SMB Nation Blog

Cisco announced yesterday that it intends to acquire SolveDirect, a Vienna, Austria-based company focusing on cloud-delivered services management software and services. The intent to acquire SolveDirect was mentioned in a blog post yesterday by Hilton Romanowski, Cisco’s head of corporate business development.

Back in January, we reported that Dell signed an agreement to be acquired via partnership by Founder Michael Dell and global investment firm Silver Lake for $24.4 billion, which included a 45-day “go-shop” process. Well apparently it seems that two companies have taken advantage of the Dell “mall.” The Special Committee of the Board of said that one proposal was submitted by a group affiliated with a private equity fund managed by Blackstone and the other by entities affiliated with Carl Icahn.

Ubiquiti Networks said today that it has introduced UniFi 3.0—reportedly the industry’s first Wi-Fi platform to deliver 802.11ac access points and management software to support the increased needs of under networked businesses, hotel chains, restaurants, hospitals, schools, and others.

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. We have been pretty busy around here at SMB Nation in gearing up for our SMB 150 Awards Gala Dinner, and our Spring Conference, which will be held May 3-5, 2013, at the Microsoft Redmond Campus. For more information, and to register, go to: http://spring.smbnation.com/.

IBM today announced it is extending its social business platform with its first fully integrated social mail solution. The move aims to simplify and accelerate social business adoption in the marketplace, providing employees with a single access point to all of their collaboration tools social media, email, group activities, blogs and more. 

As the much-anticipated BlackBerry 10 hits stores today in the U.S., developers continue to support the new device, bringing more than 30,000 new applications to the platform over the past seven weeks. BlackBerry earlier this week announced that BlackBerry 10 customers now have access to more than 100,000 applications for the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone on the BlackBerry World storefront.

Our friends at New York City-based Work Market informed us this morning that they have formed a partnership and extensive software integration with Autotask Corporation. The integration, which went live at the start of the New Year, can be configured within 24 hours to enable businesses to effectively synchronize and exchange data between the Work Market and Autotask platforms, increasing the speed and efficiency of contractor management and payment. 

Last summer, we reported that Microsoft announced (over the July 4th weekend) that it was planning to end of life its Windows Small Business Server (SBS). According to a blog report posted on July 10 by Harrybbb, the tech giant said that effectively, July 5, 2012, would be the last day for future sales for the product. Alternatively, Microsoft would be offering an on-prem hybrid alternative with windows Server 2012 Essentials. 

Various news outlets reported late yesterday that Kevin Lynch, Adobe’s System’s CTO jumped ship to Cupertino, CA, for Apple. 

SMB Nation has released the final results of the 2013 SMB 150 contest, currently available at www.smb150.com. The SMB 150, a collaboration of SMB Nation and SMB Technology Network, recognizes the top 150 influencers within the worldwide SMB technology channel. Influencers include IT consultants, analysts, VARs, MSPs, channel consultants, vendor and distributor executives, members of the media and community leaders.

New research, including a survey of 1,300 companies commissioned by Rackspace, has found that more than half of organizations’ cloud deployments are being hampered by a shortage of cloud computing skills.

Harrybbb tipped me off this afternoon on a news item he saw on his daily Wall Street Journal news feed concerning a company that at times is highly controversial within our industry—Microsoft. Many in our industry always have their own opinions on the tech giant, so I am sure these same groups will have much to say regarding the reports that Microsoft is currently being investigated by federal regulators on its relationships with business partners who allegedly offered bribes to foreign government officials for software contracts.

New monthly PC tracking in top PC markets from IDC reveals slower-than-expected growth in China during the first quarter of 2013. Although the slowdown is partially due to the timing of Chinese New Year and other expected factors, new budget cuts from the government as well as anti-corruption measures are slowing purchases more than expected. March should recover somewhat in China, but not enough to offset the weak February results. 

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. We have been pretty busy around here at SMB Nation in gearing up for our SMB 150 Awards Gala Dinner (sponsored by BlackBerry), and our Spring Conference, which will be held May 3-5, 2013, at the Microsoft Redmond Campus. For more information, and to register, go to: http://spring.smbnation.com/.

AVG Technologies said today that is has added new features and functions to its AVG CloudCare administration platform that allows remote deployment and management of IT and security services for SMBs at a cost-effective rate.

