SMB Nation Blog

WatchGuard Technologies today announced that it has named Prakash Panjwani, formerly of SafeNet, as its new CEO. In addition, Panjwani and current CEO Mike Kohlsdorf will both be joining the company’s Board of Directors.

Panjwani brings with him 12 years of experience at SafeNet. During his time there, he moved from the GM and SVP of the Data Protection sector, to the position of CEO. He also presided over the acquisition of 12 companies, including Cryptocard, and helped the company adapt to emerging sales models.

D&H Distributing and MakerBot today announced that it has signed a distribution agreement, which will allow D&H to sell MakerBot 3D printers and scanners to a wide range of verticals. As many of you know from our past coverage of D&H, the PA-based disty is laser-focused on new technologies and the education opportunity for resellers.

In fact, today’s announcement will enable D&H to add the 3D printers and scanners to its K-12 education offerings, and product training via D&H’s well-respected Solution Lab. As of this writing, MakerBot has its 3D printers and scanners in over 5000 educational institutions, and the company was one of the first 3D printer manufacturers to make the technology more affordable.

Security-as-a-Service provider My Digital Shield announced today Caleb Sima, executive chairman co-founder of Blueblox Security, has joined MDS’ advisory board.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Caleb to our advisory board and are confident that his unparalleled expertise in web security technologies will be a significant asset to our team,” MDS CEO Andrew Bagrin said. “His understanding of the field and insight into emerging trends will be a driving force in helping expand MDS’ growth.”

Sima has more than 20 years of experience in the web security industry, and was chosen for his ability to expand MDS’s expertise within the security space and accelerate growth in IT channel and SMB markets.

Information and biographies on MDS advisory board members are available here.

Now it’s real. In just 90-days, the end-of-support (EOS) deadline for Windows Server 2003 will arrive. That milestone represents both a threat, and an opportunity. The threat is that, much like Windows XP, you’ll ignore the deadline for both time convenience, and the belief you don’t have any Windows Server 2003 machines in your portfolio. For MSPs, this is compounded by managing multiple sites and/or should you go hunt down W2K3 Server sites? Part of this deadline arrogance (and ignorance) is based on recent history, where “nothing bad happened” after the Windows XP EOS (ummm…just ask Home Depot how well that worked out).

Clearly, you know the talking points concerning W2K3 Server EOS. Now the opportunity. What are you going to do? There are two realistic migration paths: Cloud (Office 365 for example) and Hybrid IT.

Avnet Technology Solutions announced today it expanded its portfolio of cost-effective cloud-ready solutions to include Office in the Cloud services from Intermedia.

“Avnet’s new alliance with Intermedia further enables our Avnet Cloud Solutions team to supply our partners with strategic guidance, resources and packaged offerings to quickly build and grow subscription- and consumption-based cloud solutions for their customers,” said Tim FitzGerald, vice president of Cloud Solutions, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas. “The addition of Intermedia to Avnet’s ecosystem of world-class cloud providers and unmatched training and enablement make it easier, more efficient and more cost-effective than ever for partners to transition their customers to cloud-based environments.”

The Office in the Cloud suite includes email and phone systems, file sync and share, identity and access management, archiving, security and mobility. More information about the partnership is available here.

We received an email this morning from Jeff Shuey, our contact at the International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners (IAMCP) with exciting news about the group’s next two chapter meetings in Bellevue, WA. The first meeting is coming up this Thursday!

You can join the IAMCP team in welcoming BitTitan’s West Region Territory Manager, Terry Emmingham, as he discusses the cloud opportunity and migration scenarios. This meeting will be held at the Microsoft Civica Building in Bellevue, WA from 11:30am – 1:00pm, April 16. Registration is open for this event at the site here.

If you can’t make the April event, the IAMCP group has a special breakfast meeting set for Thursday, May 21, at which Jenn Matthews of Microsoft will host an interactive briefing.

Intel Security commissioned the report “Tackling Attack Detection and Incident Response” from Enterprise Strategy Group, examining companies’ security strategies, cyber-attack environment, incident response challenges and needs.

Almost 30 percent of security incidents are targeted attacks, and a slow or inadequate response results in loss of sensitive data.

“Just as the medical profession must deliver heart-attack patients to the hospital within a ‘golden hour’ to maximize likelihood of survival, the security industry must work towards reducing the time it takes organizations to detect and deflect attacks, before damage is inflicted,” said Chris Young, General Manager at Intel Security. “This requires that we ask and answer tough questions on what is failing us, and evolve our thinking around how we do security.”

The survey found respondents are calling for better integration between security tools, improved analytics, help to contextualize data captured, increased expertise and automation to enhance action.

The survey, available here, included 700 IT security professionals at mid-market and enterprise organizations.

Altera Joins Industrial Internet Consortium

Altera Corporation announced today it joined the Industrial Internet Consortium, an industry organization focused on facilitating development of an Internet of Things global ecosystem.

"Altera technology will enable the IIC to look at innovative ways to support accelerated intelligent cloud and gateway platforms that collect and process the input from a wide variety of 'things' at the edge of the network," said David Moore, director, Industrial Business Unit at Altera. "These platforms can benefit significantly from Altera's hardware and software programmability, which can flexibly service fragmented application needs while offering the performance to cost-effectively accelerate analytics and security in the data center and IoT infrastructure."

Altera brings to IIC its FPHA and SoC products and experience, which offer designers the ability to securely bridge wired and wireless interface standards across a range of IoT applications. It will work with other consortium members to build out the Industrial Internet, a network of intelligent devices and sensors.

Powerstorm ESS announced today mobile technology expert Rich Lane joined its board of advisors.

Lane, president of Entrepreneurial Ventures and general partner of Radio Spectrum Partners, has honed startup management and consulting skills after spending more than 30 years building businesses and maximizing shareholder value in the mobile technology industry.

"We are happy to have Rich as part of the team to grow our company," Powerstorm CEO Mike Freni, said. "He has the wisdom that comes with many years of business experience, and I'm confident that he will use that to help Powerstorm most effectively provide power to those people in the world currently living in energy poverty."

Lane said he looks forward to using his skills and experience to assist Powerstorm.

“The work that this company is doing, utilizing their innovative energy storage technologies to enable wireless communications for people who have been previously power-deprived, is full of potential and possibility,” Lane said.

Sadly, we’ve lost a pivotal member of the Small and Medium Business (SMB) IT Pro community. Read on, as this isn’t your normal mention of someone’s passing. This is about Dino White who, earlier this week, succumbed to the effects of a major stroke suffered approximately 18-months ago.

Some readers will recall we originally reported on Dino’s stroke in late October 2013 here and here.  

Pictured: Dino White with Eric Ligman

Dino was an SBSer (a Small Business Server enthusiast). He attended several SMB Nation workshops and conferences, and he was one of our leading customers. He had the perfect bi-lingual balance between business acumen and a technical skill set. One day you’d see Dino in an Intel-branded vPro golf shirt and the next day he’d be wearing a collared shirt in his hometown of New York City attending a business marketing symposium at the Harvard Club (I was there with him). Dino, as a small business owner himself (owned and operated Dicyn Solutions for over ten years) also held the entrepreneurial attributes of being a finder (get the business), minder (manage the business) and grinder (do the work) that is an extremely rare skill set. Turns out Dino, who was soft spoken and humble, was also a star football player in college at Eastern Carolina University (Go Pirates!) and went on to earn a Master’s in Communications at Emerson in the early 1990s.

