Cloud Computing Services

Private cloud infrastructure spending holding steady

An analysis of Q2 from IDC indicates that public cloud infrastructure spending weakened but sales on the private side held up Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

STL adds more data centre expertise with IDS deal

STL has moved to expand its data centre infrastructure expertise and elsewhere Telstra is bringing its activities under a single banner Continue Reading

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• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Insight exposes the challenges for those running cloud projects

European wide research casts a light on the struggles that users are having meeting the various demands of their businesses Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

WatchGuard focusing on verticals as MSP numbers swell

Security player has seen its managed service provider relationships grow since it reached out to that segment of the channel community Continue Reading

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• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

ScanSource paints a picture of a digital future

Just weeks after it revealed plans to divest its hardware operation the firm has updated UK partners on the strategy Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

MSPs caught between the risks and rewards of protecting customers

Managed service players are seen by some customers as the weak link but have the potential to strengthen user defences Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Agilitas chairman Kelly awarded OBE

Channel veteran is recognised for his efforts working in the ICT community in Wales Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Barracuda MSP continuing to increase options for managed service players

Firm delivers first major update of Managed Workplace seven months after acquiring the security and RMM solution Continue Reading

What to expect in Q4

AI, contact centres and security are among the areas where the channel might gain in this quarter, according to industry figures Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Datto challenging MSP sales and marketing assumptions

Firm is using an event in London to challenge existing views of sales and marketing and provide advice for those looking to devise their own strategy Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Managed services on the rise for ECSC in H1

Cyber security specialist saw its managed services revenues climb in the first half but suffered some challenges in the consulting business Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Time to skill up and deepen customer relationships

The fourth quarter is a key time on the sales front but there are other activities that resellers should engage in to get themselves in a stronger position come the year end Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Distribution poised for growth after evolving for the digital future

The Global Technology Distribution Council has wrapped up it 2019 Summit with plenty of upbeat messages for the channel Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

MicroScope: Helping digital transformation

Find out how the channel is helping customers to digitally transform their businesses to keep up with trends and plan for the future, and read about what changes could come about from the shift to business-led IT. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Asolvi set for further UK expansion after landing fresh investment backers

Nordic firm has already acquired three UK firms this year and looks like more will be on the agenda after it has a fresh majority investor on board Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

CenturyLink expands channel programme across EMEA

Firm is looking for resellers to sign up after it rolls out a major expansion in the area covered by its channel programme Continue Reading

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• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

More MSP consolidation with CMI snapping up BTA

The two MSPs have come together in a deal that will take Cgive CMI more revenues, staff and office locations Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Olive Communications talks of growth after solid fiscal year

Comms specialist has seen its cloud and managed services business improve over the last fiscal year Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Maintel to part company with chief executive as profits rise

Cloud and managed services player delivers interim half year numbers and and reveals its chief executive is leaving at the end of December Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

AWS partner HeleCloud sets sights on Europe with acquisition

AWS specialist makes its first acquisition gaining a foothold in the Benelux region with the aim of exploiting the growth opportunities in that region Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Kaspersky reaches MSP milestone

Security vendor notches up sign-up milestone as the industry looks to reach out to managed service providers Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Channel advice: How to spend the holiday weeks

Staff might be coming and going topping up their tans but there is still plenty that the channel can do both internally and crucially externally with customers Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Cogeco Peer 1 shows adaptability with rebranding

Hosting specialist will become Aptum Technologies as it looks to chart a fresh course under the ownership of Digital Colony Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

IT Lab acquires Mirus IT

Managed services player with a focus on Microsoft takes revenues past the £75m mark with a move to pick up Mirus Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Cyber security and the channel

Leading lights in the industry give their assessment of where the cyber security market is headed in the second half of 2019 Continue Reading

SCC investing in the future

Channel player delivers solid set of numbers for its fiscal year at the same time as investing in IT systems to support future ambitions Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