Broadvox has released Call Bursting, a new add-on feature available with its SIP Trunking feature that gives customers the ability to utilize additional call sessions beyond the amount purchased for peak calling times. This optional feature can be added to any SIP Trunking order and is helpful for businesses or organizations that occasionally see bursts of increased calling activity, such as the increased calling activity a school may see on a snow day. 

Tripp Lite is now offering an economical UPS system, known as the OMNI1500LCDT, which is designed to protect equipment from blackouts, brownouts and other power problems while keeping the user constantly informed through an easy-to-read LCD control panel.

It came to our attention earlier this week that StartupNation has launched a competition honoring the leading moms in business. In the last few years, the number of mom-owned businesses has grown, powering the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. In order to honor these women, StartupNation is conducting its fourth annual ranking of these entrepreneurs and the businesses they run.

CompTIA said that it will add new e-learning options to its comprehensive education and training programs for the IT channel. CompTIA Executive Certificate programs in cloud computing, mobile technologies and IT security will be available in e-learning modules beginning April 1. Additional courses will be added in the coming months.

Broadvox said that it is bringing cloud-delivered video services to SMBs and enterprises. The service will use plug-and-play desktop solutions from Polycom, Inc., and will allow users to easily collaborate face-to-face with colleagues, partners and customers across a variety of standards-based video platforms.

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. We have been pretty busy around here at SMB Nation in gearing up for our SMB 150 Awards, and our Spring Conference, which will be held May 3-5, 2013, at the Microsoft Redmond Campus. For more information, and to register, go to: http://spring.smbnation.com/.

D&H Distributing announced at the XChange Solution Provider event in Orlando, Fla., yesterday, that it has developed a new roster of services designed to enable SMB resellers to profit from a comprehensive suite of cloud solutions. Foremost among these, the distributor has become a strategic distribution partner for Cloud Nation’s innovative cloud solutions platform and community portal, which delivers a comprehensive roster of training, services and technologies needed for SMB resellers to sell and maintain cloud-based infrastructures.

Earlier this week, we reported that CompTIA’s annual Breakaway conference will now be known as CompTIA ChannelCon--the new name and identity of the trade association’s annual event. Scheduled to occur July 29-31 at the Peabody Orlando Hotel in Florida, ChannelCon, according to Kelly Ricker, CompTIA’s senior vice president, events and education, is a result of an evolutionary change in our industry. “This is not a new event,” she stated. “We are certain that our loyalists will continue to feel comfortable and receive the same benefits” (as they did when the event was known as Breakaway).

About a week or so ago, I was so outraged by Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer’s decision to ban telecommuting for the company’s employees, beginning June 1. Basically, Meyer decided that any employees who had an arrangement to work at home, or those who sporadically used their home offices, would be forced to commute into the company’s headquarters each day, or find employment elsewhere.

Xerox said today that it is now working with CA Technologies to offer companies of all sizes subscription-based cloud services for monitoring the performance of business software and overall technology systems. These services can be delivered at basic, standard and advanced levels that are flexible and easy for clients to access. 

Rackspace Hosting announced major new features in its free and open source Rackspace Private Cloud Software, powered by OpenStack and supported by its own Fanatical Support services. Key among the new functionality in this release is OpenCenter, a single interface for deploying, configuring and operating clouds at scale in an enterprise data center. 

N-able Technologies has made available N- central 9.1, an IT services platform that easily scales and supports hybrid IT environments and mobile devices, as well as Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

CompTIA announced today that its annual Breakaway event is undergoing a new name and identity change. The industry trade association says that the conference, which will now be known as ChannelCon, will build upon the current Breakaway legacy with additional education, training and networking opportunities.  The inaugural CompTIA ChannelCon is scheduled for July 29-31 at the Peabody Orlando Hotel in Orlando, Fla.

D&H Distributing is opening its 2013 trade show schedule with the 11th Annual West Coast Technology Show next week on Thursday, March 14, at the Pacific Palms Resort in Industry Hills, CA.  Registration starts at 12:00 noon and seminars run from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  The exhibit floor, holding booths from more than 65 D&H vendor partners, will be open from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.  The distributor expects upwards of 500 VARs in attendance.

Despite intense industry efforts to overcome market inertia, 2012 nonetheless ended on a sour note with global PC shipment volume shrinking 3.7% on the year. With limited initial traction from Windows 8 in the holiday season, and continued pressure from tablets, IDC now expects 2013 PC shipments to decline by 1.3% in 2013, according to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.