By Seth Robinson, Senior Director of Technology Analysis for CompTIA

With smaller budgets and fewer resources, efficiency and cost reducing improvements continue to remain top priorities with small and mid-size businesses. Those are two chief reasons SMB organizations put so much focus on implementing new technologies and improving their existing platforms. Of course, finding the right price/benefit balance isn’t easy for the companies that try to do it on their own.

Only 17% of small businesses are truly satisfied with their existing technology platforms and solutions. 55% of them also included new client acquisition among their top priorities and, recognizing that the competitive environment and customer behaviors are radically shifting, understand they need to change. This information, as well as a detailed account of the opportunities in this space can be found in the latest CompTIA Research report: Enabling SMBs with Technology.

Small business owners and managers know that technology can be the great equalizer, giving them the ability to take on much larger competitors without breaking their budgets. That’s true whether implementing a new backup and data recovery solution or moving their servers and all their capabilities to the cloud. The efficiencies and flexibility those systems provide can be a real game changer for any business, regardless of size. Channel partners who can define the specific needs of their clients and match them with the most appropriate technologies will likely enjoy the most success. In the SMB space, the solution providers and agents who can cost-effectively provide those types of solutions can expect their client numbers to swell.

Enterprise Management Associates, an IT and data management research and consulting firm, released today “What is the Future of IT Service Management?,” a report that found IT service management is needed more than ever as the IT industry becomes increasingly service-centered.

“Research is always an exploration—you never know for sure just what you’ll find. So it was exciting to see how strongly this research data reinforces the value of a more progressive and transformative approach to ITSM technologies, processes, and organizational interactions across all of IT,” vice president of research Dennis Drogseth said.

With almost 50 percent of ITSM organizations set to grow, the research suggests a progressive or reactive track for ITSM teams, with separate profiles and investment platforms.

The full report is available here, and journalists can request a complimentary copy This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Energy management specialist Schneider Electric announced the release of PowerChute Network Shutdown v4.0, which includes advanced redundancy capabilities and a new Uninterruptible Power Supply configuration option.

The UPS configuration option enables IT personnel to manage and monitor multiple groups of redundant UPSs and add increased redundancy for IT equipment when necessary.

“Due to the growing trend of virtualization, IT architectures have evolved into increasingly complex systems, with many IT managers struggling with how to not only manage but protect their multiple servers across varying locations,” said Paul Bohan, vice president, network management, IT business, Schneider Electric. “PowerChute Network Shutdown v4.0’s seamless integration, migration and shutdown capabilities give IT managers the peace of mind that their entire virtualized and physical IT infrastructure is protected from potential power events or outages – no matter their location.”

The software provides IT managers with control of movement of virtual machines and can be integrated with VMware vCenter and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

PowerChute Network Shutdown v4.0 is available for download here.

Over the past year, we’ve discretely developed what we hope has become one of the world’s leading Office 365 independent portals (o365nation.com). And we want, and need, you to participate to make it better!

First some context. We’re not the only Office 365 portal in the world. In fact, we’re not the biggest. Microsoft itself can lay claim to hosting the largest go-to Office 365 portals. For your benefit, I’ve listed three here that you should consider participating in:

• Office 365 Community Forums.
• Office 365 IT Pro Network (Yammer group with 50K+ members).
• Office 365 Partner Network (Yammer group with 14k+ members).

To understand Microsoft’s role in the community, I’ll share a recent conversation:

A vendor asked: “what is the best site in the world for having a conversation with Microsoft channel partners/MSPs about Windows Server?” My response was easy: partner.microsoft.com. The punch line is that Microsoft sites don’t accept vendor sponsored advertising. LOL.

What makes our Office 365 Nation (aka O365nation.com) community different from Microsoft’s leading site? It’s very simple. We are INDEPENDENT. We’re staffed with like-mind IT Pros who are bilingual (geek and business). We’re analysts. We are your Office 365 community ombudsman. Being Seattle-based, we’re ready, able and willing to represent your best interests by putting our independent foot forward. We frequently share your questions and concerns with Microsoft on its carpet in Redmond!
Next steps!

Visit O365nation.com and just read our independent content. Offer up your feedback. And then SIGN-UP to participate in our community. The link is right at the top: SUBSCRIBE!

See you there and enjoy the Office 365 ride.

Paessler AG recently announced that it will be releasing the 100 sensor license of PRTG Network Monitor for free to home users, SMBs and startups. This will be a full version of the product.

What’s the reasoning? Well, Paessler, a Germany-based Network Monitoring solutions specialist, is noticing the rapid growth rate of IT infrastructure, and recognizing that smaller enterprises, SMBs and home users are struggling to keep up with the demands. In addition, many of the startups and smaller enterprises are finding that existing solutions are not only out of their budget, but their staff requirements as well, needing more complicated setup.

By Pete Engler, Digium

Technology can make your customers productive, save them money, and help them stay ahead of their competitors. The right technology, introduced to the market at the right time, can also make innovative vendors and manufacturers (and resellers) lots of money. For the last few decades, technology has been innovating and evolving at breakneck speed with some manufacturers constantly trying to come up with the “next” big thing, while others are just trying to keep up. In the consumer market, we see the tech-buying craze in action every time a new smartphone or tablet is released. In the business market, the spending fury is often a bit slower, given the sales process is much harder for new technology, particularly if the price tag is high. Even so, business consumers continue to crave new, better technology. As the business market demands technology advancements (that sometimes contradicts sales cycles), maybe it’s worth asking these two questions: Is all technology sellable? And, what role do resellers play in the innovation-to-market decision process?

Unisys Corporation announced today its Forward! Model 4150B server is now certified for operating the SAP HANA platform, giving clients the ability to deploy real-time data analytics applications.

"This certification is the latest step in Unisys' initiative to provide clients with real-time analytics solutions based on SAP software on the Forward! platform," said Rob Cashman, vice president, Mission-Critical Servers and Solutions, Unisys. "We are excited to deliver solutions running on SAP HANA that enable clients to benefit from the superior performance, reliability, availability and security that Forward! offers."

The single-node, bare-metal server configuration will enable clients to run SAP HANA in the bare-metal environment, with other application workloads running in a partitioned environment managed by Unisys’ secure partitioning software.

This certification complements the existing suite of Unisys programs supporting SAP software.

Mavenir Systems, a software-based networking solutions provider, announced today its virtualized VoLTE application solution was launched by Vodafone Germany.

“We are pleased to have partnered with Vodafone to successfully launch such a critical service,” said Pardeep Kohli, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mavenir Systems. “Mavenir’s VoLTE solution provides the foundation for the transformation to a low-cost, consolidated all-IP network that will enable service innovation, as well as converged consumer and enterprise features across mobile and fixed market segments.” T

his solution, according to Vodafone Germany, will allow Vodafone to offer fast connection and high-quality HD voice to its customers. Vodafone Germany CTO Eric Kuisch said the company plans to add new features to enhance the service experience.

There has been a lot of talk about how partners can and should adapt to the rise of cloud-based software, with particular focus on how to replace revenue from sources like on-site server and software installations Harry had a 3-part series on the issue a few months ago, and many other knowledgeable sources have written and spoken about it. In short, the transition to the cloud is happening, and is even picking up speed. This means that partners need to adapt in order to capitalize on the transition. Smart partners are finding new ways to attach revenue to cloud-based software like Office 365. That’s where our friends at attachedapps come in.

