AI Partner News Galore: Salesforce, AWS, Veeam, Microsoft, More
AI news is all the rage this week. But so is industry reaction to Broadcom-VMware. Look for announcements from iXystems, Citrix and Apporto on that front. Plus, Broadcom’s partner awards are out.
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Salesforce has released Einstein 1 Studio.
It’s a set of low-code tools that allows Salesforce admins and developers to customize Einstein Copilot — the conversational AI assistant for CRM — and embed AI across any app. It’s also integrated with Salesforce’s Data Cloud.
The package includes Copilot Builder, for creating custom AI actions to accomplish specific business tasks; Prompt Builder for crafting and activating custom prompts in the workflow; and Model Builder, for constructing or importing a variety of AI models. That way, Salesforce says, businesses may deliver tailored AI experiences across the Einstein 1 Platform.
“Einstein 1 Studio’s low-code tools democratize AI app development, unleashing a new wave of innovation that will transform workflows and augment human capabilities across every team and function,” said Clara Shih, CEO of Salesforce AI.
Amazon Web Services partners now have the chance to earn a brand-new certification, one focused on generative AI.
And doing so will help set them apart from the crowd, according to new research.
“Generative AI has truly ushered in a new era of innovation and transformative value across both business and technology,” said Ruba Borno, vice president, worldwide channels and alliances at AWS. “A recent Canalys study found that 87% of customers rank specializations as a top-three selection criteria.”
That, said Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president, database, analytics and ML at AWS, positions validated generative AI partners to attract more customers.
“Partners play an important role in supporting AWS customers leveraging our comprehensive suite of generative AI services,” Sivasubramanian said. “We are excited to recognize and highlight partners with proven customer success with generative AI on AWS through the AWS Generative AI Competency, making it easier for our customers to find and identify the right partners to support their unique needs.”
A smattering of the generative AI competency launch partners includes:
Accenture
AllCloud
DoIT
Mission Cloud
Capgemini
Crayon
Deloitte
Rackspace Technology
A recent McKinsey report cited by AWS shows that generative AI could account for more than 75% of total yearly AI value, with expectations high for major or disruptive change in industries. The report further found that generative AI technologies could automate work that absorbs 60-70% of employees’ time.
Veeam Software and Microsoft just extended their partnership for another five years.
That means the data protection/ransomware recovery vendor will continue to integrate Microsoft capabilities into its platform, and vice versa.
Specifically, the companies will combine Veeam’s products with Microsoft Copilot and AI services. They’ll also infuse Veeam’s data protection into Microsoft 365 and Azure. Much of this will come through the addition of AI to Veeam’s backup and recovery products, which will including integrating Copilot for automated data analysis.
“This partnership will also deliver incredible joint innovation, including bringing the capabilities of Microsoft Copilot to the Veeam product family,” said Anand Eswaran, CEO of Veeam.
Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft, agreed.
“As customers continue moving to the cloud and adopt generative AI capabilities, protecting their data remains our top priority,” Althoff said.
IT services and consulting firm Cognizant just launched its own Advanced AI Lab as part of its plan, announced last year, to invest $1 billion into generative AI through 2026.
The lab, based in San Francisco, supports the creation of intellectual property and AI-enabled technologies. Staffed by researchers and developers, the Cognizant facility will work with research institutions, customers and startups. It already boasts 75 issued and pending patents, the company said.
"As AI rapidly evolves into mainstream use, Cognizant is continually pushing boundaries through strategic partnerships, training programs and platform investments to be an AI-first company," said Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S. "Because we own the client solutioning relationship from end to end, we have a unique line of sight into businesses, industries and their AI needs. We're putting dedicated focus on AI research and development to lay the groundwork for better business outcomes and a better future."
Cognizant also runs AI Innovation Studios in London, New York, San Francisco, Dallas and Bengaluru.
Cloud-based content management provider Box has a new integration with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.
The deal brings Azure’s artificial intelligence to Box AI, so enterprises now can easily analyze the data they store in Box.
“While generative AI is still new to the enterprise, we’re already seeing significant excitement from customers who want to apply this technology to their content that is already in Box,” said Ben Kus, chief technology officer at Box.
Box and Microsoft have worked together for more than a decade. Their previous efforts focused on mobility and cloud computing. Adding AI seems a natural move in the era of burgeoning AI and the need to extract insights from data with ease.
Box AI now is generally available on Enterprise Plus plans. Its stock jumped this week on news of the Microsoft announcement.
Switching gears now to ongoing industry reactions to Broadcom’s strategic moves around VMware.
First up, a recent survey of 741 respondents conducted by iXsystems shows that VMware hypervisor users are looking for alternatives in the wake of Broadcom’s decisions, which include ending free access to ESXi. (And as they deal with four newly published, and critical, flaws in the VMware hypervisor environment.)
iXsystems, which makes TrueNAS Open Storage, found that 59% of people polled are looking at Linux-based open-source options. The next biggest group, 18%, says it will stick with VMware despite Broadcom’s imposition of a higher price tag. The next chunk, 12%, says it will go with Microsoft Hyper-V. The final set of respondents, another 12%, just barely, is eyeing Xen-based hypervisors, also an open-source model.
