Category: News

NSS Labs sues Symantec, CrowdStrike and ESET

Posted on September 21, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220Cybersecurity testing firm NSS Labs has filed a lawsuit against Symantec, CrowdStrike and ESET, accusing the vendors of failing to reveal flaws in their products.

In the antitrust suit, NSS claims that the vendors have conspired to prevent the independent testing of their products. Antitrust legislation is designed to prevent monopolies on a given market and promote fair competition.

All three vendors are members of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organisation (AMTSO), which has a mandate to standardise testing methods. But  NSS CEO Vikram Phatak claims AMTSO members are instead “actively conspiring to prevent independent testing that uncovers product deficiencies to prevent consumers from finding out about them”.

He said: “Further, vendors are openly exerting control and collectively boycotting testing organisations that don’t comply with their AMTSO standards – even going so far as to block the independent purchase and testing of their products. Vendors such as CrowdStrike have conspired to prevent testing of their products by placing clauses in their end-user licensing agreements that make testing of their products subject to their permission. This unethical and deceptive behaviour hampers transparency and hinders consumers in their ability to assess whether a product delivers on its promises.”

NSS Labs said that, in the past, vendors that refused to take part in product testing would see their reputation damaged and sales hit.

With this in mind, vendors have now decided to boycott testing en masse, seeking to protect their reputations as a group, it claimed.

The vendors have not commented, so far.

 

Rubrik launches first reseller global programme

Posted on September 21, 2018 by - News

Rubrik, the Cloud Data Management Company, today announced its first global programme for resellers.

Dubbed the Rubrik Velocity Partner Programme it will  tap into the $48 billion data management market opportunity. The tiered program empowers partners with a framework for differentiation, more sales and technical enablement to build and recognize expertise, and new rewards to support partners who invest in their business with Rubrik.

Bertrand Yansouni, VP of Worldwide Channel at Rubrik said: “Rubrik’s unprecedented growth is due in large part to our phenomenal partner ecosystem and our 100 percent channel go-to-market approach. Our new Velocity Partner Programme expands upon our commitment to the channel by empowering partners to drive their key business initiatives through Rubrik, like building their cloud business or driving more advanced services. We believe this new programme will increase the velocity of our partners’ success.”

Lots of buzz words in there. Sounds like the firm needs a new spinmeister to us.

Rubrik has wanted a “total” channel business model since day one. The Rubrik Velocity Partner Programme was designed with partner input and incorporates meaningful investments to enable and reward dedicated partners who lead with Rubrik.

The new program includes three tiers – Authorized, Select, and Elite. Classification is based on competency and performance. Requirements will vary based on country and partner size so that every partner has access, and a clear progression path, to the highest tiers.

The programme also introduces new specialisations to recognise the unique capabilities.Rubrik  claims. So it is launching Rubrik Academy, a new “enablement” programme for the entire Rubrik partner ecosystem, which includes accreditations for partner sales, pre-sales, and post-sales.

The Velocity Partner Programme introduces a rebate for Elite partners, lead and opportunity sharing, joint marketing funds, and incentives for partner sales and sales engineer representatives in the highest tiers.

The programme also introduces a new global Partner Technical Advisory Board, reflecting the value Rubrik places on partner solution engineers’ technical expertise. The new program is being introduced at Rubrik’s EMEA Partner Conference. Program benefits will go into effect February 1, 2019.

“Rubrik’s innovative technology has been instrumental in changing perceptions of the value of backup, recovery, and data protection. Rubrik brings simplicity to traditionally complex technologies and has allowed us to elevate data management from an insurance policy to become an integral part of our customers’ strategic approach”, said Tim Jeans, Head of Specialist Sales at Softcat. “Through the new Velocity Partner Program, Rubrik is proving to us once again how valued its partners are by building our technical and sales competencies further to drive bookings, increase deal size, and accelerate profitability.”