Aria Systems completed its inaugural global conference on recurring revenue, Monetize2015, and amassed seven tips it believes are key to moving from basic billing into monetization.

First, Aria Systems suggests successful programs place emphasis on customer lifetime value, working to cultivate long-term relationships.

Encouraging retention is important, and Aria offers focusing on long-term retention and upsell and customizing the dunning experience.

By Jonathan Levine

Many of you may have a grandparent or relative who still holds onto Depression-era fears that their money isn’t safe in the bank. Some of them may actually even keep their money under their mattresses or hidden in their freezer. Never mind the FDIC or all the other advances that made banks far more secure—or that a house fire was far more likely than a run on a modern bank.

Anyone who understands modern banking knows that their money is safer within institutions that are dedicated to protecting it. But what all-too-few businesses realize is that there’s a clear analogy between keeping your money under your mattress and storing your data in an on-premises server.

A leaked link to Dropbox’s developing Hackpad-like note-taking application allowed some users to test the new product before it was pulled, PC Magazine freelance writer David Murphy said.

According to TechCrunch, Murphy wrote, Dropbox isn’t quite ready to release information on its “Project Composer.”

Users who accessed the link to “Project Composer” found on Product Hunt were pleased with the appearance of Composer, noting its typography and clean interface.

This variant, Murphy said, is said to be more closely tied to Dropbox than the Hackpad online note-taking service.

Murphy’s full article is available here.

By Raymond Vrabel, Director, Technical Account Management, Continuum Managed IT Services

The third installment of a new monthly blog series offering tips and best practices on various ways MSPs can help their SMB clients work through the most challenging daily business issues.

In last month’s installment of “Better Call an MSP,” I discussed how to hire employees that will be effective and will go the distance long-term. This month, let’s talk about clients that might be costing you money. These clients may be potentially non-profitable to your business because they’re either not on board with your new business model, or they aren’t willing to make suggested technology and business changes that you are recommending, including standardizing on an IT services provider, hardware and set pricing.

Let’s examine a few steps to see if you can both come to a mutual agreement when it comes to these recommended changes.

eFolder recently announced the general availability of its eFolder BDR for Veeam solution in the US and Canada. This solution was developed specifically for IT Partners, and will allow MSPs and VARs to add off-site BDR services to any Veeam software deployment.

So what does it do? The eFolder BDR for Veeam utilizes Veeam’s Availability Suite v8 software to replicate backup images to the eFolder cloud, with multiple options for restoration in the event of a disaster.

Autopilot announced today more than 1,000 companies have created personalized marketing journeys on its multi-channel marketing automation platform one month after its launch.

Autopilot’s platform allowed these businesses to create customized emails, texts and postcards and track more than 1.3 million user activities from 1.7 million contacts in real time.

“Our early traction makes it clear that businesses of all sizes want to realize the original dream of multi-channel marketing automation,” said co-founder and CEO Mike Sharkey. “These types of tools no longer need to be confined to the tech elite. We’re leveling the playing field for marketers everywhere by delivering software that’s easy yet powerful.”

Industries served include consulting, e-commerce, technology and financial services.

EarthLink Holding Corp. announced today it has appointed Gerard Brossard as executive vice president and managing director of managed services and information technology, replacing current executive VP Michael Toplisek. Brossard’s previous employment includes Visa Inc. and HP.

Executive vice president and CFO Bradley Ferguson will move to executive vice president and managing director, small business and consumer, and Louis Alterman, executive vice president of strategy, operations and transformation will fill Ferguson’s role.

"Mike Toplisek has been a great asset to EarthLink. We are very grateful to him for his dedicated service to EarthLink and we will miss his talent and enthusiasm,” CEO Joseph Eazor said, "Gerard Brossard is a fantastic addition to our management team and Louis and Brad are ideally experienced for their new positions.  I look forward to working with them in their new roles as we continue with our strategy to be a leading managed network, security, and cloud service provider. And while I will have much more information to share on our earnings call in early May, I am pleased with how our first quarter results are demonstrating our continuing progress in executing this strategy." 

Earlier today, ECi Software Solutions announced that it has acquired SaaS RMM solution developer, Naverisk. This news marks another step in ECi Software’s mission to empower SMBs by offering a full range of services. Current Naverisk CEO, Jon Kalaugher, will remain on with ECi Software as President of the Naverisk division.

“While we were not looking to sell, when approached by ECi it became quickly apparent that our companies had numerous synergies and were like minded in our strategic approach to business expansion and customer care. Like Naverisk, ECi is committed to the IT sector and the continued goal of providing technology solutions that will fuel the success of small and medium sized businesses. Joining ECi provides us with a framework for even more accelerated growth and the tremendous opportunity to create world-class solutions for MSPs,” Kalaugher said in a press release today.

The perception gap between how effective businesses think their marketing strategies are and the customer’s experience is wide, with 80 percent of consumers saying the average brand doesn’t understand them as an individual.

IBM today announced results of the IBM and Econsultancy study, “Listening to the Customer: 7 New Research Findings,” which discovered deep divides between consumers and companies. The gap between the two results in costly loss of revenue for shopping websites and service providers, among others.

Successful marketers will combine the online and offline presence of the company, creating a continuous, exceptional experience. Investing in marketing innovations, IBM Commerce general manager Deepak Advani said, will give teams the ability to gain insight to demographic and experience information vital for personalizing consumers’ experiences and retaining business.

“The fundamental thinking behind digital marketing has shifted. The goal of providing the right message to the right person at the right time is now just a part of the larger puzzle. The real challenge is providing the right experience for the right person at a time that’s right for them,” said Stefan Tornquist, Vice President Research for the Americas at Econsultancy. “At the center of it all is the marriage of marketing and technology and a commitment to innovation that’s driven by individual customer needs.”

Two parallel online surveys including marketers from more than 275 consumer companies and 1,135 consumers, respectively, contributed to the development of the report, available in full here.

The best kept secret inside Microsoft just got better. There is a neat little content marketing program for its partners through the Microsoft Community Connections site. Through this program, Microsoft Partners can access free marketing content twice per month for use to drive demand generation within their business. These tips are designed to help Microsoft Influencer Partners become the trusted IT Advisor in their geographic area.

These tips can be used as a supplement to the Partner’s existing blog lineup or for use in the company’s newsletters and email marketing. Here’s the process for joining in 90 seconds:

Cloud4Wi, a cloud-based Wi-Fi engagement platform, announced today the launch of Cloud4Wi Mobile Management, which provides remote access to its platform to control Wi-Fi marketing campaigns remotely.

“Consumers today expect a great mobile experience. Around half of customers will search for deals and coupons online before making an in-store purchase, about the same amount that will use a Wi-Fi enabled mobile device to do so,” CEO Andrea Calcagno said.. “Brands not leveraging Guest Wi-Fi are missing out when it comes to creating an enhanced experience for shoppers. Cloud4Wi Mobile Management means retailers are always up-to-date on the latest in-store trends even when on the go. This allows them to make changes to their Guest Wi-Fi strategies, create a more customized marketing experience for shoppers and increase loyalty to positively impact their bottom line.”

Cloud4Wi Mobile Management is designed to provide retailers with information on customer Wi-Fi usage and demographics to capitalize on connected customers.

SMB Security-as-a-Service provider My Digital Shield announced today Jason Graf joined its executive team as vice president of operations, a role in which Graf will provide operational oversight for implementation, management and support of MDS services.

