SMB Nation Blog

While most all of the kids (and maybe even some adults!) were out trick or treating yesterday, Unitrends was busy announcing the fact that they have received a major growth equity investment from Insight Venture Partners.

Earlier this week, Intel (in conjunction with our analyst friends at Techaisle) released the results from a study citing that on average, small business workers lose more than one work week per year because of old PCs. According to the Intel Small Business PC Refresh Study, small businesses are holding onto PCs significantly beyond the recommended refresh date, with more than 36 percent owning PCs that are more than 4 years old. These machines require more maintenance, exerting a greater toll on employee productivity and higher equipment costs than the purchase of a new machine.

StorageCraft is taking its business across the pond with its decision to open a new office and international headquarters in Cork, Ireland.

ManageEngine said today that it is now offering the general availability of project management and configuration management database (CMDB) modules in ServiceDesk Plus – MSP, its ITIL-ready help desk software for managed service providers (MSPs). The addition of these two modules give MSP IT administrators and IT managers integrated tools that simplify the creation and tracking of help desk projects and that improve service quality.  

We heard this week from our good friend and community member Karl Palachuk that he has embarked on a journey to complete his newest writing project. This time he is working to complete a four-volume book set on Standard Operating Procedures for Technology Consultants. Topics in the four-book set will include:

D&H Distributing said today that it has joined the Windows XP Migration Million Mile Tour as an official sponsor. The North America tour is bringing together small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to learn about the forthcoming April 8, 2014, deadline at which time support for Windows XP will terminate.

Late last week we heard from our friend Robin Robins, founder of the Technology Marketing Toolkit, who informed us that she has developed (and is now offering) a new video seminar series to show you how to get more high-quality clients to outsource their IT support to you, without discounting or hard-selling. But Robins warns that you must not hesitate as this new content (geared toward) companies selling outsourced IT support services) will only be available for a limited time.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior.
 
Having just wrapped up our annual fall conference earlier this month, we are now moving ahead full speed into planning mode for 2014. This includes our brand new eight-city tour, which is set to kick off in January, as well as our “Million Mile Tour,” focusing on  April 8, 2014 end-of-support deadline(s) for both Windows XP and any Server 2003 SKUs. The tour leverages the Microsoft Community Connections business model of “Lunch and Learn” type Pizza webinars, and will be coming to a city near you this fall and into 2014! To learn more and to register for the tour, click here.

StorageCraft told us today that they have released a new tool known as ShadowProtect IT Edition PRO, which provides IT professionals unlimited disaster recovery, data protection and system migration for Windows systems in their environment, without installing any software.

Continuing its trend of acquisitions (on both fronts) Kaseya said that it has acquired 365 Command, a solution enabling IT organizations and MSPs to easily manage and administer the Microsoft Office 365 cloud application suite.

snom technology said that it has doubled its factory warranty to two years on its entire line of desktop IP phones and its PA-1 pager, lowering the total cost of ownership and boosting customer’s return on investment.

Artisan Infrastructure has formed a strategic partnership with Arrow Electronics to deliver cloud-based data protection infrastructure to support NetApp customers. Available as an offering for the channel through Arrow’s ArrowSphere marketplace, the new service includes NetApp data protection infrastructure and a full suite of service enablement to speed time-to-market, simplify billing and contracts and reduce management overhead.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior.
 
Having just wrapped up our annual fall conference a little more than one week ago, we are now moving ahead full speed into planning mode for 2014. This includes our brand new eight-city tour, which is set to kick off in January, as well as our “Million Mile Tour,” focusing on
April 8, 2014 end-of-support deadline(s) for both Windows XP and any Server 2003 SKUs. The tour leverages the Microsoft Community Connections business model of “Lunch and Learn” type Pizza webinars, and will be coming to a city near you this fall and into 2014! To learn more and to register for the tour, click here.