“Rubrik is a key partner for us because their solutions offer our customers simplicity, cost savings, automation and a path to the cloud”, said Rob Owen, AVP – Chief Architect at Computer Design Integration (CDI). “The Rubrik partner program is going to give us the tools to increase not only our top-line revenue, but our profitability as well.”

“Rubrik is driving positive disruption in a market that had limited innovation and can benefit from efficiency and modernization improvements”, said Manny Punzo, Director of Data Protection and Management at Technologent, a global provider of IT, data, cloud and security services.  “Their [its, Ed.] simple, scalable solution addresses our customers’ key initiatives, including not only how they improve data protection, but also how they bring the cloud into their business. Rubrik’s new Velocity Partner Program is going to help us capture this shift in the market and grow our company.”

Rubrik didn’t say which tiers these partners occupied.

Formpipe Lasernet and HSO team up on digital transformation

Posted on September 20, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220Microsoft Dynamics Document management solutions, Formpipe Lasernet has partnered with HSO, the provider of enterprise business solutions, to strengthen its UK presence.

The Global managed IT services market continues to grow and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.4 percent through to 2024, taking the total market value from $145.3 billion in 2016 to a projected $249.4 billion by the end of 2024 according to recent research from Wise Guys Reports.

Commenting on the partnership, Mike Rogers, chief commercial officer at Formpipe Lasernet, said: “We are continuing to build on our partner first strategy and are delighted to welcome HSO onboard. Formpipe Lasernet is a global company and the addition of HSO will strengthen our presence within the UK. The Lasernet product set and partner ecosystem continues to go from strength to strength, so partnering with HSO was a natural choice.”

HSO brings more than 25 years of industry experience to Formpipe Lasernet’s established partner portfolio. With offices in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, APAC and the US, HSO has delivered successful implementations in almost every country in the world. HSO is an award-winning Microsoft Gold Partner specialising in implementing and supporting ERP & CRM business solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and providing Managed Services to multinational enterprises in Retail, Distribution, Manufacturing and Services.

Mark Cockings Head of Alliances and Sales Operations at HSO said of the partnership: “HSO are pleased to be partnering with Formpipe Lasernet to deliver a comprehensive solution for document management with Microsoft Dynamics 365. Our joint proposition enables customers to quickly and efficiently create, modify, control, disseminate and archive branded documentation across their entire organisation. This partnership continues HSO’s strategy to work with best of breed organisations to deliver innovative solutions to meet the growing business needs of our customers.”

 

 

MSPs need strategic vision and to differentiate

Posted on September 20, 2018 by - News

Wise Guy Reports claims that the the Global managed IT services market will expand at a CAGR of 9.4 percent through to 2024, taking the total market value from $145.3 billion in 2016 to a projected $249.4 billion by the end of 2024.

MSPs globally are facing a multi-faceted struggle to grow their businesses. On the one hand, there is competition from the public cloud players such as AWS, Google and Microsoft who set pricing levels and have reach but are unable to customise or tailor their offerings to specific verticals. The bulk of MSPs are much smaller, and specialist in technologies covered and markets, but need scale to build their profitability and have limited resources.

Other analysts Gartner claim that when compared to 2017, the entry criteria have become much harder and stringent. The focus has squarely shifted to hyperscale infrastructure providers, it says, and this has resulted in it dropping more than 14 vendors from its top players list. According to Gartner, there are no more visionaries and challengers left in the market; only a handful of leaders and niche players driving the momentum.

Among smaller players, the pace of competition has stepped up and they are feeling a major pressure to differentiate, either on skills, markets covered, geographical coverage or in customer relations. According to Gartner’s research director Mark Paine: “The key to a successful and differentiated business is to give customers what they want by helping them (the customer) buy.”