By Dan Tully, executive vice president, Conduit Systems

According to a 2009 National Archives and Record Administration report, 93 percent of companies that lost data for 10 days or more, filed for bankruptcy within one year, and 50 percent of those companies filed for bankruptcy immediately. Disasters can strike at any time, and in any form. Power failures, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, snow storms, data breaches, and human error are just some of the ways that a business can be seriously affected. The up-front and hidden costs of downtime to repair your business can be just as devastating.

LabTech Software, which touts itself as the only RMM platform developed by an MSP for MSPs, today unveiled an integration platform revolutionizing partners’ ability to best unlock the full potential of their PSA platform for increased productivity, optimized customer service levels and maximized profitability.

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. We have been pretty busy around here at SMB Nation in gearing up for our SMB 150 Awards, and our Spring Conference, which will be held May 3-5, 2013, at the Microsoft Redmond Campus. For more information, and to register, go to: http://spring.smbnation.com/.

Earlier this week, Verizon announced that is focused on simplifying its relationship with indirect sales channels and the companies that form its extensive technology ecosystem. What this translates to is the company is keeping it simple and organized for its partner ecosystem serving the SMB community. It consolidated several existing business channel programs to form one umbrella of services that is now known as the Verizon Partner Program. This was designed, according to the company, to make it easier for its current SMB partners to expand their business, as well as creating new opportunities for their respective end users.

Immediately following its announcement to help customers deploy workloads with confidence, Dell, along with VMware, unveiled a pre-integrated system specifically designed for VMware-based virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) workloads, the Dell DVS Enterprise – Active System 800 with VMware Horizon View 5.2.

If you are a D&H VAR that’s wondering what products are hot topics within the distributor’s line card, you’ll then be pleased to know that the distributor introduced today a new “What’s Trending” feature, an online tool which lists the most frequently viewed items on dandh.com, updated several times daily. 

This morning, I turned on my laptop to log on to my Outlook email via Office 365, and I noticed that the Office 365 home page had a completely different look. I wasn’t surprised, since I was informed by Microsoft’s PR firm, that the tech giant was set to announce this, and other valuable updates to the platform today.

Verizon announced today at the Channel Partners event in Las Vegas that it is simplifying its relationship with indirect sales channels and the companies that form its extensive technology ecosystem. Therefore, as a result, it is consolidating several existing business channel programs under a new “best-in-class” Verizon Partner Program to make it easier for its members to expand distribution and create new business opportunities for their customers.

IDC today released the results from its Worldwide Enterprise Videoconferencing and Telepresence Qview, which showed 4Q12 videoconferencing equipment revenue declined 8.6% year over year, but increased 14.9% quarter over quarter. Total worldwide enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence equipment revenue was $739.8 million in 4Q12, with revenue for the full year 2012 reaching $2.64 billion. The $2.64 billion total in 2012 was down 2.6% from full-year 2011 total revenue ($2.71 billion), according to IDC.

VoIP provider Vocalocity announced today at The Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, that it is making changes and revisions to its channel program. The enhancements are expected to enable Vocalocity and its partners to further accelerate their growth.

I can almost bet that there was no jumping for joy and cries of “Yahoo!” (no pun intended) late last week at the tech giant’s headquarters when company CEO Marissa Mayer announced that she plans to implement a no-work-from-home policy, beginning this June.

As reports of corporate data breaches regularly surface, Dell Software is now enabling IT to drive connected security across the organization, offering protection from the inside and the outside. As a result, the company announced the release of Quest One Privileged Access Suite for Unix, which combines Active Directory bridge and root delegation technologies to combat against poorly managed privileged accounts with a single, intuitive interface, to help protect the organization--from the inside out.

Spam Soap said today that Leonard Dimiceli, the company's general manager, has been named one of UBM Tech Channel’s CRN 2013 Channel Chiefs. This prestigious list of the most influential and powerful leaders in the IT channel recognizes those executives directly responsible for driving channel sales and growth within their organization, while evangelizing and defending the importance of the channel throughout the entire IT Industry.

AlgoSec said its latest version of the AlgoSec Security Management Suite is now available. The new version marks the general availability of AlgoSec BusinessFlow as an integral product of the suite, delivering innovative, application-centric security policy management that boosts business agility and the availability of enterprise applications. Additional enhancements to the Security Management Suite include extended device support, deeper integration capabilities, enhanced reporting and performance and IPv6 support.

