Our weekly round-up of the IT news you don’t want to miss.
Computex Acquires ENETsolutions
Computex Technology Solutions, a national IT services company, has completed the acquisition of Houston-based MSP ENETsolutions. The acquisition strengthens Computex’s cloud services and unified communications offerings. In particular, the move bolsters the company’s networking infrastructure by adding data center ccapacity, integration facilities and a 24/7 network operations center for cloud and hosting services and remote network monitoring and management. The acquisition positions Computex to deliver large, national projects including the design, deployment and management of end-to-end enterprise IT environments that mix on-premise, off-premise and hosted solutions and a wide range of cloud computing consulting and professional services.
Barcoding and AeroScout team up to deliver hybrid RFID
Barcoding, Inc. and AeroScout Industrial have partnered to deliver hybrid RFID solutions that combine passive and active RFID. By merging the best features of both AeroScout’s active RFID and Barcoding’s passive RFID, this hybrid system approach creates one, unified visibility solution for tracking assets. According to Barcoding Director of RFID Tom O’Boyle, the hybrid approach will deliver a complete, integrated solution that will provide “an accurate, efficient, and connected data capture system that completely meets our clients’ unique and complex needs.”
GFI Software unveils MSP tool for Google apps, Office 365
Durham, NC-based GFI Software has unveiled a new tool that will improve the ability of MSPs to manage their customers’ Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps accounts. App Control, part of GFI Max, provides a single dashboard for the management of Office 365 and Google Apps user accounts, mailboxes and licenses saving MSPs the hassle of having to log in to multiple vendors' consoles to manage customers.
Eagle Eye Networks launches new channel program
Austin, Tex.-based Eagle Eye Networks – founded in January – has made connecting with the channel a priority and wasted no time launching a channel programto help deliver its cloud-managed video surveillance system to the market. Through the program, the company promises to generate leads on behalf of partners, provide access to system management dashboards that simplify installation and provide 24/7 support. Additionally partners will be able to deploy Eagle Eye Security Camera VMS under their own brand. According to company founder and CEO Dean Drako, Eagle Eye Security Camera VMS is built on four data centers that customers pay for on a monthly basis. This means partners can convert their customers to a recurring revenue model. Unlike previous generations of video surveillance systems which suffered from recording capacity limited by storage capacity, the Eagle Eye system allows solution providers to continuously monitor video surveillance systems and locally store files they want while the rest are archived in the cloud.
NetApp to slash 600 jobs Amid Slower Than Expected Sales, Heightened Competition
Cloud storage vendor NetApp has announced plans to cut 600 people, citing slow sales and heightened competition. According to the company’s SEC filing, the realignment will allow it "focus its resources on key strategic initiatives and streamline its business in light of the constrained IT spending environment." The move is expected to result in a $35 million to $45 million charge, most of which will be realized in its fiscal Q4.
Exablox adds channel program for MSPs
Cloud-based storage provider Exablox has rolled out its first channel partner program for MSPs that will provide access to the company's storage appliance and cloud-based management service. According to the company, the new program will support 100 partners focussed on mid-market customers across vertical industries with a marketing development fund for MSPs and is offering up to 30 points of additional margin. The company’s primary offering is OneSystem, a multi-tenant cloud-based management service, that provides remote management of its OneBlox storage solution through a single account.
Cisco leads market for security appliances
According to industry analyst firm IDC, Cisco claimed 18.1 percent of the security appliance market in Q4, 2013 – a measure worth $434 million in revenue. The report went on to credit Cisco’s strong position in the market to its October acquisition of Sourcefire, a specialist in cybersecurity. With 12.7 percent of the market and $303 million in revenues, Check Point was second while Fortinet and Juniper was ranked third and fourth respectively. Overall, the market grew 10 percent from Q3 and seven percent year-on-year. For the full year, security appliance revenue grew 5.4 percent to $8.6 billion. "With high profile security incidents, such as the Target breach, becoming more common, organizations are continuing to prioritize security spending," said John Grady, IDC Security Products Program Manager.