Jim Bowes, CEO and founder of digital agency ManifestoOne said that the way to win more customers is by showing them their place in the future

Bowes, Robert Belgrave, chief executive of digital agency hosting specialist Wirehive along with  Gartner’s Mark Paine will be addressing these and other marketing issues for MSPs at the UK Managed Services & Hosting Summit in London on 19 September.

A key part of the event will also be hearing from the experiences of MSPs themselves and looking at established winning ideas. Now in its eighth year, the UK Managed Services & Hosting Summit event will bring leading hardware and software vendors, hosting providers, telecommunications companies, mobile operators and web services providers involved in managed services and hosting together with Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and resellers, integrators and service providers migrating to, or developing their own managed services portfolio and sales of hosted solutions.

 

 

Matrix signs ICON as UK distribution partner

Posted on September 20, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220Global access control vendor ICON has been named as Matrix’s new UK distribution partner.

ICON already distributes the Matrix range of telephony solutions but has added the Access Control and Time and Attendance solutions to its portfolio in a bid to push into the healthcare and manufacturing area.

Mark Shane, Sales & Marketing Director of ICON, commented: “Our partnership with these solutions means that the UK reseller channel now has access to a very versatile and affordable range of access control solutions, which offer enterprise features at a lower investment stake. The biometric readers and from Matrix are already proving a hit with partners who have suffered from using inferior products in the past. Until now not freely available in the UK market, we believe that the Matrix solutions will become a significant revenue earner for our partners, displacing many of the traditional enterprise vendors from their preferred supplier position.”

Dhaval Bhagora, European Sales development at Matrix Comsec, said: “We are very pleased to have ICON on board distributing our Access Control solutions for us. We are very excited about our new relationship. We at Matrix recognise ICON’s abilities and pedigree and look forward to helping them achieve our goals for the UK market.”

Crayon scores Henkel contract

Posted on September 19, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220Crayon has taken over the Software Asset Management (SAM) for Henkel’s main software suppliers. Under the terms of the agreement, Crayon will provide both operational and strategic software license management for the Group’s clients and servers on a worldwide basis.

At Henkel, more than 53,000 employees work with a large variety of different application programs from various software manufacturers. The increasing complexity of software licensing also raises the risk of mis-licensing and mis-purchasing. This contradicts the Group’s efforts to ensure licensing compliance and to optimise software procurement and maintenance.

Henkel decided in favour of Crayon as it has a background with license management for major international corporations and many years of experience.

Irmgard Arends-Koch, Head of Service Integration at Henkel said: “”Together with Crayon, we want to ensure that Henkel is properly licensed and able to stand up to the legal review of manufacturers and auditors,” says. “We are pleased to have Crayon at our side as a strong and experienced partner.”

The common interest in achieving efficiency gains is also reflected in the services’ remuneration model, which rewards both actual savings and proven cost prevention.

 

 

Lenovo chats to channel about NetApp partnership

Posted on September 19, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220Lenovo has been talking to its channel partners about its planned partnership with NetApp as it prepares its Dell EMC counter attack.

The pair announced that they would be working together at the Lenovo Transform 2.0 event in New York. The stated aim was to  bring flash storage products to market and a joint venture in China to deliver localised solutions for that market was mentioned.

Kirk Skaugan, executive vice-president and president of the datacentre group at Lenovo, said the NetApp partnership would significantly broaden and solidify  the company’s growth in the datacentre business and help to improve profitability.  Lenovo was operating in every market such as telcos, MRI scanners ultrasound, wind turbines and embedded Xeon edge devices.

Lenovo used Tranform to reveal its ThinkShield security , which it has worked on with Intel. MobileIron and Absolute. There was a laptop launch with the firm adding the ThinkPad X1 Extreme to the high end range aiming it at ‘advanced users and prosumers’. We never understood what promusers meant, and suspect an expert at the University of Marchitecture thought it up.

 

 

 

Ignoring customers’ opinions can lead to more successful products

Posted on September 19, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220Jan van den Ende, Professor of Management of Technology and Innovation at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) has warned that customers opinions can only help the development of some products and services.