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. We have been pretty busy around here at SMB Nation in gearing up for our SMB 150 Awards, and our Spring Conference.

Also note that this year’s Spring Conference will be held May 3-5, 2013, at the Microsoft Redmond Campus. For more information, and to register, go to: http://spring.smbnation.com/.

nCircle, a provider of information risk and security performance management solutions, made available today its nCircle Remote solution, a new mobile iDevice application for the nCircle IP360 vulnerability and risk management system. nCircle Remote allows users to start, monitor and view the results of critical vulnerability scans from a wide variety of Apple mobile devices, including iPhones and iPads. nCircle Remote makes it easy for users to keep track of vulnerability scans at all times and respond quickly to emergency security situations.

A couple of weeks ago, we reported that telco giant Alcatel-Lucent confirmed that its CEO, Ben Verwaayen, would step down from his positions as CEO and board member. In addition, the telco reported declines in the last year and profit for the fourth quarter of last year.

Comcast Business Services has released its Upware marketplace, which is a suite of cloud-based business solutions that can be purchased through one integrated web portal. The Upware marketplace contains a list of third-party, cloud-based business applications from industry-leading companies in key categories such as data backup, data security, and collaboration.

(Source data at right courtesy of Analysys Mason).

F5 Networks has developed F5 Mobile App Manager, a hybrid cloud solution for mobile application management that enables organizations to safely and cost-effectively support enterprise BYOD initiatives. With F5 Mobile App Manager, enterprises can extend corporate applications and data to employees’ personal mobile devices while leaving all personal content under the control of the device owner.

CA Technologies has enhanced its CA ARCserve data protection solution that is designed to simplify BDR for physical and virtual server environments, while significantly improving performance, scalability and flexibility. 

dinCloud said earlier this week that it has hired Barry Weber as CTO. An IT veteran, Weber brings 30 years of IT experience in the retail, financial services, professional services, and high tech industries.

Rackspace Hosting reported in a study released today that 88 percent of cloud users point to cost savings. In addition, 56 percent of respondents agree that cloud computing has helped them boost profits.

In order to help customers better-manage and reduce the cost of backing up and recovering company data, Dell today introduced its next-generation disk backup appliance built on the Fluid Data architecture.

Sadly, our SMB Nation family and the SMB IT community lost a friend and colleague who was both central and dedicated to the industry he loved so much. Jeremiah Ilges, SMB Nation’s Director of Business Development & Strategic Relationships, quietly passed away at home yesterday afternoon, with his adoring wife, Brook, by his side. Jeremiah, who is also survived by his three daughters, succumbed to Telomere Disease, which unfortunately caused many of his organs to give out.

Pictured: Jeremiah Ilges (second from right) receiving his SMB 150 award in May 2012.

LifeSize, which is a division of Logitech, said that it has formed a deeper collaboration with Microsoft through its product development of a Microsoft Lync Room System. The joint effort with Microsoft enables LifeSize to deliver a video and collaboration solution that brings the familiar Lync unified communication experience to the meeting room.

CA Technologies said today that it has launched CA Nimsoft Service Desk 7 (NSD), the latest version of its flagship SaaS service management solution. 

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. We have been pretty busy around here at SMB Nation in gearing up for our SMB 150 Awards, and our Spring Conference. We also recently celebrated the one-month anniversary of Cloud Nation, a new platform introduced to help VARs, MSPs and SMBs create and successfully grow cloud practices.

Earlier this week, SMB Nation reported that Xerox released ConnectKey, its newest software system embedded in Xerox multifunction printers. According to the company, 16 ConnectKey MFPs– including the new WorkCentre 5800 and 7800 Series – will use the industry’s first embedded security protection from McAfee, giving IT managers more control and peace of mind in BYOD workplaces. ConnectKey MFPs also have an extra layer of security with Cisco’s TrustSec, which protects data paths to and from the devices.

Long Island, NY’s CA Technologies has made available the third major release of its MSP icensing program for CA ARCserve. With a further simplified licensing structure, new partner enablement resources and an expanded technology portfolio, the CA ARCserve MSP program empowers partners to quickly and cost-efficiently deliver effective, profitable data protection services.

