Category Archives for "Managed Services News"

There were many mergers and acquisitions in May and June, but which of the latest M&A news stood out? We’ve answered that question with a dozen deals that made their mark. See the slideshow above.

Despite economic concerns, there were two multibillion-dollar acquisitions in the channel during this period. Once the dust settled on those deals, the critiques came out of their hiding spots. For one of the acquisitions, analysts worry that there may be significant layoffs as a result. This assessment was made based on the acquiring company’s prior deal in which more than 1,000 workers were let go. For the other multibillion-dollar acquisition, one with a smaller price tag, the concern surrounds whether the purchase is a cultural fit in the MSP space.

Speaking of MSPs, we feature one company that has acquired four MSPs in the first half of this year alone. The shopping spree has lead to the company’s geographic expansion in South Florida, among other locales.

Lastly, we report on a deal that creates the largest technology solutions brokerage in the world. Some are alluding it’s a marriage made in heaven.

Also, if you didn’t catch our previous M&A gallery, you can find it here.

There were many mergers and acquisitions in May and June, but which of the latest M&A news stood out? We’ve answered that question with a dozen deals that made their mark. See the slideshow above.

Despite economic concerns, there were two multibillion-dollar acquisitions in the channel during this period. Once the dust settled on those deals, the critiques came out of their hiding spots. For one of the acquisitions, analysts worry that there may be significant layoffs as a result. This assessment was made based on the acquiring company’s prior deal in which more than 1,000 workers were let go. For the other multibillion-dollar acquisition, one with a smaller price tag, the concern surrounds whether the purchase is a cultural fit in the MSP space.

Speaking of MSPs, we feature one company that has acquired four MSPs in the first half of this year alone. The shopping spree has lead to the company’s geographic expansion in South Florida, among other locales.

Lastly, we report on a deal that creates the largest technology solutions brokerage in the world. Some are alluding it’s a marriage made in heaven.

Also, if you didn’t catch our previous M&A gallery, you can find it here.

First Nvidia was hit with a cyberattack in February, and now scammers are using the company’s upcoming 30th anniversary as part of a bitcoin scheme.

That’s according to Kaspersky, which disclosed the scheme in a blog. Nvidia develops GPUs that are popular among crypto enthusiasts.

Nvidia turns 30 next year and it’s common practice for companies to celebrate round-number anniversaries. Scammers took advantage of this by arranging fake cryptocurrency giveaways.

Fake Website Promising Bitcoin Giveaway

The Nvidia bitcoin scam involves a fake website set up to mark the occasion with a 50,000-bitcoin giveaway. The scammers ask participants to make a donation in order to enter. They’re told they can double their donation or even hit the jackpot of 50,000 bitcoins. A crypto wallet allows users to send their donation.

The page encourages potential victims to donate prior to entering the giveaway, and includes an image of Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO.

The page contains a “Participate” button which, once clicked, takes the visitor to a page with detailed information on the giveaway. However, the site includes numerous spelling errors, and mistakenly uses a violet Nvidia logo instead of its official green.

Kaspersky researchers checked the scammers’ wallet on blockchain.com. However, the total account balance is far less than the 50,000 bitcoins advertised. It is unclear whether that balance has been formed by donations. However, the account history shows several transactions from unknown senders.

We couldn’t reach Nvidia for comment on the scheme.

If a victim doesn’t understand that a brand has been impersonated, it may affect the victims’ perception of the brand, according to Kaspersky. Cybercriminals usually select highly trusted brands. That’s because users have confidence in them and their reputation provides users more confidence.

Kaspersky researchers don’t know who’s behind the bitcoin scheme.

Bitcoin Schemes Usually Succeed

Unfortunately, such schemes quite often turn out to be successful. Scammers can make easy profit with minimum investment, especially if this profit comes on behalf of a trustworthy brand.

Olga Svistunova is a security expert at Kaspersky.

Kaspersky’s Olga Svistiunova

“Crypto scams that involve images of celebrities, or power brands, have become trendy these days,” she said. “We’ve witnessed campaigns with Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Pavel Durov. This time the attackers went further, launching fraudulent activity on behalf of Nvidia’s CEO and connecting it to a very special occasion for the company. Our primary advice is to carefully check all the links you follow while surfing the net, and avoid donating to untrustworthy initiatives.”

