweb’s platform.
Not exactly a Yule Log, but the new LM Logs from LogicMonitor help you automatically analyze log data using machine learning.
Ooma Meetings, a video collaboration platform, is now part of the Ooma Office Pro business phone service. Join video meetings through the Ooma Office desktop app, then gaze in awe as multiple users share their screen simultaneously.
Big displays mean safer distances, and the new Epson Pro L30000UNL is the lightest and smallest 3LCD projector around, with more than 30,000 lumens. Includes 4K enhancement and native WUXGA resolution.
Hardcopies still matter, so check out the two new Epson wireless MFPs: the 24-inch SureColor T3170M and the 36-inch SureColor T5170M. Smaller and faster than competitors, and both include a 600 dpi high-detail scanner.
ViewSonic’s new VP2768a (27″) and VP2468a (24″) monitors bear the Pantone seal of approval. Both come standard with out-of-box color accuracy, color blindness modes, and USB-C one cable solution.
New members of the firewall family just hatched from Zyxel in the form of the USG FLEX 100W and USG FLEX 700, entry-level with built-in Wi-Fi and high-end with up to 800 concurrent device logins, respectively.
Many hope to own a Porsche, and now you can, at least one that slips into your backpack. The Porsche Design Acer Book RS is now available in the US at the Acer Store. Rev ’em up.
Your Porsche laptop may need a docking station, so check out one of the new Kensington Docking Stations that support USB or Thunderbolt 3. Three models support dual video and other goodies.
Do you know who your remote workers are? Make sure with the new Enterprise PKI Manager in DigiCert ONE. Digital certificates are a proven way to support strong authentication for remote workers.
Keeping customers engaged often means reaching their smartphones. Now the new Broadvoice Bubble, a text messaging and marketing program, helps you send SMS/MMS messages to where your customers live.
Speed your IoT network and deployment processes with the new Avnet tool, the Monarch LTE-M Development Kit. Complete set of components, software, and services from NXP Semiconductor, Sequans, Microsoft, Verizon, and Avnet.
The new Zyter Smart Logistics helps logistics players leverage Zyter’s SmartSpaces platform and Internet of Things technology. Great for vehicle tracking, driver behavior monitoring, and asset management.
Non-product vendor news. Need more smart cloud folks? Perhaps the new Extreme Academy Live from Extreme Networks will help. The plan is to train 50,000 new cloud networking engineers in an eight-week training course that will stream live starting December 3rd.
Acronis plans to use its acquisition of CyberLynx to strengthen its services in security audits, penetration testing, and proprietary training solutions, and offer them to partners for their customers.
The D&H Cloud Marketplace now includes ESET’s antivirus and cyber security tools.
Ingram Micro Cloud now offers nOps’s cloud management tools. An AWS Advanced Technology Partner, nOps expands Ingram Micro’s tools for partners and MSPs.
Tech Data subsidiary DLT Solutions now works with IBM to offer hybrid cloud, AI, security, and other software solutions to the public sector in the U.S.
Security appliances from Roqos will now include Dark Cubed software for a more powerful cybersecurity toolset.
Tenable turbo-charged its partner program, Tenable Assure, with an all-new certification program, expanded service choices, and a revamped partner portl.
This week’s stats ticker:
Looking forward, the CompTIA IT Industry Outlook 2021 has 10 trends to watch next year. Number 1? There is no normal. Thanks, 2020, for upheaving everything. What customers want and where users are have all changed. Number 2 is that companies will look cloudwards first for new or upgraded IT infrastructure. Numbers 8 and 10 warn that more regulations are coming, and that diversity goals are becoming real. Despite all this, 37% of firms expect revenue higher than both 2020 and 2019, while another quarter believe they’ll stick around 2020 levels. 60% admit COVID-19 had a negative impact on their business. 40% expect budgets to stay at 2020 levels but a quarter predict somewhat higher spending.
Insurance giant Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) put out the Managing the Impact of Increasing Interconnectivity – Trends in Cyber Risk. It analyzed 1,736 cyber-related insurance claims worth about $770 million from AGCS and other insurers between 2015 and 2020. External attacks cost the most, but the most claims are generated by employee mistakes and technical problems. The main cost is business interruptions, at about 60%, followed by costs from data breaches. Ransomware threats surge, as the newly remote workforce for many companies opens new attack vectors. How serious? Nearly half a million ransomware incidents globally last year cost at least $6.3 billion in random demands alone.
AppDirect’s report from Cascade Insights, “”A 360-Degree View of the Market for IaaS: Perspectives from Resellers and SMBs,”” found that 80% of SMBs will increase IaaS spending over the next three years. Nearly 60% prefer resellers over going direct to providers. 72% already run most of their workloads in the cloud while a majority buy from multiple IaaS providers to get the best pricing (69%). What hooks them? Personalized attention from the resellers, and the channel leads in trust, support, understanding business needs, and flexibility. Providers do have an advantage in pricing and discounting options according to the 150 IaaS resellers and 325 SMB IaaS decision makers polled between June and August.
Star toys. One of the few bright spots this year? Baby Yoda, in Disney’s The Mandalorian. The big eyes and big ears just can’t be ignored.
What better way to honor Baby Yoda? Take him back to space, of course. That’s exactly what four astronauts did on November 15th. The first crew on the Dragon SpaceX rocket, astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi, took a plush toy version of Baby Yoda to the International Space Station.
CNN tried to get a comment from SpaceX about the toy, but really, what else needs to be said? Baby Yoda wins 2020.
Image: NASA