Please take some time to peruse a few snippets of information that we didn’t get a chance to bring you last week….let us also know if there was something we might have missed, which is not mentioned in this entry…because as you know…we love news!

Throughout this year, we have been reporting and blogging on our partnership with Class Action Capital, which has signed on to assist the SMB community on offering guidelines, tips and information on a landmark $7-billion-plus class action settlement against credit card companies Visa and MasterCard.

D&H Distributing said today that is has finalized plans for its annual Mid-Atlantic Fall Technology Show. The event, which will be held near D&H headquarters in Hershey, PA, will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 11am-8:30pm.

MaintenanceNet said today that Schneider Electric has deployed MaintenanceNet’s Service360 Auto Quote solution to improve and streamline the way it tracks, manages and transacts warranty extensions for end customers of their AC and DC-based back-up power products in conjunction with channel partners across North America. Through Service360, Schneider Electric is also gaining new capabilities to build self-service and partner enablement into the sales cycle to further expand business opportunities while enhancing the customer experience.

We heard from StorageCraft today that they have partnered with Advanced Backup Solutions to integrate StorageCraft ShadowProtect software into its line of Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) Appliances and offsite DR infrastructure.

It’s hard to believe that just about one year ago, Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast, damaging so many homes and businesses in its wake. While my family and I did not experience any damage to our personal property, and my home office was spared, I do know of so many friends and family members who experienced flooding, loss of property and other damages as a result. For us, the worst part of the storm was power loss for just about a week—a small price to pay as compared with some of the other stories I have heard over the last year from both families and business owners.

Pictured at right: The boardwalk on Long Beach, Long Island, was one of the many areas that experienced devastation as a result of Hurricane Sandy last year.

Lenovo announced this week at the EDUCAUSE annual conference, two new rack servers, the ThinkServer RD540 and ThinkServer RD640. Armed with the latest Intel Xeon E5 processors, these highly efficient and flexible servers are designed for easy integration into existing IT infrastructures that handle demanding virtualization, cloud and compute-intensive workloads.

VMware announced today at VMworld2013 Europe that it has acquired Desktone, a provider of desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) with an advanced multi-tenant desktop virtualization platform for delivering Windows desktops and applications as a cloud service.

Continuum said today that it has hired two new industry experts to its executive management team: Paiman Nodoushani, vice president, engineering and chief technology officer; and Jeanne Hopkins, senior vice president and chief marketing officer. The moves deepen Continuum’s strengths in product engineering and development, as well as all aspects of partner and acquisition marketing programs.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior.
 
Here at SMB Nation, we are still in regroup mode having just wrapped up our annual fall conference this past weekend. In case you couldn’t make it to Las Vegas for the event, make sure you go to our main home page where you can find several blogs and photos discussing some of the session highlights, as well as what went on during the exhibit hall and who were the male and female winners of the annual Jim Locke Award!

Please take some time to peruse a few snippets of information that we didn’t get a chance to bring you last week….let us also know if there was something we might have missed, which is not mentioned in this entry…because as you know…we love news!

Days one and two of SMB Nation's Fall Conference included show floor time, various sessions on the industry's most pressing topics, and of course Karl Palachuk's "camera monkey..." View below for just a few of the highlights...more coming soon!

This morning, SMB Nation kicked off its second day of programming in Las Vegas with Bill Hersh of D&H discussing VAR Best Practices. In true Vegas fashion, Bill’s session featured a lively discussion which included complimentary morning Mimosas, Irish Coffee and Bloody Mary cocktails! I am sure the crowd was already engaged in the discussion, but of course a morning cocktail doesn’t hurt, especially when you are in Vegas!

D&H's Bill Hersh poses with his fellow staff members and attendee at the distributor's booth at SMB Nation's Fall Conference.