In February, Nvidia reportedly experienced a cyberattack by the Lapsus$ ransomware gang that compromised the company’s internal systems.

There were many mergers and acquisitions in May and June, but which of the latest M&A news stood out? We’ve answered that question with a dozen deals that made their mark. See the slideshow above.

Despite economic concerns, there were two multibillion-dollar acquisitions in the channel during this period. Once the dust settled on those deals, the critiques came out of their hiding spots. For one of the acquisitions, analysts worry that there may be significant layoffs as a result. This assessment was made based on the acquiring company’s prior deal in which more than 1,000 workers were let go. For the other multibillion-dollar acquisition, one with a smaller price tag, the concern surrounds whether the purchase is a cultural fit in the MSP space.

Speaking of MSPs, we feature one company that has acquired four MSPs in the first half of this year alone. The shopping spree has lead to the company’s geographic expansion in South Florida, among other locales.

Lastly, we report on a deal that creates the largest technology solutions brokerage in the world. Some are alluding it’s a marriage made in heaven.

Also, if you didn’t catch our previous M&A gallery, you can find it here.

There were many mergers and acquisitions in May and June, but which of the latest M&A news stood out? We’ve answered that question with a dozen deals that made their mark. See the slideshow above.

Despite economic concerns, there were two multibillion-dollar acquisitions in the channel during this period. Once the dust settled on those deals, the critiques came out of their hiding spots. For one of the acquisitions, analysts worry that there may be significant layoffs as a result. This assessment was made based on the acquiring company’s prior deal in which more than 1,000 workers were let go. For the other multibillion-dollar acquisition, one with a smaller price tag, the concern surrounds whether the purchase is a cultural fit in the MSP space.

Speaking of MSPs, we feature one company that has acquired four MSPs in the first half of this year alone. The shopping spree has lead to the company’s geographic expansion in South Florida, among other locales.

Lastly, we report on a deal that creates the largest technology solutions brokerage in the world. Some are alluding it’s a marriage made in heaven.

Also, if you didn’t catch our previous M&A gallery, you can find it here.

By now, cloud channel partners have heard about Sandy Hogan’s new career move from VMware to SADA. Hogan led VMware’s channel program for a little more than two years. She has worked in the tech sector for more than 20.

SADA’s Sandy Hogan

But this role with SADA – she’s accepted the position as the MSP’s first-ever chief revenue officer – marks a departure for Sandy Hogan. It’s the first time she will have worked for a channel partner rather than a vendor. And that is a little surprising to her. After all, Hogan has been involved with the channel for a while — and she loves and champions the value and expertise partners bring to organizations.

Because of that, she told Channel Futures on July 14, “I’m actually surprised I haven’t gone this route earlier.” (She made a similar observation in our initial discussion with her yesterday: “The opportunity is really on the partner side,” she said.)

We’ve got that takeaway, and more, in the slideshow above. Click to find out more from Sandy Hogan about her next steps, and plans as SADA’s CRO.

There were many mergers and acquisitions in May and June, but which of the latest M&A news stood out? We’ve answered that question with a dozen deals that made their mark. See the slideshow above.

Despite economic concerns, there were two multibillion-dollar acquisitions in the channel during this period. Once the dust settled on those deals, the critiques came out of their hiding spots. For one of the acquisitions, analysts worry that there may be significant layoffs as a result. This assessment was made based on the acquiring company’s prior deal in which more than 1,000 workers were let go. For the other multibillion-dollar acquisition, one with a smaller price tag, the concern surrounds whether the purchase is a cultural fit in the MSP space.

Speaking of MSPs, we feature one company that has acquired four MSPs in the first half of this year alone. The shopping spree has lead to the company’s geographic expansion in South Florida, among other locales.

Lastly, we report on a deal that creates the largest technology solutions brokerage in the world. Some are alluding it’s a marriage made in heaven.

Also, if you didn’t catch our previous M&A gallery, you can find it here.