In a blog post forwarded to SMB Nation, Cisco’s Richard McLeod, senior director of Cisco’s Worldwide Collaboration Channel Sales, discusses how the company is furthering its push to support partners (and the customers they serve) in the midmarket space. Interestingly enough, the news came to us on a day when Cisco reported a small gain in earnings for its fiscal second quarter, helped by growing sales of its networking and corporate IT gear. (Pictured at right): Cisco's Business Edition 6000

Yesterday, SMB Nation attended a media pre-briefing session hosted by Xerox to discuss ConnectKey, its newest software system embedded in Xerox multifunction printers (MFPs) and a set of solutions that respond to an increasingly mobile workforce and the need for more advanced IT security across connected devices.

Just coming down from the announcement that Dell is going private via acquisition by both founder Michael Dell and VC firm Silver Lake, the tech giant set out new milestones for the Dell Technology Partner Program, a program that helps ISVs, Independent Hardware Vendors (IHVs) and Solution Providers build innovative and highly competitive solutions using Dell platforms.

Xceedium announced yesterday that it has developed Xsuite for VMware vSphere. This extension to the Xsuite platform now enables organizations to secure and audit privileged access to VMware vSphere, including both VMware vCenter Server and guest operating systems on VMware vSphere.

We all remember the Super Bowl commercials for Go Daddy, which have largely been associated with race car driver Danica Patrick. However, this year, the company’s Super Bowl commercial took things to the next level with depiction of “sexy combined with smart.” The commercial featured supermodel Bar Rafaeli kissing a nerdy guy named “Walter,” and I honestly had to look away from the television during the spot…but I guess that was Go Daddy’s intention, to give people something to talk about!

Microsoft recently released an e-guide on how partners can take the mystery and confusion regarding contracts with governments and large enterprises. With so many of us having such busy schedules, we literally have zero time to focus on how to muddle through all of this “red tape,” which often includes mounds of paperwork and excess forms and tasks to complete.

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. We have been pretty busy around here at SMB Nation in gearing up for our SMB 150 Awards, and our Spring Conference. We also, celebrated the one-month anniversary of Cloud Nation, a new platform introduced to help VARs, MSPs and SMBs create and successfully grow cloud practices. A reminder that voting has been extended to Feb. 22 for the 3rd Annual SMB Nation 150 Awards; go to www.SMB150.com, to vote for all of your industry favorites…

We heard this morning that Margaret Dawson, formerly the VP of Product Management and Marketing at Seattle-based cloud provider Symform, has left her position to take on a new role as VP of Product Marketing & Cloud Evangelist with HP Cloud Services—a start-up within the tech giant’s conglomerate.

By Rachel Greenberg, Site Editor, My VoIP Provider

It’s a new year, it’s the perfect time for companies to save money in new ways, and the company phone bill is the perfect place to start. This is 2013, and today there is phone technology that allows you to make phone calls over the Internet, rather than through traditional lines or through cellular networks. VoIP technology cuts down these pricy phone bills, while also providing a slew of features not offered by traditional phone providers.

I always enjoy having the opportunity to engage in a one-to-one conversation with members of our community--VARs, MSPs and vendors alike. This week, my discussion was with Chris Frey, Lenovo’s VP North American Channels. During our 30-minute chat, Frey and I talked about everything from the top verticals Lenovo is targeting, the predictions related to the PC market, the company’s K-12 initiative and also the swirling rumors regarding the company’s takeover of BlackBerry, (which Frey said he could not discuss).

The PR group representing NetEnrich officially confirmed to us this morning that Chris Cramer has joined the company from I.T. Works, a NetEnrich MSP partner, taking on the role of Partner Manager. Cramer, who started his new position on Monday, will be working with Justin Crotty, NetEnrich’s senior VP and GM, to spearhead the company’s efforts to build upon, and further enable, the success of its existing MSP partner base.

In what seems to be a commonality of late in the IT world, another CEO has stepped down from his post. This time it’s Ben Verwaayen, CEO of French-based telecom Alcatel-Lucent. The company confirmed today, per an announcement on MarketWatch, that Verwaayen will step down from his positions as CEO and board member; the telco reported declines in the last year and profit for the fourth quarter of last year.

Anturis earlier this week announced at the Parallells Summit the beta release of IT infrastructure monitoring and troubleshooting solution, free for a limited time. Co-founded by Parallels Founder and Chairman of the Board Serguei Beloussov, Anturis’ IT infrastructure monitoring solution is available now. Anturis was also on hand to demo the product at the Parallels Summit in Las Vegas this week.