How to help businesses reach their digital goals

With digital transformation a hot trend in IT right now, the channel’s ability to help organisations hit the sweet spot in this pursuit could attract a lot of attention from potential customers Continue Reading

By

• Billy MacInnes

Control or shift – channel’s role in the move to business-led IT

What impact could the shift to business-led IT have on channel partners’ role with customers and the relationships they have grown and developed within customer organisations? Continue Reading

By

• Billy MacInnes

Olive CTO talks 5G and the importance of providing a good customer experience

Recently appointed CTO is looking to help the mobile and cloud player build on its legacy and support more global customers Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Digital transformation leadership a problem for users

NTT research has highlighted issues around the expertise of those leading digital transformation efforts and Kyocera has highlighted the need to concentrate on people as well as technology Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Higher margin business helps Insight in Q2

Channel player might have seen sales remain flat but the CEO is remaining confident about the prospects for the second half Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Financial services sector needs help with cloud and security

A recognition of the need for digital transformation is twinned with an acceptance that the skills and security is not there to make it happen for quite a few financial services players Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Are you ready to trade with the world on Brexit day?

While some claim there are no freight management systems in place to help businesses trade after Brexit, the vendors of such systems – both traditional and newer, more user-friendly versions – would disagree Continue Reading

By

• Nick Booth

Acora snaps up Plan-Net

Combined business will create a sizeable operation offering managed services to the mid-market Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Ultima talks of growth prospects after landing PE investment

The intelligent automation specialist has gained a significant investment from a private equity backer that will give it the chance to dedicate funds to both its product strategy and M&A activity Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Ingram Micro extends AWS relationship to cover UK&I

Distributor builds on existing US relationship to add AWS to its UK and Ireland portfolio Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Skilled staff key to delivering CDW strategy

Channel player's CEO opens up about the importance of having the staff to deliver its growth ambitions during a call discussing its Q2 results Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Computacenter provides investor cheer with H1 update

Channel player issues trading statement covering its first half revealing that the business is progressing well in fiscal 19 Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Enterprise growth delivers strong year at UKFast

Cloud player has shared its 2018 numbers showing that revenues have increased by double digits Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Microsoft's OpenAI investment a positive for developers

The $1bn multi-year investment should put Microsoft developers at the forefront of coming up with artificial intelligence tools for the Azure Cloud Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Jungle IT extends managed services reach

Jungle has made the first of a few acquisitions as it looks to extend its managed services portfolio Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Nadella: Trust has to be earned every day

Microsoft CEO uses Inspire keynote to cover the importance of building trusted relationships Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Customers don't fear AI but need plenty of education around it

A couple of pieces of research into the reaction of UK businesses to artificial intelligence has indicated there is an educational role for the channel to play if the technology is to become more widely adopted Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

SonicWall increasing support for MSSPs

The security player has been actively looking to work with more MSSPs and has also been investing in a direct touch team to drive more enterprise business back to partners Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

The hybrid cloud and clearing technical debt

When done properly, hybrid infrastructure can deliver efficiency, cost savings and performance, but with so many options available, good advice from a channel partner is key to achieving these benefits Continue Reading

By

• Adrian Keward, Red Hat

Cloud Distribution launches ARMR service

The distributor has launched a suite of white label security services aimed at making life easier for resellers Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

What makes a great managed security service provider?

With an increasingly challenging threat landscape, being a successful MSSP can be a struggle. Making sure customers stay safe is critical to the success of your business, which is why understanding what makes a great MSSP is crucial for you to be able to make informed choices that will prove beneficial to the company Continue Reading

By

• Ryan Compagnone, Edgescan

Asolvi seals third UK acquisition with PC Data buy

Nordic firm extends its footprint in the UK with move for Hull-based firm making its third British buy so far this year Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

ASL and Orange add to the consolidation trend

ASL and Orange have both turned to acquisition as a way to strengthen their market offerings Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Mason Advisory lands major government contract