Kaseya earlier this week announced the general availability of Kaseya Traverse, a solution that is now delivered as SaaS, and provides enterprise-class network performance monitoring, business service management (BSM) and predictive analytics for cloud, on-premise, hybrid, virtualized and distributed environments. The new offering provides a strong complement to Kaseya’s award-winning systems management suite of products, enabling proactive management and monitoring of the entire IT infrastructure.

Vonage Holdings said today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Vocalocity for $130 million, including $105 million in cash and $25 million in Vonage common stock.

WD (Western Digital) introduced today the new WD Sentinel DS5100 and WD Sentinel DS6100 (S-series) ultra-compact network storage plus servers.

SMB Nation officially kicked off its 2013 fall conference in Las Vegas this morning (following its pre-day programing yesterday) with Harrybbb’s traditional welcome and keynote speech.

(Pictured): CompTIA's Kate Hunt poses with Harrybbb after accepting her community award as SBSer of the Year at SMB Nation's Fall Conference in Las Vegas.

AVG Technologies is now offering enhanced support for Apple’s Mac operating system (OS) environments within its AVG Managed Workplace 2013 remote monitoring & management (RMM) platform. At the same time AVG Managed Workplace becomes the first RMM tool to offer agentless iOS management of Mac OS X devices including iPads and iPhones. 

We heard today from Intronis that the company has formed its Partner Success organization. Led by Jasmine Lombardi, vice president of partner success, the new team is responsible for simplifying and accelerating the success of Intronis' partners.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior.
 
In addition, here at SMB Nation, we are in total crunch time mode gearing up for our annual fall event to be held this week in Las Vegas at the Rio! We have designed a brand new Web site specifically for this event, which you must check out today. For additional information on the new Web site, our cool XP Migrations video produced by Bigger Brains, and our fall conference, check out our blog post here. Hurry up, and get your registration in, as we are just about a couple of days away from this event…it’s go time!

Please take some time to peruse a few snippets of information that we didn’t get a chance to bring you last week….let us also know if there was something we might have missed, which is not mentioned in this entry…because as you know…we love news!

N-able by SolarWinds has launched what is reportedly the industry's first MSP Playbook, which delivers best practices and step-by-step business and technology guidelines to MSPs worldwide. Designed as an end-to-end business plan, the new MSP Playbook is valued at more than $50,000 and provides new and established MSPs with the checks and balances needed to build and maintain a successful managed services practice.

For our new blog series “Community Rocks! Profiles in SMB IT,” we spoke with Joseph Fulgieri, (pictured) owner of JMF TechServices. Located on Long Island, NY, Fulgieri is a one-man shop hybrid MSP who specializes in almost any type of IT need that a small business owner requires. Read more to find out how Fulgieri got his start in IT, how he once got paid by a client in homemade empanadas, and what his personal business philosophy is.

Comcast Business announced today that AnyMeeting, a provider of small business web conferencing, has joined its Upware marketplace. Upware is a suite of cloud-based business solutions that can be purchased and accessed on-demand through Comcast’s integrated web portal.

We heard from Dell Software earlier this week that NetVault Backup, its enterprise data protection solution, has been fully integrated with the Dell DR4100, a scalable, disk backup appliance with built-in deduplication and compression capabilities.

With the first day of enrollment for ObamaCare kicking off today, it’s only fitting that a recent Xerox survey revealed that even though more healthcare providers continue to adopt Electronic Health Records (EHR), there is still a need for doctors to educate consumers about digital medical records to comply with upcoming federal mandates.

A quick and gentle reminder that next week is *the* week for all of us at SMB Nation…it kicks of our annual fall classic event at the Rio in Las Vegas! Time is running out, but you can still get yourself in gear and get your registrations in!

You could say that some men are “in touch with their feminine sides,” but stereotypically it wouldn’t be something that you’d often see from a world leader, high-profile athlete or a mega-CEO like say, Donald Trump, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos or Apple CEO Tim Cook. However, outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is another story…Ballmer not only showed his raw emotions, breaking down during his exit speech earlier this week—he showed his true emotions center stage at Seattle’s Key Arena in front of his 13,000 employees.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior.
 
