Impinj partners get new program to drive IoT business
IoT resellers, service providers and distributors are among the channel companies Impinj will support in its new partner program; more news from the week.
Impinj Inc., a RAIN RFID solution provider based in Seattle, has unveiled a global program for its partner ecosystem, replacing an earlier channel partner program.
The Impinj Partner Network aims to ensure the partner community "contains the depth and breadth" of the vendor's RAIN RFID capabilities to meet the needs of a global market, said Sandy Murti, vice president of global partner development at Impinj. Impinj partners covered under the new program include IoT resellers, ISVs, distributors, service providers and OEMs.
RAIN RFID is an industry alliance that promotes the adoption of ultrahigh frequency RFID technology.
Murti said the expansion of Impinj's partner program recognizes the diverse set of partner types that play a role in designing, deploying and servicing offerings that incorporate the company's products. The varied partner ecosystem shares a common "desire to build transformative IoT solutions," he added.
Impinj partners include industry-specific systems integrators, such as Lowry Solutions and Smart Label Solutions, which specialize in supply chain and logistics. Another partner, Idox Health, focuses on the healthcare industry in the United Kingdom.
Sandy Murti
Some Impinj partners are also active in development. Converging Data, for example, has built an Impinj IoT Connector for Splunk. The connector "enables RAIN RFID data gathered by the Impinj platform to be visualized and analyzed within the Splunk interface," Murti said.
Webroot aims to boost MSPs' cyberskills
George Anderson, product marketing director at Webroot, said the cybersecuritty vendor is looking at advancing from "v1" of its products to "v2" in 2020.
We are trying to make inroads in [the cybersecurity skills gap] and finding ways of helping MSPs … and skilling them up.
George AndersonProduct marketing director, Webroot
Anderson noted that the security environment has become increasingly more complex for managed service providers (MSPs) and software vendors alike. He said he sees MSPs realizing they are under pressure to step up their security capabilities and do more to protect themselves. Many MSPs view two paths forward: either outsource cybersecurity services from other providers or skill up their in-house staffs.
"We are trying to make inroads in [the cybersecurity skills gap] and finding ways of helping MSPs … and skilling them up," Anderson said.
Anderson added that some of Webroot's MSP users suffered security breaches in 2019."We have seen some of our MSPs this year compromised. We have tried to help them. We have even seen our own console used against us this year," he said.
Webroot was acquired by Carbonite in March. Carbonite announced in November it signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by OpenText, a content management vendor.
Other news
Security vendor Armor, so far this year, has identified 269 publicly disclosed cases of ransomware infections, 18 of which involve service providers. The service provider cases include MSPs, hosting companies, cloud software companies and a real estate listing service. Municipalities are the most frequently targeted group, followed by school districts and educational institutions, healthcare organizations and service providers, according to Armor, which has U.S. headquarters in Richardson, Texas.
Logically, an MSP based in Portland, Maine, has acquired IQ Technology Solutions, an outsourced IT services provider in Reno, Nev. The transaction closely follows Logically's acquisition of Carolinas IT, announced Dec. 4. The MSP's Nevada presence adds to other local service delivery teams in San Diego; Portland; Boston; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Yorktown Heights, N.Y.; and Raleigh, N.C.
Microsoft and Oracle have made their cloud interoperability alliance available in Canada. The partnership, which was announced in June, enables enterprise organizations to migrate and run workloads across the Oracle and Azure cloud platforms.
Agosto, a cloud services and development company based in Minneapolis, has achieved a Google Cloud Partner Program specialization in Work Transformation -- Enterprise. The specialization recognizes a Google partner's ability to deploy G Suite in enterprise organizations.
SolarWinds, an IT management software provider that sells to MSPs, has launched SolarWinds Backup for Office 365.
In the managed detection and response market, Arctic Wolf Networks, a security operations center-as-a-service company, has added Managed Containment to its MDR service. Meanwhile, eSentire Inc., which provides cloud-based MDR, said it is partnering with endpoint protection vendor CrowdStrike. MDR services have emerged as an adjunct to traditional managed security services.
Avaya signed an agreement with distributor Synnex Corp. to provide Avaya Cloud Office, a unified communications-as-a-service offering, to its channel partners. Synnex will distribute Avaya Cloud Office as part of its Avaya Master Agent program, according to Avaya.
8x8, a cloud-based provider of contact center technology, opened its Elev8 Partner Program to VARs. The company said it made its platform available to global VARs after growing its referral partner program to more than 1,000 active agent partners.
Otava, a cloud services company based in Ann Arbor, Mich., has become a Premier Cloud Provider in the VMware Partner Network. The company, which provides cloud backup and disaster recovery as a service, among other offerings, sells to enterprises and channel partners.
InterVision, an IT service provider based in Santa Clara, Calif., and St. Louis, has appointed Mike Shea as associate vice president of cloud services. Shea, who will oversee the company's cloud services and public sector delivery teams, was previously managing director and CTO for Accenture Products and Platforms' Health and Human Services business unit.
ConnectWise has updated its executive management roster. Geoffrey Willison has been appointed COO. He was formerly CFO at Continuum, which ConnectWise purchased in October 2019. Brad Surminsky has been named CFO. He previously was CFO at D+H, ADP, ACNielsen Canada and CentralSquare Technologies. Clint Maddox, a strategic advisor to ConnectWise since July 2019, has been appointed chief revenue officer. And Steve Cochran has been appointed CTO. He was most recently CTO at GHX, a former Thoma Bravo portfolio company. The four executives report to ConnectWise CEO Jason Magee.
CenturyLink has expanded its channel management team with five new appointments. New appointments include Matt Thompson as CenturyLink's sales director.
Market Share is a news roundup published every Friday.
Sandy Murti
