Here’s a “correlation versus causation” argument you don’t see every day: Whenever Jennifer Lopez gets married, Tom Brady wins a championship. This starts with her first marriage in 1997 (Brady’s Michigan Wolverines were co-national champs), and with Super Bowl wins for Tom and the Patriots in the 2001 and 2004 seasons. Tampa Bay and Tom Brady now lead the bookie rankings to win this year’s Super Bowl. We hope Tom sent Benifer a championship wedding gift.
News from the bigs. Cisco launched a new Webex Wholesale Route-To-Market to better reach SMBs by partnering with managed service providers. Packages include Webex Calling, Meetings, and Suite. It’s the first offer through the new Cisco Wholesale Partner Program, but more are coming.
Dell and Canonical teamed up for the new Dell XPS 13 Plus Developer Edition (pictured), now certified for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Current XPS 13 Plus owners can install the OS and get the same hardware-optimized performance.
Sage and Microsoft intertwined even closer than previously to embed Sage software services into Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams. This also includes the Sage Digital Network to simplify workflows for SMBs.
Hello to AWS Cloud WAN that’s now generally available to provide a central management dashboard to define network configurations, monitor network health, and automate multiple configuration and security tasks.
Inventory will be less painful with the new NetSuite Smart Count program, which aims to improve efficiency and accuracy of inventory management. Integrates fully with NetSuite Inventory Management too. But wait, there’s more! NetSuite Analytics Warehouse revved up with Custom Attribute Mapping Editor, Content Bundle Feature, and more.
Other product news. Cato SSE 360 now includes Cato DLP, a data loss prevention engine that protects data across all enterprise applications without complex DLP rules. Techs can now add Cato SSE Expert Certification to their resumes too.
Trustifi’s encrypted email archiving product just got smarter with its new Smart Indexing capability, which selects a range of emails without providing unnecessary data.
Aparavi and Backblaze teamed up to integrate Aparavi’s continuous data backup with Backblaze B2’s scalable cloud storage, and handle unstructured data with better management.
Now that the integration elves have swirled together ExtraHop Reveal(x) and CrowdStrike Falcon, a button-push triggers the detection and response process into an investigation workflow.
After revving up IGEL OS-powered endpoints connected to Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365, availability and support for an optimized Microsoft Teams experience is now available as well.
Non-product vendor news. Larry Meador (pictured) is the new channel chief of cyber insurance broker DataStream.
The red carpet unfurled up at the door of AvePoint for new Chief Channel Officer Heather Murray.
Over at LogRhythm, they needed lots of new business cards and the double red carpet. Congrats to Andrew Hollister, promoted to chief information security officer, and welcome to David Rizzo as CTO and David Kluzak as chief revenue officer.
Need more techs? Of course, everyone does. That’s why CompTIA and ConnectWise teamed up to train more tech and cybersecurity candidates through paid apprenticeships.
There are new ways to recognize outstanding ConnectWise partners under the umbrella of the WISE Awards. All-in Partner of the Year, Cybersecurity Partner of the Year, a Partner Referral Award, and more will be onstage at the IT Nation Connect 2022 even this November.
Vade for M365 is now available in North America through the distributor Arrow Electronics.
TD SYNNEX will distribute the AWS Storage Gateway Hardware Appliance system for on-premises deployments.
Jenne expanded its wireless internet services portfolio by inking a partnership with Metro Wireless.
Comcast Business Senior Director Lita Vernick was named the Big Impact Winner for Q2 2022 by the Alliance of Channel Women.
This week’s stats ticker:
The Kaseya 2022 IT Operations Report surveyed over 2,000 IT pros globally, and the top priority for 52% was improving IT security overall. More automation for improved productivity led the list for 33%, followed closely by cloud migration issues for 32%. Challenges include cybersecurity and data protection at 49%, too few dollars and resources to meet demands at 29%, and the drag of legacy systems hampering growth and innovation at 21%. Good news? 86% expect security budgets and staffing to increase, or at least to stay the same. Top IT functions that businesses are outsourcing to MSPs this year include IT security, cloud infrastructure management, backup management, network monitoring, help desk support, and endpoint management of desktops, laptops, and servers.
NinjaOne surveyed 400 employees in regulated industries, meaning finance, insurance, and the public sector, for its Hybrid Work in 2022: How IT is Managing the New Challenges of a Flexible Work Environment report. Guess what? 25% use non-approved software, 27% used non-approved communications, and 20% report their company hasn’t improved data privacy and security policies to support hybrid work. Worse, 45% got either minimal or no rules and formal guidelines for hybrid work setups, or at least weren’t aware of information. But your clients never forget what you provide for them, right?
Product availability has been a painful issue for the past couple of years, but the new QuoteWerks 2022 Trends in IT Procurement offers some hope for improvement. Half of respondents already work with at least four distributors, and 20% of MSPs, VARs, and other IT providers use six for sourcing. ITSPs using three suppliers hit 39%, driven by sourcing and pricing issues. The biggest hurdle in quoting for 50%? Supply chain or source delays. Even getting prices from vendors and distributors caused problems for 9% of respondents.
Sterner than the average bear. Those who live in rural areas of North Carolina must deal with bears, and the animals regularly show up on YouTube enjoying swimming pools and hot tubs and other activities humans prefer to keep bear-free. But for former teacher Debbie Tomlinson, a young bear climbing on her back deck after her bird feeder was one step too far.
What did she do? She used her “teacher voice” to tell the bear to leave. And it did.
She said her teacher voice works every time. “It was very exciting.”