In addition, here at SMB Nation, we are already gearing up for our annual fall event to be held next week in Las Vegas at the Rio! We have designed a  Web site specifically for this event, which you must check out today. For additional information on the new Web site, our cool XP Migrations video produced by Bigger Brains, and our fall conference, check out our blog post here. Hurry up, and get your registration in, as we are just about one week away from this event…it’s crunch time!

We heard today from Dan Fine, Managing Partner of Seattle-based Microsoft Dynamics partner Fine Solutions, that his company has been named to the Inc. 500/5000 List for the fifth year in a row.

D&H Distributing has been named “Distributor of the Year” by BenQ America Corp., a global DLP projector brand and a provider of monitors and interactive displays and signage.

Continuum said it has gone to great lengths to ensure it is fully prepared to assist its partners and their clients in meeting the standards of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. In addition to strengthening its technical, administrative, and physical security, the company has created the Continuum HIPAA Resource Center to provide up-to-date compliance information for MSPs that helps them gain a better understanding of the technical implications involved with new HIPAA rules.

SMB Nation announced today that it has partnered with Outlook Foundation on the “Drag It, Drop It, Delete It,” Campaign for the SMB Nation 11th Annual Fall Conference to be held Thursday, Oct. 10-Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Rio Conference Center in Las Vegas.

Vistara said that is offering a limited time promotion for enterprises and MSPs with active Dell packetTrap network monitoring and tool licenses. If you remember, Dell packetTrap announced earlier this year that they would be discontinuing the service. This was following the acquisition by Dell of Quest packetTrap last year.

MSPs in the U.S. and Canada now have an extra month to take advantage of a 30-percent discount for using StorageCraft Cloud Services—the company has decided to extend the offer’s deadline to Oct. 31, 2013, due to the tremendous response that it has had from MSPs.

For our new blog series “Community Rocks! Profiles in SMB IT,” we spoke with John Benjamin, (pictured) owner of Cavu Networks. Located in Bainbridge Island, WA, Benjamin is an MSP who specializes in almost any type of IT need that a small business owner requires. Read more to find out how Benjamin got his start in IT, what his personal business philosophy is, and how he came to adopt his pit bull mix rescue dog, Lucie.

TwinStrata has released the the results of its 2013 Cloud Storage and Disaster Recovery survey. Conducted between May to August 2013, the report analyzes responses from 288 IT personnel. According to the survey, the results indicate widespread acceptance of cloud storage and demonstrate the tangible impact cloud storage can have on disaster recovery strategies.

In what many analysts and media have been speculating for the last couple weeks, BlackBerry announced this morning that it has signed a letter of intent with consortium to be led by Fairfax Financial Holdings. The news comes shortly after various news outlets reported that the smartphone manufacturer would lay off approximately 40 percent of its staff in the coming months.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior.
 
In addition, here at SMB Nation, we are already gearing up for our annual fall event to be held Oct. 10-12 in Las Vegas at the Rio! We have designed a brand new Web site specifically for this event, which you must check out today. For additional information on the new Web site, our cool XP Migrations video produced by Bigger Brains, and our fall conference, check out our blog post here. Hurry up, and get your registration in, as we are less than three weeks away from this event!

The ASCII Group this morning informed us that they have released the winners of its esteemed 2013 ASCII Cup, as well as other vendor contenders and the top distributor within the SMB channel community.

Converged Technology Group today released and rebranded its next-generation, cloud-based platform, Converged Assist as Assist360o. The platform is designed to provide a significantly more robust suite of efficiency, performance and control-enhancing features.

As I sit here and write this blog, I feel as though I have been here before with iPhone, for some reason. Wait…I actually was in this same spot last year, when Apple introduced its iPhone 5, and its new operating system. At the time, I was using “an about to crap out iPhone 4,” which was on its last legs, and I was thinking of either downloading the new OS or just giving in and getting the 5.