New functions or technology can be improved by customer opinion, but for products designed to suit the identity of the user, it can hinder their market success.

Van den Ende, alongside colleagues Marina Candi and Gerda Gemser, interviewed both the business and leading product managers of 132 recent innovation products to measure customer involvement against revenue and profitability.

Jan says: “Developing products in co-operation with customers is a fashionable practice in product design. If you involve customers repeatedly during the innovation process, their feedback is not bound by company history or only attached to current innovations, which makes them more creative. Yet our research found that this was only the case when customers were involved in the development of functions or technology in a product – for example by involving surgeons in the design of a new surgical instrument. This is because feedback from potential customers early in the design process helps to create the best functioning prototypes.

“When customers were involved in hedonic innovations, designed to create an emotional experience or suit the identity of the user such as a pair of fashionable shoes or a smartphone, the reverse was true. As Steve Jobs said, customers do not know what they want until we’ve shown them.”

When designing innovative hedonic – no not hedonistic – products, asking what customers want can actually reduce the chance of market success.

Jan says: “Innovations of an aesthetic nature, designed to convey emotional experience or express one’s identity, often rely on the element of surprise, which makes customer involvement more complicated. For these kinds of products, success is often the result of a more social process, with public opinion usually shaped by reviews and reception on social media. For example, who is endorsing the product and who hates it? These reactions can be hard to predict by involving customers at the design stage.” 

IaaS and PaaS combination attracts demand

Posted on September 18, 2018 by - News

Analyst outfit Gartner has highlighted growth in IaaS, PaaS and SaaS next year. There’s a real future in aaS.

After shuffling its collective tarot cards Big G decided that 2019 will deliver a 17.3 percent  increase in public cloud services, which will follow on from an expected 21 per cent  growth in 2018.

The majority of that growth in spending will be directed towards Infrastructure as a Service offerings but the analyst house is expecting that 90 percent of the customers who go for IaaS will do so from a provider that can also provide Platform as a Service.

Sid Nag, research director at Gartner said: “Demand for integrated IaaS and PaaS offerings is driving the next wave of cloud infrastructure adoption.”

“We expect that IaaS-only cloud providers will continue to exist in the future, but only as niche players, as organizations will demand offerings with more breadth and depth for their hybrid environments. Already, strategic initiatives such as digital transformation projects resulting in the adoption of multicloud and hybrid cloud fuel the growth of the IaaS market”, he added.

SaaS is also still an area expecting growth with Gartner forecasting 17.8 percent improvements in revenue next year.

Channel sees growth

Posted on September 18, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220Beancounters at analyst outfit Context have added up some numbers and reached the conclusion that the Channel has been doing rather well.

The Context ChannelWatch 2018 report surveyed resellers across 14 countries, including the UK and mainland Europe.

Brexit uncertianty caused the UK to buck the reseller optimism trend, with optimism about the year ahead lower than it was in 2017.

There were also signs in the report that the number of resellers had stabilised after a three  per cent decline last year. Nearly half of the firms surveyed had been going for more than 15 years, underlining that this is a mature market.

Drilling down into where the channel growth is coming from business services topped the list. It changes depending on area with manufacturing strong in the UK and Eastern Europe expecting retail to deliver the growth.

Context  global managing director Adam Simon said it was reassuring to see the IT channel as a whole in pretty good health as we head into the second half of 2018.

“However, despite the optimism in the market for the coming 12 months, challenges persist: not least in areas like financing, staff recruitment and retention, GDPR compliance and the threat to distribution posed by etailers”, he added.

 

CySure signs up Renaissance Contingency Services

Posted on September 18, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220Cybersecurity outfit CySure has signed up Renaissance Contingency Services as the company’s first distributor in Ireland.

The Dublin-based IT security and compliance experts will resell CySure’s information security management system, Virtual Online Security Officer (VOSO).  The agreement with Renaissance further extends Cysure’s international network of partners across the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the USA and the UK.