“My Digital Shield has offered me the opportunity to leverage my background in IT security, particularly within the SMB space, to aid both partners and their customers in maximizing usage of MDS’ security solutions,” Jason Graf said. “I look forward to helping grow our team’s expertise within the always intriguing world of IT security.”

Graf most recently worked at The IT Company LLC as director of project services, and MDS CEO Andrew Bagrin said his extensive experience in IT and project management is vital to the growing MDS executive team.

BitTitan today launched a new service for its channel partners. The Partner Advisory Service enables company partners to receive advice on any data/email migration project from BitTitan’s Cloud Rangers, making it easier for the partner to move clients to Office 365.

Pictured: Opening ceremonies at BitTitan’s new offices.

Continuum released today Continuity247, a fully-managed backup platform built on the IBM cloud and supported by its Network Operations Center that proactively ensures smooth backups for SMB clients.

“Continuum has been answering the critical call for a backup solution in the market since 2011, but the market has evolved considerably, and we understand that our partners and their clients need more today in serving the complete SMB market,” said Michael George, CEO of Continuum. “Backup continues as an essential component of our partners’ businesses, so it continues as a core component of Continuum’s IT services model. Continuity247 is the backup solution for today and for the future, enabling MSPs to own and control cloud backup as the strategic on ramp to the cloud.”

ThreatTrack Security, a cyber-threat prevention solution provider, published today “Negotiating with Cybercriminals,” a study that revealed 30 percent of security professionals recommend negotiating with cybercriminals for return of stolen data or restoration of files.

"ThreatTrack research reveals a surprising number of security pros would concede to cybercriminal demands to avoid the consequences of data compromise, loss or misappropriation," said ThreatTrack Senior Vice President Stuart Itkin. "Whether data is stolen by sophisticated Advanced Persistent Threats or targeted attacks, or lost due to ransomware infection, enterprises need to reevaluate their cybersecurity strategies to incorporate the latest advanced threat defenses and become obsessive about backing up their data. Rapid detection and elimination of threats, and the ability to restore encrypted data, will neutralize the incentives that are driving cybercrime extortion and help ensure security professionals will not have to face this difficult choice."

This week GoDaddy is going to join the volatile public equity markets as a listed company via its initial public offering (IPO). It’s the natural step for a company that has grown very quickly in the online consumer, small and medium space. It’s known for its “chippy” attitude, with its racy advertisements and NASCAR sponsorship. I would offer it’s also poised to dominate the Office 365 conversation moving forward in 2Q 2015.

All sins forgiven

As I researched GoDaddy for this blog (for example, here), I found it behaving like many retails facing tech titans. Analysts appear to be giving it the Amazon exemption for cumulative losses exceeding well over a half-billion in the past 36-months. It’s clearly a case of investing forward and overall analysts are surprisingly optimistic about its $18/share range. Think of the IPO as a balance sheet angel that forgives all sins and arms GoDaddy to practice the art of war in the battle for Office 365 dominance.

ForensicSoft announced it released today SAFE Block for Windows 8, a software write-blocking product that facilitates quick and safe acquisition and analysis of disk or flash storage media attached to a Windows PC. The Win8 edition also protects users from the SSD TRIM/UnMap/Sanitize functionalities Windows 8 natively supports.

SAFE Block is designed to provide protection for myriad fields including law enforcement, military, forensic examiners and IT security and litigation support professionals. Notable features include its speed, convenience and affordability, according to ForensicSoft.

NetSuite, Inc. , an industry provider of cloud-based financials, enterprise resource planning and omnichannel commerce software suites, announced today its NetSuite OneWorld unified cloud business management suite was implemented at Netbiscuits, a provider of multiscreen web analytics tools for digital marketers.

OneWorld is replacing Sage Finance and Order Processing solutions, as well as multiple Excel spreadsheets. Netbiscuits chose OneWorld for its scalability, flexibility and agility, according to NetSuite.

Netsurion recently announced that it has added industry veteran, Mark Bartig, to its team, as the company’s new Senior Vice President of Sales. He previously spent 10 years on the Symantec team, and brings with him years of corporate strategy experience in the SMB space.

This was actually the major push for Netsurion to add Bartig to its team. The Houston, TX-based provider of Cloud IT Security services is looking to expand into the SMB space, wherein there is a quickly-growing market opportunity.

Appcara’s turnkey software-defined application platform AppStack has been renamed App360 with inclusion of enhanced CloudStack and OpenStack capacity limit controls in version 3.12.

"The name App360 better communicates the holistic, 360-degree nature of our product," said John Yung, Appcara CEO and founder. "App360's deep integration with cloud computing platforms like OpenStack and CloudStack, along with its end-to-end feature set, allows users to deploy and manage mission-critical applications in the cloud with complete visibility and control."

Pervasip Corp. announced today it closed agreement to acquire 90 percent of the issued and outstanding equity of Canalytix LLC, an energy and resource solutions provider.

"We are excited to complete this transaction and leverage our historical technology development experience to gain entry into an exciting and rapidly growing business," Pervasip CEO Paul Riss said. "Canalytix is positioning its offering to meet the specific needs of indoor grow facilities, and the company has allied itself with a Denver-based distributer of hydroponic equipment to integrate and provide the Canalytix technology to existing clients."

CompTIA recognized yesterday Mike Brogan, past president and owner of Erb’s Technology Solutions in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for his contributions to the IT channel community with the 2015 “Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Brogan has more than 40 years of experience in the IT industry, and is recognized nationwide as an expert in how SMBs can use IT for a competitive advantage.

“Mike is a well-respected IT services pioneer and true channel ambassador who has built a successful career and exceptional company by staying focused on building meaningful relationships, giving back to his community, peers and future leaders, and delivering exceptional service and technical expertise to small businesses,” CompTIA CEO Todd Thibodeaux said. “We are pleased to honor his legacy and applaud his efforts and continued passion for making the IT channel a strategic business partner, and a great place to build a career.”    

Sales engagement platform ClearSlide announced today release of ClearSlide Engagement and Follow, new capabilities that allow sales and marketing staff to follow specific engagement-level activities.

“ClearSlide Engagement and Follow gives Sales leaders the insights they need to know where to focus their time to close business faster,” said Raj Gossain, VP of Product at ClearSlide. “We designed these features with busy Sales and Marketing execs in mind, giving them unprecedented visibility into seller activity and buyer behavior. ClearSlide Engagement and Follow add to our market-leading Sales Engagement Platform, enabling ClearSlide to deliver the most comprehensive set of tools to accelerate sales performance and continually improve sales strategy.”

Crowdfunding and other alternative funding methods have expanded exponentially, yet a Manta survey revealed about two-thirds of small business owners don’t think enough funding options are available and believe the funding environment has not improved in the past 12 months.

"Small business owners have more diverse options today than ever before when it comes to funding their business," Manta CEO John Swanciger said. "However, we're seeing a gap between what's available and the perception among small businesses that the lending environment has not improved. Even though traditional bank loans are difficult to secure, small businesses are still apt to rely on them."

Everyone has had the childhood experience of waiting (impatiently) in a running car outside the house for a parent before you can depart on a journey. I’d offer that’s the position Parallels found itself in recently with Microsoft. Instead of waiting for Microsoft to (finally) issue the APIs necessary for Cloud Solution Providers (CPS) to automatically provision Office 365 customers end-to-end, Parallels has innovated a, well, parallel provisioning tool. Announced last week at the respected Microsoft Hosting and Cloud Summit in Bellevue, WA, the solution will have general availability in Q2 2015.