There were many mergers and acquisitions in May and June, but which of the latest M&A news stood out? We’ve answered that question with a dozen deals that made their mark. See the slideshow above.

Despite economic concerns, there were two multibillion-dollar acquisitions in the channel during this period. Once the dust settled on those deals, the critiques came out of their hiding spots. For one of the acquisitions, analysts worry that there may be significant layoffs as a result. This assessment was made based on the acquiring company’s prior deal in which more than 1,000 workers were let go. For the other multibillion-dollar acquisition, one with a smaller price tag, the concern surrounds whether the purchase is a cultural fit in the MSP space.

Speaking of MSPs, we feature one company that has acquired four MSPs in the first half of this year alone. The shopping spree has lead to the company’s geographic expansion in South Florida, among other locales.

Lastly, we report on a deal that creates the largest technology solutions brokerage in the world. Some are alluding it’s a marriage made in heaven.

Also, if you didn’t catch our previous M&A gallery, you can find it here.

Each year, the Channel Futures NextGen 101 honors industry-leading managed services and technology providers that are driving a new wave of growth and innovation for the tech channel via the groundbreaking solutions they deliver for their customers.

The Channel Futures NextGen 101 hold great promise given the leading-edge information technology and communication solutions they offer. These business models revolve around generating recurring revenue from cloud, security and unified communications, and other innovative solutions.

Given that they represent the future of the technology channel and IT industry, the Channel Futures NextGen 101 are the most watched of all organizations in the channel today.

Applicants and nominees for the NextGen 101 were determined from this year’s Channel Futures MSP 501 list, which received a record number of submissions from MSPs worldwide. We analyzed and scoured the list for companies that possess next-generation characteristics as identified by our Channel Futures team. Those include revenue growth, technology focus, recurring revenue and profitability.

These diversified shops deserve to be recognized for what they are in their own list.

To download the complete list, click here.

For the second time this year, Ensono (No. 2 on the 2022 Channel Futures MSP 501) has hopped onto the channel M&A train. The Chicago-based hybrid cloud managed service provider said this week it has purchased AndPlus, which bills itself as a cloud and data engineering firm.

Ensono’s purchase marks the latest in 2022’s spate of MSP-led deals. And it comes after the company’s last M&A move, when it bought ExperSolve earlier this year.

The Ensono-AndPlus combination is significant, too, in that it builds Ensono’s cloud and data engineering capabilities, giving customers more firepower for migrating to and operating in the cloud. (ExperSolve was about mainframe modernization — a different take on cloud services.)

Ensono’s Jeff VonDeylen

“We continue to invest in our cloud engineering capabilities and AndPlus was a natural next step,” said Jeff VonDeylen, Ensono’s CEO. “I look forward to seeing how they help us continue to drive results for our clients and deliver on business outcomes.”

Specifically, AndPlus will contribute to Ensono’s efforts in cloud and data development and engineering, application modernization, site reliability engineering and DevSecOps.

“AndPlus’ client-first philosophy and depth of cloud expertise make them the perfect fit for Ensono,” VonDeylen added.

AndPlus + Bloomberg

AndPlus works with organizations including Bloomberg; the company built a scalable system for the media, and data and analytics giant. Dubbed Bloomberg Vault, the platform delivers unified archiving. That’s useful for search and analytics within a discovery practice, for example, as well as for information control and governance. Now, AndPlus plans to take its capabilities and apply them through Ensono.

AndPlus’ Sean Mahoney

“By joining forces with Ensono, we combine our expertise in cloud native engineering, design and development with Ensono’s proven ability to manage clients’ complex infrastructure,” said Sean Mahoney, CEO of AndPlus. “Together we can execute on a client’s entire digital transformation road map. It’s a great partnership and we look forward to expanding our portfolio of services and growing on a global scale.”

Once the acquisition closes, AndPlus will become part of Ensono Digital, Ensono’s public cloud advisory and consulting practice. Ensono and AndPlus did not disclose the financial or other terms of the deal.

The companies intend to provision their joint cloud and data engineering solutions throughout the United States and in other parts of the world.

Investment firm KKR owns Ensono, having snapped up the MSP last year from Charlesbank Capital Partners and M/C Partners.