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Cisco: Tetration update will boost professional services

Cisco officials said the latest versions of its Tetration analytics engine, which the company has recast as a "workload protection" offering, will create custom development and professional services opportunities for channel partners.

Tetration, which debuted in mid-2016, initially appealed to partners as an analytics tool for network troubleshooting, cloud migration, application performance monitoring and network forensics. A Tetration upgrade earlier this year focused on application security and added malware security features that aim to combat threats, such as the Spectre and Meltdown CPU vulnerabilities.

Yogesh Kaushik, senior director of Tetration product management at Cisco, said the product has evolved into a full-fledged, "holistic workload protection solution" that applies to on-premises and cloud-based workloads.

In the latest Tetration twist, Cisco has rolled out two new versions of the products: Tetration SaaS, which is geared toward cloud-first organizations, and Tetration-V, a software-only offering that employs a virtual appliance for smaller deployments. Tetration-V is available immediately, while Tetration SaaS is scheduled for availability in May 2018.

Kaushik said partners have a "big opportunity" to start writing their own applications for Tetration, using Python or Scalar. Developers can also use Spark SQL to create applications. Eighty percent of the market gets what it wants in the platform, but other customers have specific needs based on particular sets of data they want to analyze.

"Tetration lets partners extend the platform," he said.

Scott Mohr, director of data center and cloud go-to-market in Cisco's Global Partner Organization, said Tetration's new consumption models offer a low-cost, fast-deployment platform for channel partners and their customers. He called Tetration a "land and expand" opportunity for partners, noting the potential for "a large amount of professional services revenue."

Professional service opportunities include workload protection and compliance assessment and application dependency assessment, according to Cisco.

Report: IoT, AI and edge computing gain ground

Service providers looking for business in emerging technologies may find a large segment of their customers already use them.

A report from SADA Systems, a business and technology consulting firm based in Los Angeles, found 67% of the 500 IT professionals who responded to its online survey reported using IoT technology, while 60% said they use artificial intelligence and machine learning, and 37% cited edge computing as a technology in use today.

While the SADA survey identified those three fields as the most popular emerging technologies, a slightly different pattern was discovered in respondents' investment plans. The poll found 38% of the IT professionals planned to invest the most in AI and machine learning over the next two years, with 31% citing IoT and 10% citing blockchain as the top technologies for investment.

Service providers staffed with AI and machine learning experts may be in luck: The survey ranked skill sets in that technology as the most difficult to find, followed by blockchain and IoT.

Tony Safoian, president and CEO at SADA Systems, a business and technology consulting firm in Los Angeles, said the widening use of AI and machine learning is indicative of vendors such as Google and Microsoft "doing a good job of making those technologies more accessible in the way they are packaging them and bringing them to market.

For example, Google is putting together quick-start packages so customers don't have to "write every single line of code when trying to build a machine learning model," he said.

Other news

• Former Microsoft channel chief Phil Sorgen has joined the board of directors at Fusion Agiletech Partners, a Toronto company that acquired digital consultancy Quisitive earlier this year. Sorgen is currently Microsoft's corporate vice president of U.S. enterprise commercial.
• Rackspace unveiled a new partner program to boost access to the company's managed IT services portfolio. Program features include a strategic partner agreement that includes a market development fund program, sales and technical resources, and customer lifecycle management. Other components include access to resources such as dedicated partner account managers and a partner portal.
• Multi-cloud data management vendor Veritas Technologies redesigned its global channel program, with increased resources and rewards for selling into the commercial and midmarket spaces. Additional partner benefits include rebates that reward partners on quarterly performance and access to free online training modules through the partner portal.
• Kaseya, an IT management solutions provider for managed service providers, announced an OEM partnership with Spanning Cloud Apps, a provider of SaaS data protection, to offer Kaseya Office 365 Backup. Office 365 Backup is an integrated module within VSA by Kaseya. Kaseya earlier this year announced a unified backup offering based on technology integration with Unitrends.

• Accenture has received a patent for the asset tagging approach it uses in its multi-cloud management platform. The company said the patented technology, employed in the Accenture Cloud Platform, lets organizations tag assets across multiple cloud providers and then "deploy standard policies and controls across the assets."

• Mimecast, an email and data security vendor, launched a new partner program that aims to standardize how the company works with resellers around the world. The company said the Mimecast Global Partner Program offers training programs; dedicated account resources, including partner account managers, sales engineers and marketing managers; an online Partner Success Dashboard; and "deeper discounts" for partners that meet specific commitments. Mimecast also appointed Shawn Pearson as vice president of channel sales in North America, Julian Martin as vice president of global channel and operations and Rema Lolas as channel director in Australia and New Zealand.
• Cyberbit, a provider of cybersecurity simulation and detection and response platforms, released new product set for managed security services companies. The portfolio contains technology for security orchestration, automation and response; endpoint detection and response; operational technology monitoring; and a cyber-range platform for simulated training, Cyberbit
• Netsurion, a managed network connectivity, security and compliance solution provider, is merging its Netsurion and EventTracker channel partner programs. The company said it doubled its partner revenue at the close of the first quarter of 2018 and now works with 100 managed service providers.
• RedSeal, a network modeling and cyber-risk scoring vendor, said it's aiming to derive 100% of its revenue through partners. The vendor last week revamped its partner program, which targets multiple vertical market focuses, including federal, state and local government, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, insurance and retail. "RedSeal generates a large majority of its revenue via the channel today. The goal is to create an environment that continues that trend toward 100% channel fulfillment by creating programs and processes that benefit the partner and RedSeal in the market," said Marc Fernandez, the vendor's vice president of worldwide commercial channels, in an email.

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