Michael Conway, Director at Renaissance Contingency Services, said:  “Every day, networks and businesses are being attacked by cybercriminals and we need to work alongside partners we can trust to guide organisations through today’s complex security and compliance landscape.  We selected CySure after evaluating the marketplace for a solution that would allow our partners and their customers to manage and demonstrate their compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) simply and effectively.  When combined with our 30-year track record in the industry, we can jointly offer the depth and strength of solutions and advice our partners need to grow their business while protecting themselves and their customers against the constant threat of cyber attacks.”

CySure has been accepted onto the UK Government’s G-Cloud 10 digital marketplace.  As part of that process, the security component of the GDPR was mapped into VOSO, providing an easy to follow, staged approach to GDPR along with all the policies and training videos necessary to complete the compliance process.

Joe Collinwood, Chief Executive Officer of CySure, added: “As Ireland’s premier IT security distributor and leading business continuity consultancy provider, Renaissance has an enviable reputation for delivering a robust set of solutions.  According to GCHQ research, 80 percent of cyber attacks are preventable when staff are trained regularly, and the right policies are in place.  VOSO is a complete information security management system which interprets government and industry standards to ensure the right steps are taken to keep data secure and organisations compliant.  This new partnership provides the potential for CySure and the IT channel to create a powerful, value proposition to keep Irish public sector organisations safe and secure.”

On 20th September, CySure and Renaissance will co-host a 45 minute webinar entitled “Cyber Security, GDPR and Local Government”.   During this interactive tutorial, attendees will learn about the main areas that make public sector organisations vulnerable to attacks such as staff and contractor changes, human error and weak internal processes.  They will also take away some simple, inexpensive ideas to facilitate their path to GDPR compliance including the need for continuous process monitoring; knowing when to engage external consultants to plug in knowledge and skills gaps while containing costs and a deeper understanding of executive legal responsibilities.

Veeam says sorry for the leaksCeeam

Posted on September 17, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220Veeam has said sorry to its partners after “human error” led to the exposure of millions of data records.

Veeam said that one of its marketing databases “may have been accessible to unauthorised third parties for a limited time due to human error”.

Security researcher Bob Diachenko uncovered the breach earlier this week, claiming that 445 million records were exposed as a result of a misconfigured server.

Veeam’s co-CEO Peter McKay, wrote to partners saying that as soon as the company validated the problem, it quickly secured the database. Once secured, it launched a full investigation into the scope of the incident and took corrective measures to reduce the risk of future such incidents.

“The exposed database contained non-sensitive marketing records, such as names and email addresses, and in some instances IP addresses. It is possible that this information was visible to an outside third party for a limited time. As soon as we validated the incident, we moved quickly to ensure the database was properly secured and to limit any further exposure. We are now actively investigating the matter to ensure that it does not happen again. As a company, we value honesty and openness, which is why I wanted to personally assure you that steps have been taken to prevent a similar issue from occurring in the future”, McKay wrote.

Students break the system from within

Posted on September 17, 2018 by - News

A report shows that most of attacks are perpetrated by students on their own institutions.

EfficientIP, a network protection company, whose Global DNS Threat Research (in its third year running), surveying 1,000 large businesses across nine countries, found that the threats facing the Education sector are even more damaging than suggested in this Government study.

The e Global DNS Threat Report said that the  average cost of DNS-based attacks in the Education sector is $690,000 per attack in the past 12 months.

The Education sector faced an average of seven attacks in the past twelve months. Cyber attacks cost the Education sector an average of $4 830 000.

More than 73 percent  of institutions took more than three days to apply a patch to a critical vulnerability.

The study found 41 percent  of respondents in the Education sector were vulnerable to DNS-based malware. More than any of the other nine sectors surveyed. In comparison DDoS attacks in the Education sector scored a quite low 18 percent.