Our friends Jeff Leventhal and Co. at NYC-based Work Market today announced the results of a study on the freelance economy, which is good news for freelancers and self-employed individuals working in the U.S. Based upon data from Work Market’s online marketplace and enterprise management platform, demand for freelancers and wages earned are expected to increase through the end of this year.

CompTIA’s second annual Big Data Insights and Opportunities study confirms growing familiarity with the concepts surrounding big data, which has sparked greater levels of interest across the C-suite. A full 78 percent of organizations say they feel more positive about big data as a business initiative this year compared to a year ago.

Last week, we reported on and attended the ChannelPro-SMB event in New Jersey. During the event, which included sessions on Adapting Your Business to the Cloud, Where the Money Is in Mobility, and Winning Sales and Marketing Strategies for MSPs, also featured a hardware trends session that provided attendees with a hands-on look at the latest hardware innovations.

With acquisitions currently on the top of minds of most of the channel as of late, it is interesting to note that today, the channel media itself is now the topic of conversation regarding M&A deals.

It was reported this morning on CRN’s Web site that an executive management group, led by UBM Tech (CRN’s parent company) CEO Robert Faletra, has acquired UBM Tech Channel for an undisclosed sum.

ZyXEL Communications and D&H will now be offering the company's complete family of networking products in both Canada and the United States.

D&H will focus on ZyXEL's business-class offerings, including firewalls, switches, and business-class Access Points. With ZyXEL, D&H will offer carrier-grade Ethernet switches that include managed, smart web-managed and unmanaged Fast, Gigabit and 10G Switches. D&H will also distribute ZyXEL's enterprise wireless devices including indoor and outdoor Access Points, WLAN controllers and Wi-Fi Hotspots, as well as ZyXEL's network security products including high-throughput firewall appliances and Unified Threat Management devices.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior.
 
In addition, here at SMB Nation, we are already gearing up for our annual fall event to be held Oct. 10-12 in Las Vegas at the Rio! We have designed a brand new Web site specifically for this event, which you must check out today. For additional information on the new Web site, our cool XP Migrations video produced by Bigger Brains, and our fall conference, check out our blog post here. Hurry up, and get your registration in, as we are less than two months away from this event!

MSP firm TechSquad IT announced today that Chris Wiser, the company’s Founder and CEO, will be the subject of a documentary film titled, “The IT Guy,” which will be broadcast on a nationally syndicated cable television channel on Wednesday, September 18, 2013, at 7:30 am EST/6:30 am CST.

We heard from Ted Hulsy, VP of Marketing at eFolder, that the company has acquired Anchor Box, a startup that is based on providing file sync and share software tailored for MSPs, VARs and cloud providers. According to eFolder, the acquisition will position the company as the only channel-focused vendor that provides a complete solution suite for cloud backup, BDR services, and cloud file sync from a single supplier.

SMB Nation has firmed up its pre-day and conference content for its 11th Annual Fall Conference. Set to kick off with the pre-day programming on Wednesday, Oct. 9, the conference will be held Thursday, Oct. 10-Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Rio Conference Center in Las Vegas.

Yesterday, we reported the speculation and chatter regarding the possibility of Dave Sobel’s whereabouts at the ChannelPro SMB Forum in New Jersey earlier this week. This morning, we received a response from AVG regarding the Director of Partner Community’s position and status at the company, which confirmed that he is in fact no longer affiliated with AVG.

We heard today from our friend and contributing writer Anurag Agrawal, CEO, Techaisle, regarding his firm’s most recent study results. The survey, which was developed to understand the winning strategies for selling Cloud to SMBs, uncovered 15 best practices and critical differences between the activities and approaches of successful and unsuccessful SMB Cloud computing channel partners.