Tripp Lite has expanded its line of DisplayPort products with the introduction of the B121-000 DisplayPort Signal Extender. Designed to extend DisplayPort signals beyond the typical 16-foot limitation, the B121-000 supports video resolutions of up to 1920 x 1080 (60Hz) and distances of up to 150 feet.

The explosion of smartphone and tablet adoption will impact printing, scanning, document management, and print volumes in surprising ways over the next five years. According to a new IDC survey of 800 unique respondents, smartphone and tablet users – whom the survey found to be younger, more likely male, have higher incomes, and increasingly hectic travel schedules – are surprisingly more likely than non-users to drive print. Smartphone and tablet users are more likely than non-users to print 16 of 20 business applications from their PCs.

By Jay McBain, Co-Founder, ChannelEyes

I was thinking this morning about the evolution of mobile technology.  What if we compared it to the evolution of the PC?  

Is it safe to say that we are now in about 1985?

I think so, and here is my case...

IBM last week announced at its Connect 2013 event a new software and cloud-based service to help business leaders, such as chief marketing officers and chief human resource officers, advance their organization's transformation with the adoption of social business technology. The new offerings are designed to help business leaders integrate IBM's social networking and analytics technologies into their business processes to empower the 21st Century workforce and transform client experiences.

This morning, Dell finally made the announcement that the tech community has been waiting for with baited breath…they have signed an agreement to be acquired via partnership by Founder Michael Dell and global investment firm Silver Lake for $24.4 billion.

By Ken Thoreson, Acumen Management Group, Ltd.

Recently we surveyed a variety of partners who are focused on developing a cloud practice. The results essentially confirmed what I've found with my consulting clients: Most partners are simply struggling to find their way and are partly cloudy on the approach to leading their sales teams. There has been a lot of marketing noise about the cloud: its impact on the market, what segments to attack and its impact on the partner business model. Very little has been done to deliver to partners specific tactical tools to drive this transforming business.

D&H Distributing announces it is revitalizing its offerings for system builders. The distributor is adding new tools, promotions, products and training vehicles to help independent resellers profit from custom computer designs in a variety of formats.  This includes a special February Systems Integrator Focus Month promotion, in which integrators can win a series of American Express Gift cards.  D&H customers that purchase $5,000 worth of merchandise this month from among 20 participating Focus Month manufacturers, such as ASUS, APC, Samsung and Western Digital, will be eligible to win one of 16 Amex gift cards worth between $100 and $500. 

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.

A reminder that voting has been extended to Feb. 22 for the 3rd Annual SMB Nation 150 Awards; go to www.SMB150.com, to vote for all of your industry favorites…

Also note that this year’s Spring Conference will be held May 3-5, 2013, at the Microsoft Redmond Campus. For more information, and to register, go to: http://spring.smbnation.com/.

Our friends at Techaisle are releasing a new study tomorrow, which they gave us a sneak peek at today. The report discusses the analyst firm’s research on global SMB mobile workforce forecast, which shows that by 2016 there will be slightly over 298 million SMB employees who will be mobile workers. One-fourth will be from the mid-market segment. Nearly 150 million SMB employees will be telecommuting and over 120 million will travel on business. The number of cloud users will likely jump from less than 140 million in 2012 to over 200 million in 2016.

Tablets are taking over the IT world it seems, both on the consumer and B2B sides, and IDC has the data to prove it. According to the research firm, worldwide tablet shipments outpaced predictions reaching a record total of 52.5 million units worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), according to preliminary data from the firm’s Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker.

By Pedro Hernandez, SmallBusiness.Computing.com

Forewarned is forearmed, particularly for small business owners who want to keep up with a shifting technology landscape. And similar to how innovations like smartphones, tablets and cloud computing reshaped small business IT last year, 2013 has the makings of another tumultuous year in technology.

We recently had the opportunity to chat with Peter Sandiford, CEO, Level Platforms, regarding the many accomplishments the company has achieved in the last year, as well as Sandiford’s outlook for 2013. With the year now in full swing, Sandiford offered how far LPI has come in the last year, and where the company is headed in the next year.

“BlackBerry has lost its momentum over the last 10 quarters - today it turned things around…” Strategy Analytics.

Strong customer demand for innovative technology solutions such as cloud computing, big data and mobility are countered by concerns about economic uncertainties, pricing pressures and substitution effects in the IT Industry Outlook 2013 released this week by CompTIA.

snom technology AG is currently debuting a new line-up of SIP Lync-qualified business phones highlighting its new, 7xx series – at ITEXPO East 2013 in Miami this week. According to the company, snom’s standards-based portfolio of IP desktop phones represents the industry’s largest and most comprehensive offering of endpoints fully interoperable with Microsoft Lync.