"Open-source Linux has become the dominant operating system by far, just about everywhere,” Marc Staimer, president of Dragon Slayer Consulting, said on behalf of iXsystems. “Alternative open-source hypervisors have proven to be strong viable alternatives.”
Of course, the VMware stack includes a range of products beyond hypervisors. And Citrix, a key remote access desktop rival, is hoping to capitalize on Broadcom’s growing unpopularity among end users.
Citrix this week unveiled new incentives for partners and customers looking to migrate from platforms including VMware.
VMware users, in particular, can get a one-year rebate of service when moving infrastructure to Citrix and when committing to three years with the company. They also have to agree to spend more than $50,000 annually with Citrix.
Current Citrix customers, meanwhile, who use VMware, too, may get unlimited capacity of the new Citrix Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud subscription. They must commit to a 50% expansion of their current investment with Citrix.
Citrix’s incentives come on the heels of similar offerings from companies including Leostream, Nerdio, Nutanix and others. They also come in the same week that Citrix announced that it has integrated NetScaler and uberAgent features into its platform.
“Customers are seeking alternatives to simplify their cloud migration and maximize their investments,” said Hector Lima, executive vice president of field and channel sales at Citrix. “Through our newly announced platform and incentives, we are prioritizing customer-focused innovation and simplifying solutions to address their challenges, all while reducing the total cost of ownership for both customers and partners.”
But even Citrix faces competition. Go to the next slide.
In another VMware volley, virtual desktop provider Apporto, which recently released its NextGen platform, is out to compete with the likes of the now-Broadcom owned provider — and Citrix.
The company said that in light of changes and price increases from VMware and Citrix, Apporto NextGen stands out as a “competitively priced alternative, made even more attractive with promotional pricing.”
To that point, through September, Apporto is offering NextGen for the cost of the legacy Horizon or Citrix support/subscription fee.
“The traditional wisdom in Silicon Valley is that new products need to be better, faster or cheaper,” said Antony Awaida, CEO of Apporto. “We are proud to introduce a product that delivers a much better user experience to administrators, a much faster response to end users (up to 60 fps) and is significantly cheaper than existing products. We believe customers will respond very positively to this product just as they have to our cloud services.”
All that said, Broadcom this week announced its 2023 Partner Awards, which include VMware channel folks.
Broadcom’s list of 2023 partner winners is long. That said, here are some of the most prominent awards and their recipients from the Broadcom and VMware sides:
Broadcom Partner of the Year: Rego
VMware Partner of the Year: CDW
Broadcom Above and Beyond: IT Design
VMware Above and Beyond: ePlus
Broadcom Rising Star: MBCom
VMware Rising Star: Connection
VMware Cloud Foundation Partner of the Year:
Sidepath (North America)
Fuji Soft (Asia Pacific)
SVA System Vertrieb Alexander GmbH (Europe)
Tanzu Partner of the Year:
Capstone IT (North America)
BIPROGY (Asia Pacific)
Datasolution (Asia Pacific)
PQR B.V. (Europe)
evoila (Europe)
Software-Defined Edge Partner of the Year
CBTS (North America)
Net One Systems Co., Ltd. (Asia Pacific)
Application Network & Security Partner of the Year
27 Virtual (North America)
ECCOM Network System Co., Ltd (Asia Pacific)
ITD Solutions (Europe)
Broadcom’s list of 2023 partner winners is long. That said, here are some of the most prominent awards and their recipients from the Broadcom and VMware sides:
Broadcom Partner of the Year: Rego
VMware Partner of the Year: CDW
Broadcom Above and Beyond: IT Design
VMware Above and Beyond: ePlus
Broadcom Rising Star: MBCom
VMware Rising Star: Connection
VMware Cloud Foundation Partner of the Year:
Sidepath (North America)
Fuji Soft (Asia Pacific)
SVA System Vertrieb Alexander GmbH (Europe)
Tanzu Partner of the Year:
Capstone IT (North America)
BIPROGY (Asia Pacific)
Datasolution (Asia Pacific)
PQR B.V. (Europe)
evoila (Europe)
Software-Defined Edge Partner of the Year
CBTS (North America)
Net One Systems Co., Ltd. (Asia Pacific)
Application Network & Security Partner of the Year
27 Virtual (North America)
ECCOM Network System Co., Ltd (Asia Pacific)
ITD Solutions (Europe)
If you enjoy AI news, this cloud computing roundup will hit your sweet spot.
Several channel-friendly companies are out this week with a slew of AI news. First, check out what Salesforce has to say about Einstein. Then, see what Amazon Web Services is up to with AI. Channel head Ruba Borno says the development reflects AI’s “transformative value.”
From there, get the latest on Veeam Software's move with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. Box, too, just inked a deal with Microsoft in AI news that made its stock jump.
In other AI news, global IT consultancy Cognizant just announced a big opening in San Francisco. Find out what it is and how you can join.
After that, we switch gears to ongoing industry reactions to Broadcom and its acquisition of VMware. iXsystems has results from a 741-person survey around hypervisor migration. And Citrix and Apporto join the parade of vendors unveiling incentives to attract customers wanting to move off VMware platforms.
Finally, Broadcom announced its 2023 Partner Awards. We showcase some of the biggest names and recognition on the Broadcom and VMware sides.
Let’s kick off this week’s cloud computing roundup in the slideshow above with an in-depth look at AI news impacting channel partners.
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