Yesterday while attending the ChannelPro SMB Forum in New Jersey, I was happy to see many of my channel industry friends and colleagues, and it was even better that we got to gather for some good networking, educational sessions and vendor exhibits. I noticed, however, that one of my industry colleagues that I was expecting to see, AVG’s Director of Partner Community Dave Sobel, was not present.

I was looking forward to meeting up with Dave, since he and I have known each other since back in the day when he was the owner of his MSP firm, Evolve Technologies, and I was the Editor of another channel publication. I figured Dave would be there, especially since he was scheduled to deliver one of the keynote addresses yesterday at the event.

Lenovo today announced at the Intel Developer Forum, two new tower servers, the ThinkServer TS140 and ThinkServer TS440. Armed with the latest Intel Xeon E3 processors and IntelAMT 9.0 for remote manageability, these affordable, whisper-quiet tower servers are designed for performance and scalability, ideal for SMBs and MSPs.

As it enters its next phase of growth, 8x8, Inc. has appointed Vikram Verma as CEO, effective immediately. Former CEO Bryan Martin will assume the role of CTO and will continue as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Right now, as we speak, I am live and on site at the ChannelPRO SMB Forum event in New Jersey. If you remember, the group hosted its spring event this past April in California, which Harrybbb attended.

Pictured (L to R): Rich Papaioannou of HP, Michael Siggins of ChannelPro, and Ed Mana of Technology on Demand, on the show floor at today's ChannelPro event in New Jersey.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of Technology Wizards and we heard that the group plans to celebrate this achievement at its meeting tomorrow (Sept. 11) at 12 Noon at the Microsoft PacWest office located at 1414 Northrup (in the Pearl district).

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior.

In addition, here at SMB Nation, we are already gearing up for our annual fall event to be held Oct. 10-12 in Las Vegas at the Rio! We have designed a brand new Web site specifically for this event, which you must check out today. For additional information on the new Web site, our cool XP Migrations video produced by Bigger Brains, and our fall conference, check out our blog post here. Hurry up, and get your registration in, as we are less than two months away from this event!

Ingate Systems and ThinkTel announced that Ingate E-SBCs and ThinkTel’s SIP trunking service have successfully completed full interoperability testing.

According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, factory revenue in the worldwide server market decreased -6.2% year over year to $11.9 billion in the second quarter of 2013. This was the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue decline, as server market demand continued to soften in most geographic regions. Server unit shipments decreased -1.2% year over year in 2Q13 to 2.0 million units, the third consecutive quarter where year-over-year server shipments have declined.

Novus LLC, said that it has added IntelePeer as a partner, and will resell its CoreCloud SIP trunking services, which are qualified for Microsoft Lync 2010 and 2013.

Today at a launch event in New York City, AVG Technologies today announced the first AVG CloudCare service module will be integrated within AVG Managed WorkPlace since AVG acquired the business of LPI Level Platforms in June.

GFI MAX said today that it has made available its remote command line, the first function of the new Remote Background Management feature in its GFI MAX RemoteManagement platform for MSPs. The Remote Background Management feature provides a seamless customer experience by allowing MSPs to remotely complete maintenance on their customers’ networks without interrupting their work.

WD said that it has expanded its WD Red line of SATA hard drives specifically designed for home and small office NAS systems with one- to five-drive bays. WD Red hard drives are now available in a 2.5-inch form factor offering 1 TB and 750 GB capacities and a new 3.5-inch 4 TB capacity. Powered by NASware 2.0 technology, WD Red is compatibility-tested with top NAS system manufacturers and optimized for performance and reduced power consumption.

It seems that lately when we hear about big business concerning the CEOs of top companies, it usually refers to something negative and/or about a big payday they received for their efforts. However, with Lenovo, that’s not the case…in fact, it’s quite the opposite. If you want to shift gears, let’s talk about a tech giant that is based on literally sharing its wealth with its employees.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior.

