Does 2020 remind you of buggy software? Problem after problem? Example: the 22nd tropical storm forming in the Gulf of Mexico right now. There’s been so many storms this year we’re about to run out of names. Next up is Wilfred, then Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Will whoever’s running this please issue a patch for 2020? While waiting, catch up to these problem-solving newsbits that slipped by this week.
Apple news. Fall is Apple season, and the crisp new iPad Air (pictured) comes with a 10.9-inch display powered by the new A14 Bionic processor. A nice range of pastel colored aluminum housings are available as well for holding the new Liquid Retina screen with 3.8 million pixels to better display the shots you take with the 12 MP rear camera, all running iPadOS 14. Ships next month starting at $599
Apple Watch Series 6 now includes a blood oxygen sensor and app, new cases, a no-buckle watchband, and watchOS 7. Health studies will run watch data through several medical research orgs to better track life-threatening conditions. And it looks way cool besides, so get your $399 or $499 ready and order today.
Or opt for the Apple Watch SE that offers the essential features for less dough. Includes fitness features, fall detection if you overdo it, and a Retina display. Available now starting at $279.
The Apple enterprise management folks at Jamf announced same-day support for Apple releases and iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14. When macOS Big Sur arrives later this fall, Jamf will be ready. WFH? Per-app VPN.
News from other industry giants. Windows Virtual Desktop (pictured in action) stepped up big when workers headed home. Certify your hurry-up relocation scramble expertise with the new advanced specialization for Windows Virtual Desktop. Includes WVD on Azure.
Move virtual news, er, news about virtual, with the integration of Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) into Microsoft Teams. Helps scale virtual consults for physicians and other virtual telehelp connections.
From Amazon comes word that the AWS Service Ready Program now includes the new AWS Outposts Ready Program. Easier to find integrated storage, networking, security, and vertical solutions.
The percentage of undergraduate degrees in engineering earned by women has been stuck between 18% and 21% for the last two decades. Hooray for the Intel Foundation and its “”Million Girls Moonshot”” for STEM diversity. Grants and resources aim to increase that by 1 million girls with a focus on underserved communities.
The new Salesforce Talent Alliance plans to get enough Salesforce-trained workers to fill the expected 4.2 million new jobs by 2024 that will require Salesforce expertise. Online training platform Trailhead offers multiple approaches.
Security news. If you have up to 250 staff working from home or some other remote place, you might check out the new ESET Remote Workforce Offer. Helps SMBs prevent ransomware, zero-day attacks, and other nasty day-ruiners.
Avast released Secure Private Access from its Avast Business group. Zero trust network access for medium and large companies facilitated via MSSPs and MSPs. 100% cloud solution and now available.
Want endpoint protection with backup, antimalware, security, and management for public sector users? That’s what you get with Acronis SCS Cyber Protect for state and local government, education, healthcare, and nonprofit customers.
Check Point’s Infinity architecture will integrate the cloud-based technology for secure remote access from Odo Security. Offers a unified portal to a wide range of applications and takes admins less than five minutes to deploy from the cloud.
McAfee added some new goodies and updates to its latest consumer security products. Better user experience, a native VPN, and integrated social media and tech scam protection.
Ever feel you’re missing something when you look outside for hackers? You know, the threats inside? Exabeam and Code42 signed a strategic partnership to help detect, investigate, and respond to malicious insider threats like data exfiltration.
Code42 Incydr is a new SaaS offering to protect intellectual property, source code, and trade secrets. Addresses the security gaps allowing insider threats that cause 66% of breaches. Maybe your NFL Fantasy Team draft plans will finally be safe.
The BullGuard Small Office Security product now has MSP functionality built in. MSPs get a 360-degree view of client online security status and new customer setup functionality.
MSP TPx attained the HIPAA attestation for its Managed SD-WAN and Firewall solutions. Help guard the electronic health records that hackers crave.
Managed services news. Splashtop now has expanded remote access and full remote control support for all devices running Android 8.0 and above. Over 100 brands of Android devices are covered already.
Atera’s RMM/PSA platform now integrates with Chocolatey and Homebrew to improve third-party patching and software installation for Windows and MacOS.
Extreme Networks news. Welcome Wagon alert: Jesper Trolle (pictured) moves from ECS Arrow Electronics to become CEO of Exclusive Networks.
Here’s a nice goodie for subscribers to ExtremeCloud IQ Pilot: five free applications. Extreme AirDefense, ExtremeLocation, ExtremeGuest, ExtremeIoT, and ExtremeCompliance all included.
Extreme Networks also announced universal platforms for its switching and wireless products. Easier ordering, licensing, and warranty processes, all to help the customer experience.
Other product news. Multiple screens help productivity, right? LG must agree as it’s announced the LG WING 5G (pictured). The 6.8-inch OLED display swivels to horizontal revealing a 3.9-inch “”Second Screen.”” JG calls it “”Swivel Mode”” but we call it fascinating.
How big are the latest All-in-One Direct View LED displays from ViewSonic? Up to 216 inches, and they come with integrated display, image stitching, power supply, and control systems too.
You’re home more so you’re gaming more. Take a look, then, at HP’s new OMEN 30L Desktop, OMEN Frequency Wireless Headset, OMEN Vector Wireless Mouse, and OMEN Spacer Wireless TLK Keyboard. The accessories, HP says, offer “”flawless audio, wire power without the wire, and long-lasting game play.””
Schneider Electric’s Remote Expertise services offer electrical and power distribution systems customers the use of augmented reality and more to reduce the need for field tech service visits. Works with most mobile operating systems and platforms.
Deals were made, papers signed, and now IGEL OS 11.04 supports Zoom’s platform via the Citrix Workspace App and VMware Horizon.
Still printing? If yes, go directly to Sharp and its nine new models just added to its letter-sized A4 printer lineup. That brings the total to 19. The newbies include four MFPs among the three monochrome and six color printers.
As audio and video products keep moving to IP, you need smarter switches. An entirely new series of switches designed for just the AV over IP shift can be had from NETGEAR and its M4250 product line.
Speaking of audio and video, gamers will appreciate the new NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR1000 WiFi 6 router. Available now.
Wi-Fi 6 deserves Wi-Fi 6 access points. Zyxel offers the new WAX610D 802.11ax Dual-Radio Unified Access Point and NWA210AX 802.11ax Dual-Radio Access Point.
Want to carry a huge data blob in your pocket securely? The Kingston Digital 128GB DataTraveler 2000 encrypted USB flash drive could be your ticket.
Stuff keeps moving to the network edge, and where you have stuff, you need something to keep that stuff in. Hello to the Vertiv VRC-S rack integrated with infrastructure support equipment. Easy installation for network edges and other small IT sites.
Companies that use data might like the new update to the Talend Data Fabric, the platform that delivers clean data in real time. Includes the Talend Trust Score which instantly assess the reliability of your data.
By the fourth quarter, Cloudian will offer fully native S3-compatible object storage software for VMware Cloud Foundation and VMware Tanzu.
ThinPrint’s ezeep launched a developer API so you can get your cloud printing ready to carry on after Google Cloud Print stops at the end of the year.
Non-product vendor news. Clap your hands for the Alliance of Channel Women (ACW) ACT Award winning volunteers for 2020:
- Carolee Cannata (pictured left), national channel development analyst at TPx Communications, and now co-chair of the ACW Sponsorship Committee
- Morgan Granfield (pictured center), channel sales manager at Digital Realty, and now member of the ACW Event Planning and Communications committees
- Bridget Kang (pictured right), partner development manager at Telarus, and now co-chair of the ACW Membership Committee
Don’t stop clapping. You should also applaud the winners of ACW’s 2020 LEAD Awards:
- Kris Blackmon, senior content director, Informa/Channel Futures
- Kelli McMillan, founder, Xposure
- Maureen O’Connell, director of partner sales northeast, Comcast
- Shannon Orr, national channel manager, AVANT Communications
Tech Data’s Cyber Range training and testing virtual environment now includes IBM’s Cloud Pack for Security. Demonstrate how it integrates with a range of vendor technologies and worry less.