IT consultancy beats off stiff competition to get a two-year multi-million pound public sector contract Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

MicroScope: The effects of Brexit

Brexit is still to be delivered, but the channel has to carry on as usual – discover how executives are reacting to the effects of Brexit on business. Also read about the pros and cons of virtual storage, and how Barracuda is helping partners go further Continue Reading

Connect Managed Services and G3 Comms merge

Customer Experience and Unified Comms players bought together to form a £55m revenue business Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Securing SD-WAN – beyond the base level

Software-defined networks has sophisticated security features built in, but additional layers of security are required to ensure robust protection against increasingly advanced cyber threats Continue Reading

By

• Nick Sacke, Comms365

What are the risks of not responding to a critical alarm in time?

When selling management tools, managed service providers need to educate users about the importance of acting on the alarms generated by such equipment Continue Reading

By

• Klaus Allion, ANT Telecom

Canalys: Demand for Security as a Service increasing

An analysis of Q1 from the research house has indicated that hosted offerings are growing at much faster rate than traditional hardware and software sales Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

ScanSource snaps up intY

The deal gives ScanSource access to intY's CASCADE cloud platform to strengthen its portfolio Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Apstra stops the cyber criminals from loitering with intent

Intent-based networking fine-tunes all the complicated variables that influence the performance of a network infrastructure and can head off any potential cock-ups Continue Reading

By

• Nick Booth

Adept4 showing progress during challenging H1

Managed services provider updates investors on its half year indicating that although things remain down year on year it has been taking steps to remedy the situation Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Extreme Networks rolls out the welcome mat to Aerohive partners

Vendor makes it clear that there will be opportunities in a unified partner programme after its acquisition is completed Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Lenovo joining the DaaS party

Vendor on the brink of rolling out an offering that channel partners can take out the SME customers Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

SysGroup strengthens West Country position with HNS buy

MSP makes its second buy of the year to bolster its cloud services proposition Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Insight adds muscle on both sides of the Atlantic with PCM buy

Insight has forked out a significant amount to add IT products and services player PCM to the portfolio Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Cloud IT infrastructure revenues rising despite spending drops

An analysis of the IT infrastructure market from IDC shows that spending will slow this year but vendors do not look like missing out on revenues Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Shifting business model to benefit from the rise in cloud

Channel partners will need to undergo their own version of digital transformation to take full advantage of the shift to cloud Continue Reading

By

• Scott Murphy, Ingram Micro UK

Channel consolidation continues with trio of deals

This year has already seen plenty of action on the mergers and acquisitions front and this week has added another three deals to the list Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

The MSP journey starts with identifying skills and vendors

Advice for those looking to move into managed services came out of an online Q&A on the back of MSP Day last month Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Blue Prism snaps up Thoughtonomy

Channel building intelligent automated specialist the target of an acquisition which leads to joint commitment to continue building the partner network Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

HPE to go fully as a Service

The firm has set 2022 as the deadline all of its portfolio will be available on an as a Service basis with the channel playing a key role delivering it Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

NetApp positions for hybrid world with as-a-service model

Vendor offers more flexibility to appeal to those users that want to pay in the as-a-service style Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Cloudian boss sees a long-term hybrid future

Hybrid is here to stay according to the leader of one of the storage firms that offers both on-prem and hosted technology Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

SMEs still not getting the cloud

Small firms are crying out for education around the cloud with many not using the technology Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

MSPs told to be wary of the CSP model

A channel event in Canada will resonate with managed service players here who are worried about losing customer relationships Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

MicroScope: Sourcing IT among the clouds

In this issue, discover how outsourcing is changing as the anything-as-a-service model takes off, and read about the channels promising start to the year from the viewpoint of experts Continue Reading

VAR from the madding crowd

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Channel enjoys a strong start to the year

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Goodbye Daisy Partner Services and hello Allvotec

Daisy Partner Services is to be rebranded and given more independence as voice and data specialist Allvotec Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Security vendors reaching out to MSP community

One of the themes of InfoSec is the ongoing move by vendors to appeal to the managed service provider community Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Tech Data increasing managed security services support

Distributor rolls out a programme to support those resellers looking to make the shift into the MSSP market Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Customers struggling with cloud security

Research from Claranet has revealed that many customers are finding it difficult to find the in-house resources to handle cloud security issues Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Brexit crisis: How are businesses coping?