In addition, here at SMB Nation, we are already gearing up for our annual fall event to be held Oct. 10-12 in Las Vegas at the Rio! We have designed a brand new Web site specifically for this event, which you must check out today. For additional information on the new Web site, our cool XP Migrations video produced by Bigger Brains, and our fall conference, check out our blog post here. Hurry up, and get your registration in, as we are less than two months away from this event!

It’s been quite a week at Microsoft as it relates to personnel changes and announcements. First, Steve Ballmer, the company’s longtime CEO announced last Friday that he plans to retire in the coming year. Now, today, we heard from the tech giant that Channel Chief Jon Roskill (pictured) is stepping down from the position he served in for the last three years.

EMC Corporation and VMware announced at this week’s VMworld event that they have joined together on a major investment and are continually focused on rapid advancement of software-defined storage architectures and emerging models for the way applications consume storage in virtualized environments.

It was announced earlier this week that David D’Arcy, Founder and CEO of NYC-based IT solution provider firm Precision IT will step down from the top post at his company. Taking over will be Anthony L. Butler (pictured), the company’s current VP of Sales who will serve as acting CEO, effective immediately.

AVG Technologies is now offering MSPs (for a limited time) an RMM swap promo for partners that had previously been using packetTrap, the platform acquired by Dell from Quest Software last year.

The promo, which is available from now through November 2013, offers AVG Managed Workplace RMM platform at no charge to businesses with existing packetTrap RMM licenses.

WD released this week two ultra-compact backup appliances: the WD Arkeia DA1300 and DA2300, which are designed to offer SMBs all-in-one backup and disaster recovery solutions.

Bundled with the WD Arkeia v10.1 software, these new appliances come with an unlimited numbers of file/folder backup agents on any of over 200 distinct platform types. The software also offers optional specialized agents for hot backups of important applications and databases.

You heard it here first…Jeff Dryall informed us today that he taken on a new position at VAR Dynamics as Director of Business Development. Dryall, who most recently was with Level Platforms, left a few weeks after the RMM company was acquired by AVG Technologies, and has since been looking for his next best opportunity.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior.

In addition, here at SMB Nation, we are already gearing up for our annual fall event to be held Oct. 10-12 in Las Vegas at the Rio! We have designed a brand new Web site specifically for this event, which you must check out today: http://fall.smbnation.com/. For additional information on the new Web site, our cool XP Migrations video produced by Bigger Brains, and our fall conference, check out our blog post here. Hurry up, and get your registration in, as we are less than two months away from this event!

snom technology and Patton Electronics announced today at ITEXPO that they are expanding their existing partnership by offering telephony bundles in North and South America through value-added distributor ABP Technology.

D&H Distributing announced today that it has won Microsoft’s Platinum Level Operational Excellence Award. The company was rewarded for its ability to deliver operational excellence supporting Microsoft technology over the past year.

Even though it’s a Friday in the summer, it seems as though most offices are like ghost towns with relaxed summer schedules, and everyone taking vacation before the “unofficial” end of summer Labor Day holiday. However, this is not the case at Microsoft, where it is business as usual. With that being said. You have to be still sleeping or living in a cave to have not heard by now, that this morning, the tech giant announced that its CEO Steve Ballmer announced his retirement from the top post within the next 12 months.

Yodle has released the results from its inaugural Small Business Sentiment Survey – a study that examines American small business owners' perspective on work-life balance, professional and personal worries, and government and institutional support.  The study also reveals the rate at which small business owners are adopting modern technology and marketing approaches.  The survey, which was conducted in June 2013 through a third party research firm, polled 306 small business owners nationwide across a large variety of industries.

Cloud software provider Zendesk has launched Help Center, a self-service all-in-one knowledge base, community and customer portal designed. The new Help Center enables any company to create a self-service portal that is beautiful and relevant for their customers and is as simple to create and customize as a blog.

Verio Inc., said today that it has launched VerioCatalyst—an online marketplace of applications designed to provide global partners with cloud-based tools and services to meet the needs of their customers. VerioCatalyst brings a new platform for SMBs to browse and purchase a wide selection of scalable IT, marketing, collaboration and mobility applications as well as cost-effective, bundled business services.

