To keep up with the firehose of news, we’ve decided to deliver some extra channel news to you on the side. Some of it is an extension of our own reporting on the channel that didn’t make its way into a story, while others might be content we’ve bookmarked and thought of sharing with you. We’re doing a similar thing at IT World Canada –check it out here. Missed last week’s CDN Morning Briefing? Read it here.
What you need to know right now
It’s what you need to know right now in the world of IT and tech – ’nuff said. (Often taken with a side of Hashtag Trending)
iOS 14 is here, Facebook’s new VR headset, and an overseas Chinese information database has some inside scoops on influential people.
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Pure Storage acquires Portworx for $370 million
Portworx, a well-funded startup providing a cloud-native storage and data-management platform based on Kubernetes, got scooped up by enterprise storage firm Pure Storage. This marks Pure Storage’s largest acquisition to date and signals the growing importance of multi-cloud data services.
Portwork’s bread and butter is its ability to help users migrate their data and create backups, creating a storage layer that allows devs to later access that data, no matter where it resides. According to its website, Portworx enterprise customers include the likes of Carrefour, Comcast, GE Digital, Kroger, Lufthansa, and T-Mobile.
“I’m tremendously proud of what we’ve built at Portworx: an unparalleled data services platform for customers running mission-critical applications in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The traction and growth we see in our business daily shows that containers and Kubernetes are fundamental to the next-generation application architecture and thus competitiveness,” said Murli Thirumale, CEO, Portworx, in a Sept. 16 press release. “We are excited for the accelerated growth and customer impact we will be able to achieve as a part of Pure.”
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HP releases ProBook 600 G8 and ProBook 400 G8 business laptops [CHANNEL DAILY NEWS]
Yesterday, HP announced its refreshed ProBook laptop series designed for the mobile enterprise. Both the ProBook 600 G8 and ProBook 400 G8 series received performance upgrades in processor and graphics.
In case you missed it
The recent channel news that we maybe didn’t get to yet, or it’s the news we’ve reported on and feel is worth resurfacing. Sometimes we’ll also feature awesome stories from other publications.
SMBs know cybersecurity is crucial, but MSPs having trouble delivering: survey
A survey commissioned by ConnectWise says cybersecurity is a top priority for MSPs, and the long-list of concerns SMBs continue to have suggest MSPs aren’t pulling their weight. The numbers appear to back this up: Only 13 per cent of SMBs have regular cybersecurity-related conversations with their MSP. What’s potentially more troubling is that 29 per cent of SMBs talk to their MSP about cybersecurity only after they’ve suffered an incident.
“It’s clear that MSPs must work to reinforce that confidence and build closer relationships with their clients,” said Jay Ryerse, CISSP, vice-president of cybersecurity initiatives for ConnectWise.
The study was carried out between June and July 2020 and gathered information from 700 IT and business decision-makers who are involved in cybersecurity in their organization. Respondents were from the U.S. (300), the U.K. (150), Canada (100), and Australia and New Zealand (150). Respondents’ organizations have between 10 and 1,000 employees and belong to a range of sectors.
To read the full report, ConnectWise’s SMB State of Cybersecurity, click here.
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Dell planning layoff round this week [CHANNEL DAILY NEWS]
The “uneven and frustrating” times alluded to by Dell Technologies chief executive officer Michael Dell recently continue for the tech giant.
Dell’s vice-chairman and chief operating officer Jeff Clarke told staff during a quarterly meeting Monday that it’s time to buckle up for more layoffs and that the job cuts won’t be limited to any particular team or division within Dell, Bloomberg reported. The news comes after Clarke told staff Aug. 27 during a Q2 2021 earnings call that Dell – Michael Dell that is – informed the company to anticipate challenging times during the “new normal” created by the pandemic. “This is going to be a marathon, and it’s going to be uneven and frustrating at times,” he said.
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13-year Cisco vet Shannon Leininger named president of Cisco Canada [CHANNEL DAILY NEWS]
It’s official: Shannon Leininger is Cisco Canada’s new president.
Leininger, a 13-year Cisco vet who previously held the title of Cisco area vice-president for state/local governments and education, is sliding into the role previously held by Rola Dagher, who recently became Dell Technologies new global channel chief.
Reddit recap
The MSP subreddit community is growing rapidly. It’s also a chatty bunch. With more than 80,000 members as of today, it’s worth taking a look at what they have to say every once in a while. Here are the recent top posts. Click on the posts to view additional responses.
What’s billable for you in a you managed service agreement from msp
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