So what is the CSP APS package? It’s for Office 365 and IT provides Microsoft CSP partners with a solution for automating customer on-boarding, service delivery, bundling related cloud services and building a reseller channel.  It’s a big deal.

 Finally I can let the cat out of the bag. Seattle-based SkyKick has deftly inserted itself into Microsoft Action Pack (MAPS) and Silver/Gold Partner program motion as a benefit. I’m jealous. Many readers will recall our old SMB PC magazine, that we published for the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC) in the 2007-2012 time frame. I tried for the first few years to have the magazine inserted into the quarterly Action Pack mailer, a feat that would have dramatically boosted our circulation. SkyKick has done the impossible and inserted itself into this motion in what I believe is the first occurrence of third party inclusion.

This one makes sense. Many people don’t realize that Parallels has two lines of work. Many know Parallels for its early role in desktop virtualization – primarily on the Macintosh platform. Most SMB IT Pros know Parallel’s other line of work – providing a cloud platform ecosystem. The two activities are distinct lines of work and it seemed the synergy, while it existed, was not a leading success factor internally.

So Parallels is splitting into two. The new “Odin” brand will house the company’s service provider unit and the cloud platform as we know it. The “Parallels” brand will host the cross-platform and desktop virtualization products.

Let’s face it, whenever you hear the word “free” a number of questions immediately come to mind, mostly around what exactly “free” means. Is the company offering a limited period of free access but will soon start billing you? Do you have to provide a credit card in order to use the free product? Does it have such limited functionality that it’s hardly useful? Are you going to have to put up with annoying ads? Is the company going to sell your information? These kind of nagging questions are what we’ve come to expect in free product offers from many companies.

SkyKick today announced that its Office 365 Migration Suite will be included as a free benefit in the Microsoft Internal Use Rights (IUR) program. The IUR Program is currently available to all Microsoft Gold and Silver competency partners.

With today’s announcement, select Microsoft partners with up to 500 seats can utilize the SkyKick Migration Suite to automate their Office 365 automation processes. SkyKick representatives explained today that a typical 25-seat migration can take up to 40 hours of effort for the partner, from sales to completion. The SkyKick Office 365 Migration Suite is designed to cut that time drastically, increasing partner and end user satisfaction.

LogMeIn, Inc . introduced today Rescue Lens, a video-aided support capability that will join the features of LogMeIn rescue in April 2015.

“Remote support has been a tried and true solution for tech service providers due to its ability to help companies quickly resolve issues, boost customer satisfaction and reduce costs. What’s impressive about Rescue Lens is that it opens the doors for virtually every type of service organization to realize the same benefits – to quite literally see and solve customer problems from anywhere,” said John Ragsdale, vice president of technology and social research for the Technology Services Industry Association. “In an industry looking to reimagine how we serve businesses and customers, innovation like Rescue Lens is a welcome breath of fresh air.”     

DataCore announced today client Colby-Sawyer College achieved its business continuity goals through use of DataCore SANsymphony-V.

Key benefits of its adoption of DataCore’s software-defined storage platform include performance and productivity gains, high-level redundancy to reduce downtime and lowered overall cost.

It’s incredibly interesting to watch how large OEMs are pivoting into the world of Office 365. Such is the case with Dell’s diversified portfolio strategy to provide solutions, tools and services in addition to hardware. With roots back to its Quest acquisition, Dell has a migration solution that can be used with Office 365. To learn more about Dell’s migration play in Office 365, I sat down with Chad Lindley, Senior Product Manager, Office 365 Migration, Dell.

“The On Demand Migration for Email is really about ‘many to Microsoft’ platform mapping.” Lindley offered. “Based on Microsoft Azure, there are only a handful of screens that need to be completed to run the migration tool.” I then asked Lindley how the solution is being positioned. “So the solution set has a broad audience, depending on the solution itself. The one we are speaking about today was designed specifically for SMB market. Quest software has had a lot of migration tools, and we were trying to fill the hole in the SMB market.”

Unitrends, an enterprise-level cloud recovery solution provider, announced today it was awarded a 5-star rating for the second consecutive year in The Channel Company’s CRN 2015 Partner Program Guide.

The Partner Program Guide serves as the directory for technology vendors that service solution providers or provide products through the channel, with 5-star partners comprising an elite subset of companies.

Microsoft Corp. announced today its expanded global partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Samsung plans to pre-install Microsoft services and applications on its portfolio of Android devices and will deliver business productivity apps including a new Microsoft Office 365 and Samsung KNOX Business pack.

"Great things happen when you converge services and devices," said Peggy Johnson, executive vice president of business development, Microsoft. "Our partnership with Samsung is emblematic of our efforts to bring the best of Microsoft's productivity services to everyone, on every device, so people can be productive wherever, however and whenever they want."

There are a couple of seats left to participate in an innovative pilot program this June. Titled “Working Vacations,” the program is akin to a student exchange program for Microsoft Partners and MSPs. The idea is that like-minded professionals from the Microsoft Nordic/Baltic region will be visiting for a one week period, spending a few days with YOU, the Puget Sound partner/MSP. This is by invitation only and we’re almost at capacity, so it’s essential you raise your hand to say YES!

Highlights

• Intention: To engage in an exchange of best business practices between non-competing partners concerning contemporary Microsoft solutions. The program runs June 8-12, 2015.

In visiting with Gil Pekelman, CEO of Atera, I was struck by how this new market entrant in the established RMM/PSA space for MSPs wasn’t shackled by legacy roadblocks. Built from the ground up and born in the cloud, Atera is now available in the US as of today (March 23, 2015) at www.atera.com. The solution promises to be disruptive in the SMB space, especially the “S” sector.

Showing the “S” the love is the raison d’être for Atera. It’s able to offer a comprehensive IT server management tool for a fraction of the cost of the established RMM/PSA players. While legacy vendors are expressing disdain for the “little guy” in the SMB MSP community, that where Atera is intent on disrupting the market.

Polycom, Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced today expansion of their relationship through Polycom Roundtable, a new series of video collaboration solutions for Skype for Business.

The first device to be released in the RoundTable series will be RoundTable 100, a video solution for huddle rooms designed to allow SMBs to enjoy rich collaboration experiences through their Skype for Business account.

D&H Distributing announced today enhanced offerings to support K-12 education vertical resellers as Common Core standards increase the need for technology in the classroom. Its additional assets include increased training opportunities, resources and materials to increase VARs’ profit.

“The education market is unique. Complicated guidelines and government regulations have a strong influence on the VAR’s ability to capture business.  We work closely with our vendors to develop programs to support these VARs and present products that are expressly selected and priced for this market,” said Larry Staub, director of the D&H education division.  “It’s an area where resellers often require a lot of guidance and knowledge before they can compete.  But for those who prepare and stay informed on the latest technologies and developments, there are a lot of K-12 sales to be made.  We want our customers to be on that forefront.” 

Members of the PowerSource online community enjoy unparalleled opportunities to buy and sell all kinds of new, used or refurbished IT and telecom parts, including computer parts and related equipment. Our B2B network connects sellers with thousands of buyers worldwide, allowing suppliers and resellers of computer components to greatly expand their sales prospects and develop industry contacts from a single online platform.

PowerSource Online’s advanced selling and sourcing tools give our members a leg up on the competition by allowing them to advertise up to 30 “Seeking to Sell” postings per day. Members can view and respond directly to requests to buy computer parts, telecom equipment and more. Another advantage of PowerSource is the ability for members to customize who sees their inventory. As well, PowerSource members are able to access government contract opportunities in their region that require the purchase or sale of computer parts and telecom equipment.