Speaking of distributors and security, those of you out there selling into the state, local, and education market will be interested to know that Palo Alto Networks is now on SYNNEX’s GSA and NASPO contracts.
Communication and contact center player CoreDial acquired the assets of eZuce, a privately-held video collaboration and communications tech vendor.
Digital identity management and security player Sectigo will be acquired by GI Partners. The private investment firm will support Sectigo’s growth and worldwide expansion.
The SolarWinds Orion Platform joined the ServiceNow Service Graph Connector Program. Helps customers load data from SolarWinds into ServiceNow.
AVANT’s network of trusted advisors now offers PacketFabrics’ Network as a Service platform.
The LoRa Alliance has a new contributing member: ADTRAN. More IoT players in the LoRaWAN game is a good thing. You read it here first, folks.
Cloud communications player Broadvoice now offers its B-hive for Salesforce on Salesforce AppExchange. Easier to connect B-hive’s communication tools with Salesforce customer databases.
This week’s stats ticker:
Are you doing a great job for your security clients? Think again. The second annual ConnectWise SMB State of Cybersecurity report by Vanson Bourne says otherwise. The survey found that 91% of SMB’s would jump to another provider for the “”right”” cybersecurity solution. That means the ability to respond to incidents (68%) and confidence in the MSPs ability to minimize damage or loss (58%). More than three-quarters of respondents worried they will be that target of an attack in the next six months. Security is one of the top five priorities for 86% of SMBs, and 60% will invest more in cybersecurity because it reduces risk for their organizations. Only 13% of SMBs are having regular cybersecurity-related conversations with their MSP. 29% report they only talk to the MSP about these issues after an incident. Horse and barn doors come to mind?
Lexmark’s “”Next-Gen Print Infrastructure Services: Leveraging Cloud and IoT to Accelerate Your Digital Transformation Strategy,”” follows IDC’s Worldwide Digital Transformation Spending Guide and predicts spending on digital transformation technology services will grow by 10.4% in 2020 to $1.3 trillion globally. Dated print systems are an obstacle to digital transformation for three in five businesses, yet fewer than half are prioritizing investment in this space. Nearly half report challenges integrating existing IT into new infrastructure and updating or replacing legacy business processes. Over half have faced delays and prolonged project timelines. Turns out essential workflow processes still have significant printing requirements in over half the organizations. Print system security is an issue for 81%, the management burden makes the same number struggle, as does inventory management.
The Spiceworks Ziff Davis 2021 State of IT study looked at COVID-19’s impact on budgets and emerging technology. Changes abound, and 76% plan on long-term IT adjustments thanks to the pandemic, while 44% plan to accelerate digital transformation investments. However, budget growth slowed. Only 33% plan to increase their IT budgets in 2021, while 44% made that commitment last year. 17% expect their budgets to decline in 2021. The “”remote work evolution”” will continue to drive new spending and IT needs will shift. Hardware still accounts for the biggest part of IT budgets but spending in this category has dropped from 35% in 2019 to 31% in 2021 as businesses increase cloud and managed services spending. Enterprises will adopt select emerging technologies at up to 5x the rate of small businesses.
The State of MSPs During COVID-19 report from VM backup vendor Altaro Software found that MSPs suffered decreased revenues, but 80% retained staff. One-third said they faced up to 50% reduced income in the first half of 2020 compared to 21% who reported increases. More than two-thirds expect a better result in the coming months compared to pre-COVID levels. No surprise, but 75% see remote working as their best revenue generator, followed by cloud computing (61%), and security as a service (38%). Despite that, two-thirds plan to expand their service offerings.
You’ve got (late) mail. The Post Office has been in the news quite a bit lately as people worry about crowded voting locations during the COVID-19 outbreak. Can we trust the mail to deliver absentee ballots on time?
Don’t ask Brittany Keech of Belding, Michigan. She just received a postcard that was mailed on October 29, 1920. Yes, almost exactly a century ago.
If it had been a ballot, the courts might have to decide if Warren G. Harding really beat James M. Cox for president.
Photo: Brittany Keech