Desktone, Inc. said today that its virtual desktop platform is now interoperable with the Cisco Integrated Services Router Generation 2(ISR G2) and UCS-E series server, delivering simple, cost-effective Windows desktops and applications as a cloud service to help SMBs, branch and remote offices meet demand for mobility aDend remote workforce support. As a registered developer in the Desktop Virtualization category of the Cisco Developer Network, Desktone has completed interoperability verification testing required by Cisco.

If there ever was a diverse headline in my editorial career, I would say today’s is up there in terms of hitting the sweet spot. You have to be living in a man cave (note Harrybbb's technologically advanced man cave at right) without any modern technology to know that the BlackBerry 10 smartphone was released simultaneously around the world today. In addition, the former company known as RIM (Research in Motion) officially renamed and rebranded itself simply as BlackBerry.

Datto said late yesterday that it will provide backup, disaster recovery and business continuity solutions to more than 50 TeamLogic IT locations across the country. TeamLogic IT is a nationwide network of businesses that provide comprehensive computer-based services for managing information technology.

AppSense today released MobileNow, which according to the company is the only 100% SaaS- based mobile device, application and data management solution designed for Enterprise and Mid-Market organizations that bridges application/data access, corporate compliance and strong security to personal devices in work environments. MobileNow provides a full set of product features that move beyond simple mobile device management capabilities to provide IT with the strongest, deepest policy controls possible across mobile devices, applications and data.

In gearing up for its annual partner conference in Las Vegas next week, Parallels today announced Parallels Management, a plug-in for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) that lets enterprises extend System Center capabilities to efficiently and cost-effectively manage the growing number of Macs on their network.

It’s big times for RIM and BlackBerry this week. Firstly, the company has a “little bit of a launch” occurring tomorrow in New York City and several other cities and countries throughout the world. The company is simultaneously launching the new BlackBerry 10 device with which a host of apps for the workplace developed by enterprises and enterprise developers will be available.

D&H Distributing said it has won a majority of the categories in the 2012 ASCII Group Distribution Survey for the fourth consecutive year.  D&H has been named a favorite among broadline distributors every year since the study was first conducted by ASCII in 2009.

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.

A reminder that voting has been extended to Feb. 22 for the 3rd Annual SMB Nation 150 Awards; go to www.SMB150.com, to vote for all of your industry favorites…

Also note that this year’s Spring Conference will be held May 3-5, 2013, at the Microsoft Redmond Campus. For more information, and to register, go to: http://spring.smbnation.com/.

It’s no secret that the U.S. economy (and in turn) U.S. small businesses have been hit hard over the past few years.  Despite a lot of discussions from the government, corporations and the media, it is not getting easier to grow a small business, and our economy has a long way to go before we fully recover.  As efforts continue to stimulate the economy with huge corporate bailouts and the ongoing frenzy to find and fund the next big start up, the true backbone of our economy- small businesses- continue to fight every day to keep their businesses alive and, as a result, our economy going--and they don’t get a lot of appreciation or support.

Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to chat with Jim Coriddi, who is the VP of Ricoh Americas dealer division. Ricoh, which is based not far from my home office in NJ, is in fact just minutes away from the last place I lived (West Caldwell, N.J.), before I got married a little over one year ago.

Verio Inc. said that it has today released its new mobile Web site creation tool known as goMobi, which is designed to guide users through the creation of their mobile presence with a simple interface that ensures an effortless user experience. While certain information from the existing website can be pre-populated automatically, it can be edited any time. Users can leverage their existing site while having the flexibility to make changes.

snom technology AG announced today its snom Americas Gold and Platinum Partners for 2013. Novus, LLC once again attained the coveted Platinum Partner status, and ABP International, Inc., and TeleDynamics, LLP were named Gold Partners for the second year. Gold and Platinum partner status is awarded to recognize strong sales of snom products, as well as high levels of support provided by partners to snom customers throughout 2012.

Symantec Corp. yesterday announced that it has created a new strategy that includes a new Office of the CEO, expanded products and services, and also layoffs of various executives and middle management staff. The company says these measures are designed to streamline and simplify the company so it can deliver significantly improved performance for customers and partners.