7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at Proofpoint, Logitech, New Relic, IBM, More
IBM is doling out $4.6 billion to buy Apptio.
July 1, 2023
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Proofpoint is not falling victim to trends.
The company’s partners are playing a big role in the enterprise security company’s continued growth despite ongoing economic uncertainty.
That’s according to Joe Sykora, Proofpoint’s senior vice president of worldwide channels and partner sales. He pointed out that many companies that do business in the channel have announced layoffs since the start of the year, but not Proofpoint.
“We continue to invest, we continue to maintain, and I think that’s important for our partners,” he said. “I will tell you, pipelines are stronger than ever with us, and talking to partners, their pipelines are very strong as well.”
He made waves when he said, “If you look at partner contribution, which is deals that partners are bringing to us, that is up almost 20% over last year.”
Learn why Proofpoint has some of the most comprehensive threat research out there for partners.
IBM has agreed to acquire IT automation software provider Apptio from private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for $4.6 billion. According to IBM, which announced the agreement on Monday, Apptio will advance IBM’s IT automation hybrid cloud management and AIOps software portfolio.
Apptio is regarded as a leading technology business management (TBM) and FinOps provider with more than 1,500 clients, about half of which serve Fortune 100 companies. Besides cloud management, observability and AIOps, Apptio provides cloud cost tracking and optimization tools.
Apptio has integration alliances with the three large cloud providers — AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud.
Sunny Gupta, Apptio’s co-founder and CEO, indicated he intends to join IBM as it closes the deal, which the company estimates will happen in the second half of this year.
“With IBM, we will be able to bring even more resources to bear to drive value for our customers,” Gupta wrote on LinkedIn. “My leadership team and I remain committed to continuing our roles now and with IBM in the future.”
Learn how the Apptio agreement is the latest move in IBM’s effort to expand its capabilities in hybrid cloud management, observability and AIOps.
New Relic layoffs are impacting over 200 employees globally, including some channel-related roles, as part of a restructuring plan.
Bill Staples, New Relic’s CEO, announced the layoffs in a blog. According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, the restructuring plan expects a reduction of the company’s workforce by up to 255 employees, including employees who previously exited in May and early this month as part of the reorganization of specific functions and performance management.
Staples said the New Relic layoffs will impact 155 employees in the United States and up to 57 internationally.
“Leading up to today, each of our leaders conducted their own rigorous review with me across their respective functions to ensure that every resource will be aligned with our future needs,” Staples said. “The roles impacted today reflect the outcome of that thorough review, which required difficult decisions around role redundancies, roles or skills not aligned with our strategic priorities, and the performance of individuals, teams and programs.”
Find out why New Relic is planning to exit its subscription business.
Data center colocation is in high demand, but providers face high upfront costs and a potentially lengthy wait for return on investment.
This is our second annual “CF List” focused on top data center colocation providers. Analysts shared their thoughts on the technology and industry. It includes a new list and fresh views on changes in the competitive landscape.
The global data center colocation market is expected to reach $155.4 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 14.2%, according to Grand View Research. The market totaled nearly $55 billion in 2022.
Abhijit Sunil, senior analyst at Forrester, made waves when he said several data center colocation providers on Channel Futures’ new CF20 list are on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Partnership National Top 100 list. Using green power helps reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and supports the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide, according to the agency.
“We have heard from the sustainability teams of these companies and others in the colocation space about how seriously they’re considering sustainability in their data centers and the services they offer,” Sunil said. “Most of them have strong commitments to sustainability and this trend has accelerated since the pandemic due to a few reasons. First, we have seen multiple commitments that are hard to back out from data center players. Second, the power consumption of data centers is more studied and under scrutiny now than ever before. This especially came under the spotlight during the pandemic when there was an acceleration to cloud models.”
Discover 20 top data center colocation providers you should know.
Logitech International is looking for a new CEO with the resignation of Bracken Darrell, who has been named president and CEO of global apparel and footwear company VF Corp.
Last week, Logitech announced Darrell’s resignation as president, CEO and as a member of its board of directors. However, it said he would remain with the company over the coming month to ensure a seamless transition.