The winner of the coveted CODE_n award was announced last night by its jury at CeBIT in Hannover.

Berlin-based startup relayr won the award and a prize of € 30,000, with a business model paving the way to IoT for app developers. relayr’s “WunderBar” product allows software developers without electrical engineering knowledge to design applications that can access and analyse measured data.

With the belief of “Discere Faciendo” (Learn by Doing!), it’s time to register for the annual Fall conference. This year the conversations include Office 365, Windows 10 and Azure. The core conference is October 2-4 with a pre-day on October 1^st. The details are at fall2015.smbnation.com.

I guess my thoughts are this. You have rebooted your way out of the recession. Done. So now it’s essential that you add fuel to the fire. There is a perfect storm brewing of:

Technology market research firm Infonetics Research, part of IHS, reported today LTE was key in pushing mobile infrastructure revenue to $46.8 billion worldwide, up 10 percent from 2013.

"We have consistently said that LTE was supposed to pull the entire mobile infrastructure market out of the funk, and so far it has. LTE revenue grew 69 percent in 2014 from the previous year," said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research. "That said, we've reached the peak of LTE buildouts on this planet, and we believe market dynamics will cause the mobile macro infrastructure industry to enter a long-tail decline beginning in 2016 until 5G eventually kicks in."

At the recent IBM PartnerWorld, I was able to meet with Dave Carlquist, Vice President, Worldwide Channels, IBM Systems. We had a nice chat about the key demographic at PartnerWorld 2015, and the IBM partner program.

To start, there were1500 partner attendees at the recent PartnerWorld event in Las Vegas. Dave explained that the key audience at this particular event was the C-level executive looking to get more info on the bigger picture of today’s technology landscape. Dave also explained that the IBM Interconnect event, taking place here soon, will have about 4000 of the company’s technological partners.

“A big part of our strategy is about moving to value and selling value. IBM builds its partner programs around selling value,” said Dave in our interview.

With that quote, I’ll jump into the IBM partner program conversation. Dave mentioned that there were about 100,000 people certified last year through IBM’s partner program, on various solutions. For SMB partners, Dave said that IBM has a two-tier distributor strategy, so partners can get support from both the disty and IBM.

So how do IBM partners make money? Dave said that it depends on the solution sold, and that most partners see a bigger payout on the front end, as opposed to recurring revenue. If IBM partners sell both hardware and software, there’s an added bonus.

Rich communication service Voxox announced today its wholesale SMS delivery has tripled in volume since the same time last year.

Voxox attributed the sizable increase to new customer contracts and expansion of usage of its end-to-end offering. It provides both one-way SMS notifications and two-way communication with SMS-enabled DIDs.

Life on the road breeds great war stories. A couple of years ago, while conducting a 44-city Windows XP Migration tour, I stopped for coffee one morning at a Starbucks. Ahead of me, a customer was a bit “short” in being able to pay for a cup of coffee. Unable to pay the full amount, he asked if he could buy a very small cup of coffee. The lady behind him paid it forward and covered his coffee costs. I guess you had to have been there, but it was both a comical and touching scene.

It got me thinking about pricing out Office 365 E3 and the return of the coffee shop story. First, the current story, and then the back story.

I recently attended the IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference 2015 at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. While I was there, I had the chance to speak with a couple of IBM execs about the company’s plans for the future, and how they view the SMB opportunity.

My first meeting was with Laura Guio (pictured), Vice President and Storage Business Line Executive, IBM Systems. Laura managed the overall investment and strategic direction of IBM, and she had some very interesting things to say about the current tech environment. Read on for our interview:

Broadview Networks , a provider of cloud-based communication and IT services, announced today TMC awarded its MyOfficeSuite solution as a 2015 Unified Communications Product of the Year.

MyOfficeSuite, an online portal, centralizes communications and hosted services into one website and integrates with Broadview’s OfficeSuite product portfolio.

Snom Technology AG announced today the start of a major deployment of Lync 2013 with its Snom 710 and 760 UC edition phones for Chula Vista Elementary School District.

According to Chula Vista, which serves 45 schools and more than 29,000 students, the goal of the project is to invest in next-generation IP technology and the cloud to better communication and reduce costs.

Snom was selected for its features and the flexibility of its firmware.

Unify Square , a software, services and support provider for Microsoft Lync and Skype for Business, today announced availability of service offerings, support and operational framework designed for enterprise movement to Skype for Business.

An additional, specialized version of the UC RightTrack service focused on Skype for Business will also be available. These announcements follow a recent investment by Microsoft, and further deepens their partnership.

Earlier today, SoftWatch Technology, an Applications Usage Analytic software company, announced the expansion of its offering to SMB organizations. I had some time to discuss the company and its solution with Co-CEOs, Uri Arad and Moshe Kozlovski. The key takeaway of this interview is that SoftWatch is seeing more and more organizations, particularly on the SMB side, move to Cloud services.

We began our conversation, however, with a bit of background on SoftWatch. Up until recently, SoftWatch focused on helping enterprises with over 1000 employees transition to the Cloud and take advantage of new technologies. They quickly realized, though, that SMBs were the ones moving to Cloud more often, due to pricing and software features that don’t require a large IT staff. The solution: repackage the original enterprise offering for SMB.

Years ago, to promote the Microsoft 70-282 certification exam, we ran some low cost radio ads inviting IT Pros to an exam cram workshop. It’s where I learned the phrase “dollar a holler.” Over this past weekend, I was thinking about Office 365 pricing, and that phrase crept back into my mind. The following is not a perfect analogy, but its close enough. LOL.

Basically I’m looking at how you can inspect the value of the Office 365 E3 Plan. I need to make a few assumptions for my academic “dollar a holler” thesis to work. Assumptions are:

Pacific DataVision, Inc., a mobile workforce management solution provider, announced today adoption of a new business name, pdvWireless.

pdvWireless also unveiled its upcoming two-way radio solution, DispatchPlus, a push-to-talk product integrated with pdvWireless’ proprietary cloud-based mobile resource management solutions.

By Miles Jobgen, Director of Trustmark Programs for CompTIA

 Traditional hardware resellers often beta test their suppliers’ new products and programs before making firm relationship commitments. The vetting process may require some effort and patience, but when a server or software program has performed well over a certain period of time, it gives them enough confidence to roll it out to more customers. While vendor warranties and support services are often tested later on, most solution providers get a feel for the organization based on the quality of the products they deliver.

With the cloud, that vetting process is a lot more difficult. What you see isn’t always what you get. While most cloud vendors make significant investments to deliver high quality solutions, there are exceptions to the rule. Though we’d like to believe every supplier’s infrastructure and security procedures are rock-solid, the risks are simply too numerous without some sort of validation.

D&H Distributing recently announced that it will be hosting its first tech trade show of 2015 in City of Industry, CA, on March 19. This particular show will include foci on K-12 education, the Windows Server 2003 Refresh opportunity, and emerging technologies.

“As economic forecasts continue to improve, 2015 looks to be a year of opportunity for resellers and integrators,” said Jeff Davis, senior vice president of sales at D&H Distributing. “D&H always leverages its trade shows to steer customers toward the most lucrative opportunities of the year, which this year will include the potential server upgrade cycle and the continued pursuit of business in the education vertical. At our events, we can present the products and knowledge our customers require to secure these sales and open the door to establish long-term relationships as a trusted IT solution provider in the small business community.”