Bloody students, eh?

 

Deeny gets channel role at IFS

Posted on September 17, 2018 by - Moving People, News

IFS has appointed  respected industry veteran Gabrielle Deeny to drive the company’s partner business.

She will lead the global alliances and channels programme, which will “strategically accelerate” the growth of IFS’s commercial channels, an area of increased priority for the company.

The company proclaims: “With a focus first on adding value to IFS customers, this growth will be accomplished by leveraging existing channels and creating new ones all the while ensuring partners continue to be rigorously vetted to provide customers with best-in-class solutions, services and support.

“With a background in international business, Deeny has a sound track record of reinventing business models, creating customer-centered value propositions and providing leadership in Forbes’ Global 2000 companies, including Microsoft, EMC, Wipro & ABB, where she was Global VP Alliances & Channel Sales.”

So what does Gabrielle say herself?

“This is an incredibly exciting time to be joining IFS, the extension of our portfolio of solutions through recent acquisitions and the establishment of a new leadership team all point toward the accelerated growth of the organisation. Our success will also be reliant on our partner ecosystem, ensuring we have the right mix of enabled and accredited partners is of paramount importance. IFS is in excellent shape to grow its global footprint through existing and new alliances. I look forward to working with the IFS team and our trusted partners to continue to deliver best-in-class solutions to our mutual customers.”

We think IFS needs a good sub or a copy editor – way too many stock phrases like ecosystem, global footprint, and best-in-class.  Perhaps there’s artificial intelligence at work here.

IIoT evolving

Posted on September 14, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220By offering third party enabled Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)-based products and solutions, industrial automation vendors have evolved to provide proprietary digital platforms via the Product-as-a-Service (PaaS) business model a new report claims.

Frost & Sullivan has added up some numbers and concluded that the trend of digitalisation in end-user industries prompted automation vendors to invest in IIoT technologies across diverse applications, and they are now looking to integrate these technologies to complement conventional automation systems and give end users better control over the systems’ functionality.

Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Rohit Karthikeyan who penned the report said that Industry 4.0 was disrupting the partnership ecosystem in industrial automation, with start-ups and independent software vendors (ISVs) partnering with automation vendors to develop digital capabilities and solutions.

“Automation vendors will aim to standardise their portfolios through M&As and partnerships, and drive growth in their respective business segments. The consolidation of their IIoT portfolios will result in the upselling and cross-selling of automation solutions and create fresh revenue streams.”

Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Global Industrial Automation Market Outlook, 2018, highlights the IIoT platform offerings of significant automation companies and compares their products and services. It underlines the role of start-ups with niche capabilities in operational and information technologies in 2017. The analysis also details the market landscape of the key participants in process automation, hybrid automation, and discrete automation markets.

“As the North American and European markets are in the midst of a downturn, vendors are focusing on the developing economies of Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America. Not only do these regions have a high number of greenfield projects, but they enjoy significant government support. More than 40 per cent of the end users in these markets are small- and medium-sized enterprises encouraging vendors to deliver cost-effective products and educate them on the value of IIoT-ready solutions in process optimisation and control”, Karthikeyan said.

In addition to maximising market expansion opportunities, proactive automation vendors will also explore opportunities in:

  • Forging strategic partnerships with pure-play IIoT providers to add value to their existing offerings and becoming a single point of contact for end users.
  • Diversifying into electrification products. Automation vendors have to focus on developing solutions that will enable traditional oil & gas companies to foray into the power business.
  • Promoting open-source controllers. The introduction of app logic controllers (ALC) has bolstered the market as the system is driven by open-source programming, wherein end users can download and use an app to control a specific application. This, in turn, has created revenue streams for app developers, hardware providers, and system integrators.
  • Shifting from hardware to software and services. Vendors can ease clients’ shift to digital technologies by minimising their investment risks by employing novel business models such as PaaS, pay-per-use, and licensing.