Author: Nick Farrell

HPE needs a new channel boss

Posted on August 21, 2020 by - News

Former maker of expensive printer ink, HPE, is looking for a new worldwide channel boss after the exit of the firm’s Dan Belanger.

The decision by Belanger, who has been with the vendor for 30 years was unexpected and led to a reshuffle that has seen Paul Hunter leave his channel role and step into Belanger’s shoes as North American manager.

A blog post from Heiko Meyer, chief sales officer at HPE had that Hunter had  consistently demonstrated a keen awareness of customer needs, effective leadership skills, and the drive to push for better.

GKN Automotive names Kesselgruber ePowertrain president

Posted on August 21, 2020 by - News

GKN Automotive has announced Dirk Kesselgruber as the new president of its ePowertrain division.

Kesselgruber job is boosting the already rapidly expanding GKN eDrive business. He reports directly to GKN Automotive’s Chief Executive Officer, Liam Butterworth and joins from Schaeffler AG, where he was President of the Chassis Systems business.

Kesselgruber follows over 20 years of experience in senior roles in the global automotive industry, including posts at BMW, TRW Automotive and ZF.

Nvidia enhances partner programme

Posted on August 20, 2020 by - News

GPU maker Nvidia has announced a number of enhancements to its partner programme.

The new additions to the Nvidia Partner Network, which is apparently is comprises 1,500 members have been designed to boost opportunities for training, collaboration and sales, the firm says, while also ensuring the possibility of future expansion.

Alvin Da Costa, Vice President of Nvidia’s Global Partner Organisation, said that the new programme enhancements enable future expansion as Mellanox and Cumulus partner programmes are set to be integrated into NPN throughout 2021.

Beller gets new top role at TIBCO

Posted on August 20, 2020 by - News

TIBCO announced the appointment of Tony Beller, the company’s new senior vice president of worldwide partner ecosystems and OEM sales.

In his new role, Beller will work to build new markets with the partner ecosystem, drive revenue, and ensure customer success through partners, including service providers, resellers, system integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs), OEM partners, and technology partners.

With over 20 years of experience in IT channels and alliances, Beller brings with him an established skillset to help strengthen and augment TIBCO’s partner programme. Prior to TIBCO, Beller helped Anaplan build its strategic partner ecosystem to drive its partner business globally and launched new “go-to-market” channels.

Prior to Anaplan, Beller was the Chief Channel Officer at ServiceNow, where his organisation was responsible for driving while managing an extensive partner ecosystem.

ConnectWise puts out two education programmes

Posted on August 20, 2020 by - News

ConnectWise has announced two new cybersecurity educational offerings: IT Nation Secure and the ConnectWise Certify Advanced playbook and courses.

The offerings will arm technology solution providers (TSPs) and managed service providers (MSPs) with the knowledge and skills needed to build and improve their security posture for their clients.

The inaugural IT Nation Secure conference will be held virtually and will take place 14-15  October during Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The conference will include multiple keynotes, breakout sessions, security briefings, live labs, tabletop exercises, and more.

Cisco’s Rola Dagher is Dell’s Channel chief

Posted on August 19, 2020 by - News

Dell Technologies announced Rola Dagher as its new global channel chief, reporting into Bill Scannell, Dell Technologies president, global sales and customer operations.

Dagher will lead Dell Technologies’ global partner strategy, vision, enablement, programme design and experience. She begins her new role 7 September.

Dagher returns to Dell after three years as president of Cisco Systems Canada. Prior to Cisco, Dagher held sales and leadership roles in Dell’s Enterprise segment and Infrastructure Solutions Group. Prior to that, Dagher helped lead the channel for Bell Canada for 13 years.

Dagher succeeds Joyce Mullen, who after a 21-year career at Dell, announced her departure in July. 

Brexit could put UK auto industry in the bin

Posted on August 19, 2020 by - News

UK auto industry linked businesses are going to take a hammering from any hard Brexit, warned analyst outfit GlobalData

David Leggett, Automotive Analyst at GlobalData, warned that the UK automotive sector was facing decimated sales due to the COVID-19 crisis, the very real possibility of no-deal on free trade between the UK and EU when the Brexit transition period ends at the end of the year would be a double whammy that seriously jeopardises recovery, competitiveness and future investment.

Registration opens for CompTIA

Posted on August 19, 2020 by - News

CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the global technology industry, announced the opening of registration for its 2020 EMEA Member and Partner Conference.

The free virtual conference, scheduled for 13-14 October, is open to all companies that are involved in the business of technology; and educators, instructors, trainers and other individuals interested in trends impacting the tech workforce across EMEA.