Pure Storage , an independent solid-state array vendor, announced today Shutterfly, Inc., which delivers photo products and services, deployed 17 FlashArray 420 arrays as part of data center migration.

“We are increasingly seeing forward-thinking market leaders like Shutterfly turn to all-flash storage to drive real value within their business,” said Matt Kixmoeller, vice president of products at Pure Storage. “Whether that's improving conversion rates and reducing abandoned shopping carts for e-Commerce companies or reducing the cost of service delivery while speeding new, differentiated services to market for online infrastructure service providers – the flash revolution is underway.”

Level 3 announced today further enabling of enterprise cloud adoption by adding unified communications and collaboration applications into its Cloud Connect ecosystem.

Douglas Green, Publisher, Telecom Reseller

You would think that owning the big fat pipe, over which everything must flow in the age of cloud, would be the best thing to have. The problem is that Internet service and many other cloud (carrier level provided) services have a vanilla like quality. The pipe provides a commodity service that is hard to make distinguishable. Accordingly, the carriers all share a customer loyalty problem. Fully 25% of their customers depart each year. Each carrier makes these lost customers up with new customers defecting from rivals, but the cost of their acquisition is high. In many cases it takes over a year for a carrier just to recoup the cost of marketing and sales built into each acquisition.

SaaS provider AppRiver, LLC announced today a year-over-year 30 percent increase in channel growth, solidifying 2014 as the company’s strongest year yet.

More than half of AppRiver’s revenue is now driven by the channel, and its growing relationships with partners and Microsoft led to a 21 percent increase in active partners and 350 percent increase in number of partners engaged to sell Office 365.

There’s nothing like tapping into a new community and making new professional friends. Such was the case this week at the Cloud Summit 2015 conference in Phoenix, AZ. Visually, there were over 800 attendees who were mainly SMB resellers (I was told this number was up from 500 last year). Throw in 30 vendors supporting the cloud play (e.g. Parallels) and heaps of well-known speakers (yours truly, Howard Cohen, Ken Thorsen, Keith Lubner) and you’ve got the formula for an impactful event. I will repeat.

Because Office 365 is my niche, I heard what I wanted to hear. In the Cloud Selling Best Practices panel, my colleagues Tommy Wald and David DeCamillis did a masterful job of expanding the conversation to be a broader cloud discussion. Left to my own devices, it quickly would have turned into “How to Make Money with Office 365” speech. More importantly, the event was very diverse, with participation of vendors beyond Microsoft, such as IBM, VMware, Cisco, and a host of others.

OutSystems , a Rapid Application Delivery platform provider, announced today analyst firm Ovum named OutSystems Platform as a market leader in the 2015 Ovum Decision Matrix for Mobile Application Development Platforms.

“Ovum is impressed with OutSystems because of the complete end-to-end nature of their solution for the rapid development and delivery of mobile and web applications,” said Michael Azoff, principal analyst, IT Infrastructure Solutions for Ovum. “Its enterprise-grade features and functionality cover the entire mobile app lifecycle, in addition to providing a complete platform for delivering custom applications across all devices.”

My Digital Shield today announced that it has entered into a partnership with London, ON-based IT solutions provider, Nerds On Site. Through this new partnership, Nerds On Site will promote and sell the My Digital Shield Sec-a-a-S solution to its SMB customers. Nerds On Site started its international business in 2001, and currently has over 100,000 customers worldwide.

“The decision to partner with MDS was sparked by our desire to provide our clients with the best cyber protection available for SMBs, given the growing concern surrounding data security,” said David Redekop, co-founder, Nerds On Site.

“We’re thrilled to announce our partnership with Nerds On Site and remain confident that this will be a mutually beneficial relationship,” says Andrew Bagrin, CEO and founder of MDS. “Both companies are committed to serving the needs of SMBs, and with this partnership we are furthering our mission of delivering Fortune 500-level cyber security to small businesses at an affordable price. With broad market penetration of Nerds On Site, we are excited to extend our reach and introduce our unique security solution to additional SMB customers.”

Telecommunications and IP equipment distributor Novus LLC announced its partnership with Numonix, which will allow Numonix to resell Novus’ Microsoft Lync-qualified RECITE software solution.

“We are glad to partner with Numonix, an innovator in this space,” said Chris Meehan, managing partner at Novus. “We have seen businesses deploy Lync and Lync qualified applications to enhance their communications capability. Adding RECITE to our portfolio enables Novus to expand the company’s network of resellers. Enterprise, midsized and small businesses will see their immediate daily needs met swiftly in day-to-day Lync transactions.”

I had a few moments this week to catch up with David Maffei, Vice President of Global Channel Sales and Jim Crook, Sr. Communications Manager, Carbonite, and we discussed the company’s server backup product updates, customer acquisition, and the recent corporate move.

David began our call by letting me know that Carbonite recently added hybrid backup for Microsoft Exchange Online in Office 365 to their server backup product. Why? Well, as David explained, they received a lot of requests from partners and customers, wanting more functionality. Carbonite’s server backup product is currently their most popular solution, and David described the latest upgrades as: “We basically had a bonfire and threw some gasoline on it.”

IT firms that highlight expertise and innovation will be most successful with small and medium business customers, which choose and maintain relationships with IT for these qualities, a CompTIA study showed.

More than 70 percent of SMBs used an IT firm at least occasionally within the last year, but they don’t always view their provider as a “trusted adviser,” according to CompTIA, which suggests providers still have room to improve.

 “IT firms that want to maintain their relevance with SMB customers must move from the management of isolated technology pieces to management of the overall structure,” said Seth Robinson, senior director, technology analysis, CompTIA. “By doing so they are better positioned to drive technology decisions that align with the customer’s business needs.”

“Enabling SMBS with Technology,” CompTIA’s study, surveyed 500 SMB executives and professionals in the United States in December 2014. The complete report is available here.

Long-time community member, Onuora Amobi, Editor and Owner of Windows10update.com, recently released an eBook, titled: “Inside Windows 10 – an Early Look at Microsoft’s Newest Operating System.” This marks the eighth eBook for the Windows Product Analyst.

As many of you know, Onuora has been writing about the Windows product line since 2006, just before the release of Windows Vista. He has been following the Microsoft blogs about the upcoming OS since April of last year, and he recently said that writing about Win10 was a very different experience for him.

Kirkland, Wash.-based Greater Intell announced today the addition of integrated solution giDocs to its line of software products.

giDocs is the fifth Greater Intell solution to integrate with Kaseya VSA, according to Kaseya, and the program is focused on protecting data and content.

Good day, SMB IT Pro Community! Welcome to the last installment of the Microsoft Hot Links for SMBs! Here are the final few links to help you realize your business goals and find community information in 2015:

• Training Hot Sheet – http://aka.ms/current-hot-sheet
  • This is a link to training that is happening every month from Microsoft.  Some is virtual and some is in person.  Most of the training is free.  There’s training for sales, marketing and technical pros.
• SW Partner Profiling Survey – http://aka.ms/swpartner
  • This survey helps the local Microsoft Partner team in the Southwest understand what type of customers that you support and what Microsoft products that you sell and service.
• SW Partner Email List – http://aka.ms/swpartneremail
  • This a local email distribution direct from Justin Slagle to the partners in the SoCal, Las Vegas and Hawaii territory.