Theresa May’s impending departure has only deepened the confusion surrounding Brexit – so what does the business community make of it all? Continue Reading

By

• Billy MacInnes

MSP Day: More education needed but the future is bright

The second annual MSP Day has arrived and with it research into what is happening with the managed services community Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

SMEs increasing looking to MSPs

Datto's latest State of the MSP report paints a picture of a market in rude health that is enjoying an expanding customer base and widening service offerings Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Recarta acquisition extends vendor relationships and infrastructure expertise

The IBM partner joins the growing list of resellers that have struck acquisitions this year after picking up Möbius Business Technologies Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Barracuda enlists partners to hit $1 billion target

Barracuda CEO reveals growth plans to partners during firm's channel get together Continue Reading

By

• Christine Horton

Alibaba Cloud continues to expand partner ecosystem

The cloud player continues to sign up partners as it gets ready to bring the message to the UK Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Oncore IT and Node4 hit the acquisition trail

Both firms bolster their activities through purchases that will deliver unified comms for Oncore IT and SaaS skills for Node4 Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Insight makes hire to support services ambitions

Channel player brings on board more expertise to grow its services ambitions across EMEA Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

A bridge too VAR

The expedition from VAR to MSP is not short of challenges but, equipped with the right map, ambitious companies can feel more confident in getting past first base. In the second part of his series, Predatar CEO Alistair Mackenzie takes a closer look at the importance of a strong culture and highlights why marketing should no longer be viewed as an afterthought Continue Reading

By

• Alistair Mackenzie, Predatar

Nutanix encouraging partners to develop HCI skills

The vendor is keen to get partners moving upstream to deliver hyper converged infrastructure products and services Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Kaseya CEO: MSPs are dealing with the biggest issues in SME IT

Managed service providers are being looked to from customers struggling to deal with increasing complexity Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

MSPs have to address the security dimension

The need for managed service providers to push the security conversation with users has emerged as one of the key themes of the SolarWinds MSP event in Amsterdam Continue Reading

By

• Billy MacInnes

MicroScope: A virtual world

In this month's issue, we cover changes in distribution and the challenges being faced by those aiming to add value Continue Reading

Channel enjoys a strong start to the year

Just how has this year been going? There is no better way to find out than ask a number of those working in the channel Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Adapt for the era of virtual distribution

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VMware getting UK partners ready for Connect

The vendor is rolling out a revised partner programme next year and efforts are already under way to make sure the channel is ready for that development Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

Ransomware and the danger of MSP lock-out

Recent attacks on managed service providers have highlighted remote monitoring and management vulnerabilities, reinforcing the need for a security-centric approach in MSPs’ foundational practices Continue Reading

By

• Jason Howells, Barracuda MSP

Computacenter gets off to a good start

A trading update for Q1 reveals that the growth it enjoyed last year has continued into 2019 Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor
• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

SolarWinds and AdEPT both on the acquisition trail

Some changes in the IT services channel with a couple of deals designed to bolster the portfolios that are being offered by SolarWinds and AdEPT Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

VAR from the madding crowd

Predatar’s CEO reflects on the transformation from VAR to MSP, highlighting some of the key milestones and the obvious pitfalls to avoid Continue Reading

By

• Alistair Mackenzie, Predatar

Digital transformation spending flooding across all verticals

IDC is forecasting strong customer investments in digital transformation projects but the channel needs to make sure the focus is on more than just spending on tech Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor