Staying informed is a constant challenge. There’s so much to do, and so little time. But we have you covered. Grab a coffee and take five while you nibble on these tidbits.
NeoSystems strengthens channel program
Full-service strategic outsourcer, IT systems integrator and managed services provider to the government contracting market NeoSystems is strengthening its channel program and has named Kathy Gibbs to lead this effort as vice president, partners and alliances. Gibbs will further develop and oversee a revamped effort to build a more expansive ecosystem of strategic technology partners, resellers, hosting, and referral partners to build and deliver a differentiated portfolio of managed IT, hosting, and security products, along with essential corporate services including accounting and HR services.
The program, called the NeoNetwork, will provide additional financial incentives to referral partners, a new teaming process for business development, expanded technical support for architecting and deploying solutions, and a new channel enablement portal. It also will offer supplemental growth opportunities to existing strategic partners, including Deltek, Tip Technologies, Workday Adaptive, SAP Concur, Integrify and UKG.
Microsoft hands SONiC to the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, has announced that the open-source networking operating system developed by Microsoft, Software for Open Networking in the Cloud (SONiC), is now part of the Linux Foundation. The Linux Foundation will primarily focus on the software component of SONiC and will continue to partner with Open Compute Platform (OCP) on aligning hardware and specifications like the switch abstraction interface (SAI).
“Microsoft founded SONiC to bring high reliability and fast innovation to the routers in Azure cloud data centers. We created it as open source so the entire networking ecosystem would grow stronger. SONiC already runs on millions of ports in the networks of cloud scalers, enterprises, and fintechs. The SONiC project is thrilled to be joining the Linux Foundation to take the community to its next jump in scale, participation, and usage,” said Dave Maltz, technical fellow and corporate vice president, Microsoft Azure Networking.
PacketFabric and Unitas Global establish strategic alliance
On-demand connectivity provider for the enterprise cloud core PacketFabric has announced that it has signed a strategic alliance agreement with Unitas Global which bolsters network bandwidth capacity, extends software-defined networking (SDN) to the edge, and adds new cloud access points, with plans for extensive platform integration. The companies plan to expand and overlay points of presence (PoPs) to the other’s locations and gain expanded market reach. Network interconnections at 100+ shared POPs globally will drive further platform integration, simplifying on-demand connectivity to cloud infrastructures and optimizing data movement.
Just Add Power partners with URC for major systems integration
Audio-visual over IP (AV-over-IP) distribution vendor Just Add Power has announced an integration partnership with smart home automation and control for residential and commercial applications vendor URC. With this partnership, Just Add Power’s lineup of AV-over-IP solutions are now directly available to URC’s certified dealer network.
In addition to product distribution, integrators will be able to configure and integrate URC’s Total Control modules with Just Add Power AMP – VLAN software for a unified programming and control experience. AMP – VLAN is designed for environments where a dedicated AV distribution switch can be implemented, and it sets up both the individual Just Add Power devices and the network switch for added ease and efficiency. The software supports all current production Luxul and NETGEAR M4250 switches, with Cisco support to soon follow. This includes standalone and trunked switches up to 32×32 (TX by RX) — the allowable system size for non-custom URC installations.
NINJIO announces agreement with TD SYNNEX
Cybersecurity awareness training company NINJIO has announced a partnership with global IT distributor and solutions aggregator TD SYNNEX which will let solution providers offer its cybersecurity training courses standalone, or let them integrate into their managed services stack.
“Our partnership with TD SYNNEX allows us to bring NINJIO’s premier Cybersecurity Awareness Solution to a wider range of solution providers and the MSP community,” said NINJIO’s vice president of global channels & alliances, Tim Acker. “At a time when organizations face a constantly shifting cyberthreat landscape and social engineering continues to be the attack vector of choice for threat actors everywhere, effective cybersecurity awareness training has never been more vital. By forging a strategic relationship with TD SYNNEX, NINJIO will leverage one of the strongest IT ecosystems available to build more secure companies in many different industries and sectors.”
“TD SYNNEX is thrilled to deliver NINJIO’s truly innovative cybersecurity awareness training solution to the IT channel,” said Reyna Thompson, senior vice president, product management, North America, TD SYNNEX Corporation. “NINJIO’s unique solution allows TD SYNNEX to provide behaviour-changing educational content to our reseller partner network to help protect companies of all sizes and industries to build an unhackable workforce.”
State of Wireless WAN Report: Businesses increase the use of 4G/5G WAN links with more growth predicted
Cloud-delivered LTE and 5G wireless network edge solutions provider Cradlepoint has released findings from its annual State of Wireless WAN Report, which finds wireless WAN (WWAN) adoption continues to increase globally, with businesses focused on improving bandwidth and introducing new services. Additionally, 5G is definitely top of mind as it continues to roll out across Canada: More than half of Canadian respondents (54 per cent) indicated they are familiar with 5G and have researched it, while 34 per cent said they are very familiar with 5G and actively working towards it. A key highlight of the report is the rapid growth of 4G/5G globally, which grew from 41 per cent to 67 per cent in 2021. In Canada, 64 per cent of respondents indicated they are already using 4G/5G for WWAN. Overall, the progress for 4G and 5G is projected to continue, with 68 per cent of all respondents saying they anticipate an increase in 4G/5G WAN links in the next three years.
In Canada, the findings show there is much opportunity for growth and adoption, especially at the branch level. Canadian respondents indicated current 4G/5G connectivity use is spread quite evenly across connecting vehicles (50 per cent), augmenting wired links in a location/branch (50 per cent), connecting other IoT (47 per cent), connecting digital signage (47 per cent) and as a failover link in a location/branch (47 per cent).
Respondents felt their impediments to deploying 4G/5G were security at 71 per cent (compared to 59 per cent globally), and cost at 65 per cent (compared to 52 per cent globally). Reliability (52 per cent), and complexity (48 per cent) were other impediments cited by Canadian respondents.
To learn more and view the full State of Wireless WAN Report 2022, click here. To learn more about the results from Canada specifically, visit: https://resources.cradlepoint.com/ca-en/report-4g-and-5g-for-wireless-wan-becomes-pervasive-canada