OPSWAT today released its market share report, which includes analysis of antivirus, peer-to-peer, backup, and antiphishing application usage worldwide. In addition to market share coverage, the report provides a comprehensive breakdown of the most popular products in their respective category and how often certain product features are enabled.

D&H Distributing said that it is offering two new training events to help VARs attain additional skills and grow their businesses.  The first event is a new webcast to be held tomorrow at 2 pm EST through the distributor’s Solutions Lab. Entitled “VAR Best Practices – Building Your Business By Doing What’s Right For Your Customers,” this session is at no-cost for D&H resellers.  In addition, the distributor is offering a D&H and Lenovo Server Build Session on Tuesday, October 8, to be held at the Tripp Lite Integrated Solutions Center, 111 West 35th Street, Chicago, IL.  

TechSquad IT, is now offering, as part of its technology services platform, Dropbox for Business to its SMB customer base.

By adding Dropbox for Business to its selection of technology services, the Milwaukee-based MSP will now be able to provide its SMB clients with file sharing and collaboration tools that will help streamline and organize their daily business processes. Utilized currently by more than 2 million businesses, Dropbox for Business is known for its ability to automatically back up data so that it is available anywhere at any time from any device. In addition, Dropbox for Business keeps important data safe so that it may be shared securely with team members, as well as giving the ability to access older versions of any type of document, and restoring previously deleted files.

Rebit said today that it has launched its new Partner Portal, a web-based tool where approved partners can provision, manage, and monitor Rebit backup solutions.

Once approved as a partner, the Rebit Partner Portal provides small business customers with a one- stop-shop for performing essential operations to manage Rebit backup more efficiently.

A few months back, we had the opportunity to speak with Robert Danese, (pictured at right) CEO, Innovative Channel Network Group (ICN), who offered a few guidelines, tips and information on a landmark $7-billion-plus class action settlement against credit card companies Visa and MasterCard.

Comcast Business said today that distributor SYNNEX Corporation has joined the Comcast Business Solutions Provider Program as the first distributor to serve as a master agent. Comcast Business’s full line of Ethernet, Internet, voice, cloud and TV solutions will now be a key platform of SYNNEX’ mobility, communications and networking services distribution practice, MOBILITYSolv, that complement cloud application services SYNNEX VARs are already offering to their customers.

Here we go again! As I do each week, I am really enjoying bringing our readers a quick round-up of the blog coverage I didn’t manage to get to during the week prior.

 In addition, here at SMB Nation, we are already gearing up for our annual fall event to be held Oct. 10-12 in Las Vegas at the Rio! We have been hard at work designing a brand new Web site specifically for this event, which you must check out today: http://fall.smbnation.com/. For additional information on the new Web site, our cool XP Migrations video produced by Bigger Brains, and our fall conference, check out our blog post here.

LogMeIn has unveiled the first in a series of new capabilities that extend the collaborative benefits of join.me beyond online meetings through LogMeIn’s secure cloud file sync and sharing app, Cubby.  First up is cloud-based recording and sharing of any join.me online or audio meeting. The new features offer a simple, secure way to capture and share real-time collaboration sessions, either as a follow-up for participants or as a means of sharing the meeting’s content with a broader audience.

Broadview Networks has launched the CRM Connector for OfficeSuite, its cloud-based business phone system. The new CRM Connector integrates OfficeSuite with Salesforce.com and any other TAPI-enabled (Telephony Application Programming Interface) CRM application to provide businesses with a fully integrated communications solution that improves employee efficiency and effectiveness.

Fiberlink said today that it has hired channel veteran Francois Daumard as director of channel development. Daumard will be responsible for scaling Fiberlink's channel program and recruiting new partners for its MaaSters Partner Program, particularly in the SMB space.