“After nearly a decade of consistent growth and building market leadership across multiple categories, I feel this is a good point to hand over leadership,” Darrell said. “I want to thank all the amazing people across Logitech for their work through the years… I will continue to be a customer, shareholder, and enduring fan of Logitech and its products.”
Find out who else has departed Logitech in recent weeks.
Progress Software, the maker of MOVEit cloud hosting and file-transfer services, faces a class-action lawsuit in connection with cyberattacks that resulted from a software vulnerability.
The class-action lawsuit warned that millions of residents have had their data exposed as a result of the MOVEit Transfer mass-hack.
U.S. government agencies, airlines and media companies, an oil giant, health services, international consulting firms, and many more were part of a larger cyberattack resulting in the theft of data believed to be carried out by the Russia-based Clop ransomware gang. Gen Digital, the parent company of top cybersecurity brands Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira and AVG, was among victims of the recent attacks.
Heath Renfrow, co-founder of disaster recovery firm Fenix24, said the bounty is a warning sign to Clop that law enforcement has targeted them and, based on some recent arrests by law enforcement in relation to other cybercriminal gangs, it will most likely force Clop to dissolve or lay low for a bit and rise again as a new gang.
“For the most part, the cybercriminal element seems to be shying away from hitting critical infrastructure following the Colonial Pipeline ransomware event,” he said. “However, some groups will remain bold, and know that the payout of the ransom is high when the crippling of critical infrastructure is at stake. I believe the nation-state threat to critical infrastructure will continue to grow and become a considerable threat to our nation’s security and human life.”
Learn more here about the class-action lawsuit against Progress Software.
The 2023 Channel Futures MSP 501 ranking of the best managed service providers in the world celebrates the strengths of those MSPs and their abilities to thrive in a tumultuous economy and uncertain business environment.
For the first time, Channel Futures was able to capture just how profitable it is to deliver managed services through the collection of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — better known as EBITDA, a widely used measure of corporate profitability. It is the first time in the history of the Channel Futures MSP 501 such information was collected as past applicants provided gross profit or gross profit margins. With EBITDA being the currency of M&A and considered the most important measurement of bottom-line performance, we added it to this year’s application form — the first for any technology publication.
“2022 was absolutely a pivotal year … ,” said Brian Klingbeil, chief strategy officer at Ensono, which ranked very high again on this year’s Channel Futures MSP 501. “When confronted with extreme circumstances, people will shift. That’s when change takes hold.”
Find out who else made our list.
The 2023 Channel Futures MSP 501 ranking of the best managed service providers in the world celebrates the strengths of those MSPs and their abilities to thrive in a tumultuous economy and uncertain business environment.
For the first time, Channel Futures was able to capture just how profitable it is to deliver managed services through the collection of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — better known as EBITDA, a widely used measure of corporate profitability. It is the first time in the history of the Channel Futures MSP 501 such information was collected as past applicants provided gross profit or gross profit margins. With EBITDA being the currency of M&A and considered the most important measurement of bottom-line performance, we added it to this year’s application form — the first for any technology publication.
“2022 was absolutely a pivotal year … ,” said Brian Klingbeil, chief strategy officer at Ensono, which ranked very high again on this year’s Channel Futures MSP 501. “When confronted with extreme circumstances, people will shift. That’s when change takes hold.”
Find out who else made our list.
Channel People Making Waves pinpoints the movers and shakers within channel companies, and this week is no exception with individuals at Proofpoint, Logitech, New Relic, IBM and more standing out. These people are featured (see slideshow above) in our most-read stories of the week.
IBM is doling out the cash — $4.6 billion to be exact. The company is acquiring IT automation software provider Apptio from private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. Apptio is considered a leading technology business management (TBM) and FinOps provider with more than 1,500 clients. One-half of those serve Fortune 100 companies. Hear from Appito’s co-founder and CEO about his plans.
New Relic isn’t immune from the wave of layoffs that have happened in recent months within the tech industry. The company’s most recent employee reduction has impacted those in channel-related positions, too. This week’s layoffs impact 200 employees globally.
Finally, Progress Software is facing a class-action lawsuit due to cyberattacks that resulted from a software vulnerability. Learn how Russia-based Clop ransomware gang is believed to have carried out the attack.
And that’s it for this week. Join us next time for the roundup. If you didn’t catch the last edition, you can find it here.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Claudia Adrien or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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