CompTIA executive vice president for events and education Kelly Ricker said: “Technology companies and IT professionals have stepped to the forefront, providing the expertise and resources to help a changing world make its way through these unprecedented times,” said But the business of technology is not without its own challenges. During our EMEA Member and Partner Conference we will explore how tech companies can meet customers’ future needs and address their growing

Retail tech might save the sector

Posted on August 18, 2020 by - News

It has been two months since Britain’s retail sector opened its doors for the first time after almost three months in lockdown due to COVID-19, which triggered an unprecedented transformation of the retail sector and has given way to a new era of retail operations and consumer behaviour.

The latest figures suggest that the retail sector is recovering well, remaining robust in July for two months of consecutive growth which has taken the sector back to pre-lockdown levels of sales. However, with the UK falling into recession and high-street giants shuttering stores and losing staff, companies across the country are scrambling to pivot and transform their operations to succeed in the new landscape.

Will Broome, Founder and CEO of retail-tech company Ubamarket, has been helping companies to revolutionise their operations by integrating with mobile technology. 

Data protection DIY is not always the best plan

Posted on August 18, 2020 by - News

IT teams are struggling with choosing between less critical, but important tasks, versus focusing on projects to help transform their business, according to  Sarah Doherty, Product Marketing Manager at iland.

She said that while both are necessary for your business and need to be actioned few are thinking should their teams do all of it?

Doherty said disaster recovery can take a lot of time to properly implement so it may be the right time to consider a third-party provider who can help with some of the more routine and technical aspects of your disaster recovery planning. This help can free up some of your staff’s valuable time while also safeguarding your vital data.

OutSystems gets new CTO

Posted on August 18, 2020 by - News

OutSystems has named Patrick Jean (pictured) as Chief Technology Officer and June Duchesne as General Counsel.

Patrick Jean joins the OutSystems senior leadership team as CTO with more than 20 years of engineering leadership experience in prominent roles at Citrix, Apttus, and Microsoft. Most recently, he was VP of Unified Cloud Engineering at Citrix, where he tripled the size of the cloud engineering team. Jean is a proven leader in cloud technology, with experience bringing innovative products to market, driving strategic direction, and leading organisational development. In his role as CTO, Jean is leading the global engineering team and OutSystems continued investment in innovation. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from McNeese State University.

Nearly every company experienced a cyber attack last year

Posted on August 14, 2020 by - News

Most companies experienced a cyber attack last year with more than two thirds hitting vital operational technology, according to a new Forrester report

The research, commissioned by Tenable, found that 63 percent of the 103 UK respondents had witnessed a dramatic rise in business-impacting cyber-attacks in the last two years.

In many cases, these attacks had severely damaging effects, from loss of employee data (44 percent) and financial loss or theft (36 percent), to customer attrition (34 percent ).

Two thirds of the surveyed UK security leaders claimed that these attacks also involved operational technology (OT).

Cisco abandons direct sales

Posted on August 14, 2020 by - News

Networking giant Cisco said it will move away from direct sales by the end of 2020 and export its entire product portfolio on a subscription basis.

The outfit claims it will make cost savings of $1 billion per year, including its core networking hardware portfolio.

The company said it  will accelerate its transition of the majority of its portfolio to an ‘as a service’ distribution model, with a view to shifting the majority of its products away from direct sales by the end of the calendar year.

CEO Chuck Robbins, speaking to investors in the wake of fairly disappointing quarterly financial results, said that Cisco plans to accelerate its investments in key strategic areas including cloud security, cloud collaboration, increased automation in the enterprise, as well as application insights and analytics.

MSPs keep the flag flying

Posted on August 14, 2020 by - News

A SolarWinds MSP study shows that most of them have held their staffing at pre-pandemic levels

The report with the catchy title “ Covid-19: Impact and response” said that 59 percent  of managed service players have applied for government financial relief programmes, but at the same time, 80 percent  have held their staffing levels at pre-pandemic levels.

The firm surveyed MSPs across Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand to find out not only how the last few months have been, but what their plans are for the future.

The majority (66 percent ) said they had gone the extra mile for customers during COVID-19, with many offering delayed payments, temporary discounts and some going as far as to reduce the services offered to match shrinking user budgets.

7digital teams up with Triller

Posted on August 13, 2020 by - News

B2B end-to-end digital music outfit 7digital has signed a new contract with Triller to power what it claims is the world’s fastest growing social music video app with its Music Platform-as-a-Service offering.

Triller has more than 250 million downloads and works with some of the biggest global artists, counting Snoop Dog, The Weeknd, Marshmello and Lil Wayne as strategic investors.

Last week it overtook TikTok and issued a release citing data from analytics firm Sensor Tower, to announce that its app has hit No.1 in all categories on the App store in 50 countries, including the United States, UK, Brazil, Germany, France and Australia. In India, it has already become the a major social platform following the ban on TikTok last month.