Thank you for reading this series! If you have suggestions for a series in the future, please send them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

By Pete Engler

When determining tools that employees need in order to do their jobs, it’s tempting to add the desk phone to the hit list as “not essential” in this age of BYOD (bring your own device.) The proliferation of cell phones and soft clients, combined with an increasing remote or mobile workforce begs the question whether it makes sense to spend the money on a desk phone. In addition to deciding whether your employee needs a desk phone, there is the additional consideration of the business cost to support (install, maintain and troubleshoot) phones. Yet, for companies of all sizes, the desk phone continues to be a worthy investment and still fills an important need, despite prior naysayers who predicted the ultimate demise of this business staple.

Connectivity to websites and applications as well as customer reach continues to improve with the installation of 20 new points of presence by CDNetworks.

CDNetworks focuses on emerging markets, with continued expansion into China and Russia. New PoPs were also placed in Ireland and Europe.

The channel’s largest cloud computing event will include strategic discussion on building success in the cloud from Zentera Systems, an emerging partner focused on cloud network infrastructure and security.

"Global enterprises are all seeking technologies to migrate their corporate datacenters to a hybrid cloud environment. One of the challenges that the industry faces is that corporate IT must untangle the complexities of existing network infrastructure and extend it to the cloud," said Jaushin Lee, CEO of Zentera Systems. "Zentera brings a next-generation overlay network platform to specifically address this issue."

In its third year on FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” TEKsystems is ranked 43^rd, up six positions from 2014.

TEKsystems provides IT staffing solutions, IT talent management expertise and IT services, earning its position on the list for company culture and values.

DCT Telecom Group, Inc. announced today addition of a network field engineer and field technician to its in-house network and engineering team.

Rob Hendricks and Justin Morse join the team as a network field engineer and field technician, respectively. Hendricks has nine years of experience in the communication and IT industries, and Morse is coming to DCT with more than five years of network and field engineering experience.

Members of the PowerSource online community enjoy unparalleled opportunities to buy and sell all kinds of new, used or refurbished IT and telecom parts, including computer parts and related equipment. Our B2B network connects sellers with thousands of buyers worldwide, allowing suppliers and resellers of computer components to greatly expand their sales prospects and develop industry contacts from a single online platform.

PowerSource Online’s advanced selling and sourcing tools give our members a leg up on the competition by allowing them to advertise up to 30 “Seeking to Sell” postings per day. Members can view and respond directly to requests to buy computer parts, telecom equipment and more. Another advantage of PowerSource is the ability for members to customize who sees their inventory. As well, PowerSource members are able to access government contract opportunities in their region that require the purchase or sale of computer parts and telecom equipment.

Intronis, Inc., a backup and data protection solutions provider, announced today the Winter Release ’15 of ECHOplatform, which offers the broadest range of backup and disaster recovery for SMBs

“Intronis is continually looking for ways to simplify the backup and recovery processes our partners use, and the 2015 Winter Release is another dramatic step forward,” says Chuck DeLouis, vice president, product management, Intronis.  “The Intronis ECHOplatform offers one of the fastest recover time objectives in the industry, while at the same time offering channel partners greater flexibility in how and what they recover.  This combination of speed, flexibility, and reliability enables our partners to rapidly and efficiently get their clients back up and running in just minutes – when they need it most.”

The Winter Release ’15 introduces business-building features and core functionalities designed to help channel partners support complex cloud, virtualized and physical IT environments and grow their customer base. 

New features include: Hyper-V rapid recovery, imaging rapid recovery, object-level restore from physical and virtual local image-based backups, and preparedness for release of VMware 6.0.

“Every day is another sunny day as we do our best each day to make sure there are updated features.” Thomas Hansen, Vice President of Worldwide SMB, Microsoft, shared in a far reaching interview this week. “A couple of years ago it was ‘how are we going to transition to cloud, how will we make money?’ Today, through effort of people like you, we have a large ecosystem. One of largest in the world. Every cloud solution from MS is available in various channel models. The Channel is now putting its weight behind cloud.” I would concur. The favorable ratings on cloud are skyrocketing in 2015, as the hostility subsidies.

“Customers are speaking with their wallet. Millions of companies are running on Office 365. That business has reached critical mass. Whenever we have a channel partner involved, customers and the partners are getting a higher-end SKU and customer satisfaction is higher.” Hansen said. Bottom line is that the channel adds value for customers.

So now for the reason we were meeting.

 The caravan continues with our first east coast meeting being held end-of-March in Manhattan. This is the mid-point of our current independent Office 365 workshop road show. If you are not aware – be sure to mark your calendar to attend the *independent* Office 365 community meeting and workshop on March 26^th in the New York City area. We expect an overwhelming response and we are limiting enrollments to 100-attendees, so sign-up today (we have over 75 already committed).

Pictured: Last week’s tour stop in Irvine, CA

Learn more here: o365tour.smbnation.com.

snom Technology recently announced that it has partnered with Dallas, TX-based telephony distributor, ABP Technology, to expand the snom reach into Canada. ABP Technology has been a long-time snom Gold Partner.

YouMail recently announced that it has completed a Series B funding round for $5.5 million. I had the chance to speak with company CEO Alex Quilici, who went over a bit about his company, and how they were able to leverage the recent JOBS act.

To start, YouMail is a provider of cloud-based telecom services for SMBs. They currently have just over 6.5 million registered users of a personal assistant app to help users manage incoming phone calls. Features include visual caller ID, personalized smart greetings, cloud storage and access to messages cross-platform.

Technology provider Insight Enterprises, Inc. today released a list of businesses’ top five concerns as they consider moving to the Cloud.

“Businesses are asking the right questions about how the Cloud will work across infrastructure, platforms, and applications, and many are starting to embrace the efficiencies and potential benefits from improved agility, greater employee collaboration, and reduced IT complexity,” said Harish Krishnamurthy, senior vice president, Insight Cloud Services. “However, we are still seeing adoption apprehension because of concerns surrounding security and data management. The benefits the Cloud offers are immense, however, and clients are reporting that Cloud options can be faster, safer and a better value than traditional IT. Because of this, we believe that Cloud services will increasingly become the norm for businesses, not the exception.”

DataMotion announced today results from its third annual survey on corporate email and file transfer habits, revealing a significant amount of security risk occurring within organizations.

Though almost 90 percent of respondents affirmed they have security and compliance policies in place, policies often aren’t enforced and more than 75 percent of respondents said employees at least occasionally violate policy.

“Though the survey shows us there is year-over-year growth in the number of companies putting security and compliance measures in place, the widespread security risks occurring are of great concern,” said Bob Janacek, chief technology officer at DataMotion. “Particularly at a time when a number of organizations – both large and small – have experienced serious data breaches, it is essential that companies have strong security and compliance policies in place and that they ensure their employees fully understand and diligently follow them.”

The full survey report is available here.  A healthcare-specific report is available here.

Constant Contact, Inc. recently announced the results of a report on what makes SMBs respond to email marketing. The company watched the traffic of 2.1 million emails, all sent to 100+ people, over the last 13 weeks, and found a sweet spot of images and text to increase overall click-through-rate (CTR).

“Click-through rates are perhaps the truest measurement of the quality of an email’s content and its effectiveness as a marketing tool,” said Christopher M. Litster, senior vice president, sales and marketing at Constant Contact. “Regardless of industry or customer base, click-through rates convey how often you are able to get your email subscribers to go where you want them to go and complete your call-to-action. This new research is a big step forward in helping small businesses craft email content that will result in even more successful campaigns going forward.”