Now that the Windows 11 news dropped, some are thrilled, and some are frustrated by the coming changes. Rollout during the holiday season? Not thrilled. Increased hardware requirements, including Secure Boot and TPM 2.0? It’s the most wonderful time to be scrambling to upgrade hundreds of systems while vendors are constrained thanks to the chip shortage.
News from the heavyweights. Here’s the official Windows 11 introduction from Microsoft. Redesigned for the modern hybrid work world, increased productivity, and collaboration. Chat from Microsoft Teams is woven in, giving users more ways to connect with people near and far. When you tire of productivity, Win11 offers better gaming support.
Virtual desktops became a hot ticket in the past year, and now, Microsoft’s Azure VM Image Builder service is generally available. Define custom images in a template based on new or existing configs and start building the image configuration tooling to roll out VMs with less hands-on time.
Microsoft 365 boffins have been busy as well, weaving Teams in with the ability to create tasks from inside a Teams chat or channel conversation without switching apps. On the video meeting front, you can spotlight users, turn their cameras on or off as an admin, and have more than one speaker or presenter. Cortana is off the desktop Start menu and folded into Outlook.
Speaking of more communication options with Microsoft Teams, Reinvent Telecom now offers white-label Direct Routing for Teams users.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s GreenLake has expanded to fully support Microsoft Azure Stack HCI and Microsoft SQL Server. HPE’s GreenLake Cloud Services support a unified and automated experience from edge to cloud.
Speaking of HPE, they acquired Determined AI, developers of software to train AI models faster, at any scale, using an open source machine learning platform. HPE says the new tools sped up drug discovery analysis from three days to three hours.
HP offers two new tools for better online shopping: HP Engage Go 10 to serve customers from anywhere, and HP Engage Flex Mini, serving customer applications across verticals.
AWS CloudFormation announced the CloudFormation Public Registry, a collection of third-party extensions from AWS Partner Network members. If you developed an extension, you can list it as well.
Intel and Microsoft worked together on Windows 11, bringing us Intel Bridge Technology for running mobile apps directly on PCs, Windows Snap and Thunderbolt 4 for using multiple monitors, and Wi-Fi 6E support.
Managed services news. The Resolve module in CrushBank uses IBM Watson to deliver a set of proven answers for MSP tickets, saving overworked techs time and aggravation.
Hello to the N-able MSP Super Elite partner program. The former SolarWinds MSP lists nearly 200 N-able MSP Super Elite partners across the globe based on size, service model, growth, profitability, and more.
Data protection and management player Druva launched its new Managed Service Provider program. Part of the Druva Compass Partner Program, the new program aims to accelerate customer cloud transformations.
The new Cato MDR 2.0 from Cato Networks cuts the typical 30 to 90 day startup window for managed detection and response results to immediately, thanks to an automated 70 point checklist to assess security readiness.
Other product news. Intermedia launched AI Guardian, an AI-based security solution to protect against targeted cyberattacks.
Epson’s BrightLink GoBoard Wireless Collaboration and Integrated Whiteboard Solution includes a suite of collaborative features for both students and teachers to share in real time.
ViewSonic has a new whiteboard too (pictured), with a multimedia sound bar for hi-fi audio in the classroom.
Aruba announced a new set of capabilities for its Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) designed to streamline network operations and more.
Adaptiv Networks released its new My Connect software to bring secure SD-WAN access to work-at-home and mobile users without the need for VPN hardware.
Need to update or just add storage? Of course. Seagate’s new Exos CORVAULT high-density storage system offers SAN-level performance, ADAPT erasure code data protection, and autonomous drive regeneration with “”five nines”” availability.
On the shelf now is DxEnterprise (DxE) for Containers from DH2i, enabling cloud-native Microsoft SQL Server container availability groups outside and inside Kubernetes.
Developers might like the enhanced full-lifecycle Cloud Native Development Professional Services capabilities from Rackspace.
Here’s a nice SLA: 100% uptime, promised by Broadvoice, for its business VoIP customers.
Pony up for a new 5G phone, and you want faster everything, right? That includes storage, and the new Western Digital iNAND MC EU551 offers storage fast enough for ultra-high-resolution cameras, AR/VR, gaming, and 8K video.
Non-product vendor news. The red carpet this week unrolls at Ivanti to welcome the new vice president of security, Daniel Spicer.
Intel rearranged the leadership team with two promotions and two additions:
- Sandra Rivera moves over to executive vice president and general manager of datacenter and AI.
- Nick McKeown joins as senior vice president and general manager of the new Network and Edge Group.
- Greg Lavender joins as chief technology officer and senior vice president and general manager of the new Software and Advanced Technology Group.
- Raja Koduri moves over to lead the new Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group.
KnowBe4 welcomes Michael Williams as its new chief marketing officer.
Over at NetFortris, Jamie Minner (pictured) joins as chief revenue officer.
Logicalis beefs up its western region efforts by welcoming:
- David Dunn, regional vice president for the west.
- Matt Taylor, area sales director.
- Matthew Simmons, director of collaboration, security, and networking.
D&H revealed the nearly 60 K-12 and higher ed specialists in its new education solution provider community.
Pax8 and Nerdio signed a global agreement to offer the Nerdio Manager for MSP platform.
Ping Identity acquired SecuredTouch to add its fraud and bot detection, as well as other technology, to the PingOne Cloud Platform. Terms were not disclosed.
UPSTACK acquired PacTech Partners, a consulting firm serving enterprises. Terms were not disclosed.
ThreatQuotient and Bitdefender signed the papers to incorporate Bitdefender’s Advanced Threat Intelligence into the ThreatQuotient ThreatQ Platform.
A deal between reevert and Splashtop updates reevert’s ransomware-resilient data backup with Splashtop’s secure remote access tech.
This week’s stats ticker:
SaaS Alerts released its first-ever SASI (SaaS Application Security Insights) Report based on over 15 million events plus security records from over 750 SMBs and more than 30,000 end users. During the first half of 2021, an average of 3,000 brute force attacks per day hit the monitored SMBs. Attacks threatened clients using Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for common mistakes like neglectful file-sharing practices and reusing credentials on third-party integrated applications. Advice in the report for MSPs suggests they reassess their security posture when it comes to protecting SaaS applications and enhance their understanding of the current cybersecurity threat landscape. All analyzed data was thoroughly anonymized to protect identities of companies and individuals.
Four Buck Bowie. David Bowie followed a wide range of artistic pursuits besides being Ziggy Stardust from Mars and entrancing millions of fans worldwide. One example? He painted 47 portraits between 1995 and 1997.
One of those rare paintings ended up in a thrift store in Ontario, Canada, where it was purchased by an unknown lucky person for $4.09. Yes, four dollars. The auction house Cowley Abbott expects it to sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
Anybody else ready to check out local thrift stores?
Photo: Duffy Archive & The David Bowie Archive
